Film Review: HATCHING: IFC Midnight Delivers a Terrific, Unique New Horror Film [Sundance 2022]

Siiri Solalinna Hatching

Hatching Review

Hatching (2022) Film Review from the 44th Annual Sundance Film Festival, a movie directed by Hanna Bergholm and starring Siiri Solalinna, Sophia Heikkila, Jani Volanen, Miroslava Agejeva, Oiva Ollila, Ida Maattanen and Reino Nordin.

Finnish filmmaker Hanna Bergholm delivers one of the most frighteningly original and entertaining horror films in recent memory with her new terrifying picture, Hatching. It’s a scary movie that feels fresh even though some of the themes featured in it have been explored in other horror films throughout the years. There is a reason why this film doesn’t feel recycled from old horror movies and that’s because of the fine pacing and huge creative risks the film takes. It is nothing short of grotesque at times but the quality of the direction, the story line and the acting helps it rise to about the same level as its distributor IFC Midnight’s phenomenal We Need to Do Something from last year.

As the film opens, we meet a family with an interesting set of parents played by Sophia Heikkila and Jani Volanen. These two characters are simply called “Mother and Father” in the film’s credits. We also meet the couple’s kids– a girl and a boy named Tinja (Siiri Solalinna) and Matias (Oiva Ollila), respectively. These children’s mother is creating a video with her “beautiful” family as the film starts and pretty soon, a crow flies into their house and wrecks the place with glass breaking all over. Mother tries to kill the bird and almost succeeds. She has it thrown away into the garbage can outside. When the bird somehow flies away severely injured, Tinja kills it when she sees it fighting for its life. Tinja finds an egg that was left behind and takes it home with her. Maybe she feels guilty and wants to take care of the “baby” bird which will soon hatch from it. As Tinja keeps the egg hidden in her bedroom, little does she know what will hatch from it and the havoc it will wreck on her family.

Tinja is a practicing gymnast who isn’t perfect, but her mom wants her to win an upcoming competition. At first, you may feel the mother setting challenges for her daughter is healthy but when Tinja catches her mom having an affair with another man (Reino Nordin), we know something is just off about this mother. It’s not easy to pinpoint at the beginning but later on, you’ll see what the mom is truly like.

Back to the bird egg in the bedroom which eventually hatches into something that resembles a small dinosaur from the Jurassic Park pictures or an alien from the Alien franchise crossed with an oversized bird that comes complete with gooey slime that recalls those same Alien pictures. Tinja can only hide this bird for so long but does a good job nurturing it and keeping it hidden from her family for quite a while. Tinja and the bird form a bond which is solidified when the unusual creature licks up all of Tinja’s vomit when she throws up after seeing a decapitated dog. This dog was a next-door neighbor’s but was barking loud when the bird decided to kill it. You see, Tinja and the bird have become friends but there’s a limit to what Tinja can accept and when the brother finds out that Tinja buried the dog’s body in the backyard, he automatically assumes Tinja killed the dog herself.

Besides the aspect of the bond between the girl and the bird, there’s a lot more going on in this new picture. For one, the mother’s obsession with Tinja winning the competition is not normal and you’ll laugh when the bird destroys the dress that the mom had bought for the event. You’ll laugh but be terrified at the same time because you won’t be able to figure out who or what is worse–the mom or the killer bird.

Tinja goes bird seed shopping at a pet store at one point where she runs into other kids from school. This scene displays her trouble making friends which is why she becomes so close to her secret “pet” bird. Tinja also eventually develops a friendship with the young next-door neighbor (Ida Maattanen) who is also in the competition with Tinja, but the friend ends up in the hospital right before it starts. Tinja soon gets in way over her head with the creature and her dysfunctional family structure (the father accepts the mother’s cheating, for example) is complemented by the bird’s evil ways. This movie goes “all out” in terms of the ending where anything goes. This picture becomes a bit like David Cronenberg’s The Fly in terms of excessive gore and creature/human combinations. It also has a bit of a resemblance to Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth in terms of the film’s look especially in the brighter early scenes in the movie. However, this film has a style all its own that even surpasses Cronenberg’s 1986 film and comes close to Lanthimos’s picture.

Don’t think the mother in this film is unrealistic. Of course, parents want their kids to win but, in this picture, Tinja doesn’t want it even half as much as the mom does. When Tinja tries to work on her gymnast skills at one point, she keeps messing up. She may be OK with doing it for fun, but the mom simply pushes Tinja way too hard, and you’ll see how it all ends up. Just keep in mind this is a horror film first and foremost, and on that account, it succeeds many times over.

Siiri Solalinna and Sophia Heikkila play Tinja and her mother to perfection creating the ultimate dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship. The creature, which is called Alli, tries to steal the rug right out from underneath them at times but the quality of Solalinna and Heikkila’s work is simply fabulous. Both actresses excel in their roles while director Bergholm may be on her way to becoming a filmmaking horror movie genius. It’s no surprise she already has another project lined up.

See Hatching, another tremendously successful movie from the IFC Midnight releasing label. It will give you a nightmare or two along the way though I can’t tell you for certain who will haunt those bad dreams more–the evil bird or the mother from the picture. This is a must-see for horror fans!

Rating: 9/10

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