Madres Review: Of Ryan Zaragoza’s Horror Film – Welcome To The Blumhouse | Amazon Prime Video

Director: Ryan Zaragoza

Cast: Elpidia Carrillo, Tenoch Huerta, Kerry Cahill

Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video

Ratings: 2.5/5 (two and half star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Amazon Prime Video has released the last two films of the second part of the anthological cycle Welcome to the Blumhouse. The Manor by Axelle Carolyn and Madres, directed by Ryan Zaragoza and of which we offer you our review. Madres somehow shares the starting point with the first two films released last week: Black as Night and Bingo Hell. Also at the center of this story, based on real events, is an ethnic minority and a social subtext; civil, we could say in this case. The true story from which Zaragoza’s film takes its cue is a shocking story that has destroyed the lives of large numbers of Mexican women for several decades.

A story that we will not cover in detail so as not to reveal more than necessary and jeopardize the vision of the film and which has to do with a “eugenics” program applied in various states of the USA since the 1920s. One of the darkest chapters in the history of American democracy. Zaragoza tells this atrocious story, speaks of racism, marginalization and oppression through the language of horror cinema. In the cast Tenoch Huerta, Ariana Guerra, Elpidia Carrillo, Kerry Cahill, Robert Larriviere and Joseph Garcia. Before moving on to the Madres review we see below the salient details of the plot.

Madres Review: The Plot

The events take place in the seventies. Diana and Beto are a young couple expecting their first child: she is an American journalist, he is a Mexican agricultural manager. They move from Los Angeles to an agricultural community of Mexican migrants in a remote valley in the Californian countryside. Diana feels disoriented and uncomfortable in this Latin community strongly linked to its own traditions. Her origins are also Latin but her parents, forced to repress their cultural identity, did not even teach her Spanish. Thus, Diana feels excluded and for the first time she finds herself having to endure the condition of Gring marginalized. To worsen the situation, in the village, the belief circulates – which for Diana is superstition – that a curse haunts future mothers. Pregnant women suffer from rashes, extreme weakness, even hallucinations.

The woman begins to investigate and discovers that in the community, over the years, there has been a drastic decline in new births. Skeptical that this is actually the effect of a curse, Diana thinks it is the pesticides used in the crops that cause problems for pregnant women. The future mother begins to be haunted by the ghost of Teresa, a pregnant woman who has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Teresa lived with her husband in the house that Diana and Beto bought. In the diaries, which Diana finds along with various memories of the woman, Teresa mentions a mysterious “valley fever”. For the young journalist it is confirmation that pregnant women get sick from pesticides and she is determined to get to the bottom of the story. But Diana soon discovers that the farming community in which she lives hides an even more chilling secret.

The Importance Of The Content, The Inadequacy Of The Form

As mentioned at the beginning of our review, Madres is inspired by a true, dramatic and too little known story. The history of the eugenics program applied in the United States to the detriment of Mexican migrants in the twentieth century; of women in particular. A chilling story that deserved to be told; perhaps, however, not in the form of a horror film. That of Zaragoza is a horror that limps from several points of view, with the result that the importance of the content is penalized by the inadequacy of the form. In addition to the real historical cue, Zaragoza inserts into the narration reflections on marginalization and racism, perfectly (and sadly) fitting even today. The credits, then, remind us with factual evidence that even the horrible eugenic practices are far from belonging to the past.

Also interesting is the idea that the protagonist – a gringa, albeit of Latin origins – finds herself taking on the role of outsider in a cohesive Mexican community strongly linked to its traditions. A rather new and quite original “reversal of roles”. Too bad that Madres flaws just like horror movies in the strict sense. If the primary purpose of a horror film is to scare, Madres is far from hitting the mark. A few inflated jumps care mounted here and there are not enough to get the result. They lack the tension, the anguish, the feeling of imminent danger, the thrills typical of horror cinema. In some ways we are closer to the thriller, but those expecting a film of terror will hardly find bread for their teeth.

Technical Aspects and Conclusions – Madres

Having ascertained that Madres only touches the horror genre without fully re-entering it, it must be said that unfortunately the film also lacks in other important aspects. And, even in this case, it fails to convey the right importance that the starting story deserves. Such a delicate matter would have deserved a different approach; certainly not that of a rather weak horror. On the characters front, psychological insight is almost entirely lacking, to the point that it is very difficult to emotionally participate in the events on the scene. The dialogues are never incisive, the conflicts between the protagonists remain on the surface and there is little attention even towards the context in which the story takes place.

It would have been interesting to dissect the mechanisms underlying a small community so cohesive and so full of secrets. Get to the bottom of the clash between Diana and the local women, learn more about the same past history of the protagonist, which instead is barely mentioned. And instead everything remains on the surface, and here Madres slips harmlessly on the spectator for his scarce hour and a half of duration. As we move towards the conclusion of our review of Madres, it will be clear that the Zaragoza film is a half-hole in the water. A film that has the merit of making known a dramatic true story – with a rather touching moment at the end – and little more.A film that is uncertain in its passage and that fails to leave its mark despite a series of potentially fertile ideas .

Positive Sides

• The starting point, with the true story behind the film, is interesting…

Negative Sides

• Unfortunately, however, it is not as developed as it deserves
• A too weak horror, which never scares and fails to create the right atmosphere