Ah yes, with the advent of fall comes another entrant into the bleeding haunted house movie genre, this time with director Darren Aronofsky trying his hand. The film is called Mother! and stars Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem as a couple living in a large country house that Lawrence’s character has renovated to perfection.
Although plot details are slim, the trailer, released yesterday, reveals just enough for us to make a couple of conjectures.
“We spend all our time here,” she says at one point. “I want to make a paradise.”
Uh oh. We all know what that means: trouble. Sure enough, Lawrence enters what looks like a nursery to find a spot of blood on a white rug. Then, a mysterious visitor (Ed Harris) comes calling at night. Bardem lets him in, but Lawrence is wary: “He’s a stranger. We’re just gonna let him sleep in our house?”
The next morning, his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) appears. Then other people start gathering in their home. Things get weird: The walls of the basement start bleeding, as does a light bulb. Lawrence finds a photo of Bardem in the unwanted guest’s luggage. Bardem seems unfazed. Later he reveals with a Cheshire grin that all these people have come to see him.
“All I’m trying to do is bring love into this house, open the door to new people, new ideas,” he shouts.
But Lawrence will have none of it. “Get out of my house!” she screams. “Get out!”
The house blackens, and a wall of old portraits goes up in flames. Lawrence is in a tunnel underground, while a mob of people are clamoring to close the door on her.
What’s going on here, and why is the movie called Mother!? Perhaps we can expect a Rosemary’s Baby-meets-Get Out situation?
One thing is for certain: Renovations can be stressful. Mother! comes to theaters September 15.
Watch the trailer above.