Written and directed by Hanna Bergholm, co-written by Ilja Rautsi, in Finnish forest, Saga and her husband Jon embark on a new chapter as parents. But Saga’s joy is overshadowed by a chilling suspicion about their newborn, unbeknownst to Jon, causing a rift as she alone grapples with the disturbing truth. Starring: Seidi Haarla, Rupert Grint, Pamela Tola, Pirkko Saisio, Rebecca Lacey, John Thomson and Silvia Saloranta.
Within Nightborn there is a terrific concept that blends horror with fantasy and Finnish legends, and we do get some of that potential, but not quite all of it. The style that Hanna Bergholm creates definitely gets close to that potential, especially with the forest inspired cinematography from Pietari Peltola. The aesthetic really embraces those greens and earthy tones which are so beloved in horror, there’s a very satisfying feel to them. Bergholm also does really well to create an air of discomfort, the body horror elements keep you on edge, and it has an intense, nicely aggressive atmosphere.
Something that’s then personified by the performance from Seidi Haarla, which has such a great mix of being deranged and unhinged but also truly concerned. She’s the heart of Nightborn, it entirely revolves around her experience, and she definitely gives the performance to pull that off, but the story can’t always back her up. A good example of that is Rupert Grint’s Jon who feels like a wet blanket here. His character is one of the elements which gives the film the feel of a tepid family drama which is then strongly at odds with the body horror.
That’s really the key issue with Nightborn, there are some great elements visually, the performances are solid, Pirkko Saisio as Saga’s mother is a particularly good addition, but the way that it moves is lacking. They try to jump right into the story, so the opening feels rushed, but then things slow down too much. It never quite manages to find the right balance, which some viewers will struggle with, and it may lose their attention.
It also spends a fair amount of time gaslighting Saga, which in itself is a fairly good metaphor for postpartum depression and a lot of different elements of a woman’s psychology after giving birth, but they don’t quite reach the necessary depth. Instead, it can be fairly frustrating when it makes you feel you should question what is real or not, if everyone other than Saga can’t see what’s so very clear. It also struggles to make the passage of time apparent, it would have been helpful to see how truly unusual the baby is, to know how old he actually is.
Nightborn has a lot of great ideas, an intriguing, disturbing style and a really solid visual foundation but the story doesn’t quite reach its full potential. It’s a shame as this could have been something special, it’s almost a body horror cousin to Nightbitch, but it can’t quite hit the psychological levels of that film. It struggles to play its story out effectively and misses the mark on the progression and pacing. Although, it is led by a superb performance from Seidi Haarla and Rupert Grint is perfect as her useless, annoying husband. But, for future filmmakers exploring similar territory, for the love of all cinema and your viewers’ sanity, that’s too much crying and screaming. We well and truly get the point that the baby is not normal, please pull it back a little bit.
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