The Front Room Review

The Front Room is an adaptation of a short story by Susan Hill and serves as the directional debut for Max and Sam Eggers, brothers to the critically acclaimed filmmaker Robert Eggers.

Belinda (Brandy) and Norman (Andrew Burnap) are a struggling couple and expecting a child. Belinda quits her job as a college professor because she keeps being ignored by her department head. It’s a decision that brings the couple into the red. However, their financial problems can be solved when Norman’s abusive stepmother, Solange (Kathryn Hunter) offers to leave everything in her will to the couple. All Norman and Belinda need to do is care for an elderly racist religious zealot.

The Front Room was distributed by A24 which would give audiences the impression of a quality production. A24 has released many elevated horror films like Green Room, Midsommar, and Saint Maid, and Robert Eggers’ first two films, The Witch and The Lighthouse were released by A24. Unfortunately for The Front Room, the critical reaction was mixed and the audience’s reaction was worse. At the screening I attended, I saw one individual and one couple and there weren’t many people in the cinema to begin with.

The Front Room was an unpleasant film because of the subject matter, characters, and the amount of bodily fluids on screen. A big part of the film was showing the perils of aging and struggles in caring for the elderly. It hits close to home having cared for an elderly parent. It was uncomfortable viewing as it showed Belinda having to do all the cleaning and looking after a frail old lady. This film showed more onscreen shit than I ever wanted to see in my life. It rivaled The Substance and Terrifier 3 as the most disgusting film of 2024.

The most uncomfortable factor about the aging storyline was Solange using her mental and physical frailties as a way to torture her stepson and daughter-in-law. She was malicious and that made The Front Room disingenuous since cognitive and physical decline are horrible to witness and experience. It’s not like a horror film can’t explore cognitive decline, it would be terrifying to lose your memory, awareness, and mind and the critically acclaimed film The Taking of Deborah Logan was about Alzheimer’s patients.

The other two characters weren’t much better. Norman should have been sympathetic since his stepmum abused him, yet he left his heavily pregnant wife, who needed to look after a newborn as well as care for an elderly woman with great care needs. Belinda was the most sympathetic since she was trying to accommodate Solange and act as a mediator, yet her character was pushed to the edge, leading her to conduct elder abuse.

The switch came at the halfway point. The first had a decent amount of conflict and tension due to Solange religious beliefs and racism, Norman trying to avoid her, and Belinda wanting to do the right thing. The unpleasantness and scatological material ramped up in the second half. This was moved from a serious psychological horror film into a dark comedy.

The Eggers were trying to inject a lot of ideas into their film. Besides the aging theme, The Front Room was about a cultural crash. Solange tried to provoke Belinda by saying was she was just as persecuted because of her Christian faith, and the film evolved into a battle between a White Christian Nationalist and a Black Lives Matter activist. Solange was trying to enforce her Christian beliefs on the family with the baby having a strange reaction to a Christian necklace. The Christian theme extended to Belinda experiencing some Christian illusions like seeing Solange as the Virgin Mary. These images felt like the filmmakers were desperately trying to make The Front Room into an arty A24 film.

Motherhood was the other major theme in the film. Belinda had her doubts since her first child was stillborn and she struggled to bond with her newborn daughter. Added to this was the dominating figure of Solange who was taking over the house and trying to interfere with the upbringing of the baby. Solange was a horrible mother to Norman and her influence lingered over the man. Solange acted as a cautionary tale.

Finally, there was an economic theme in the film. Belinda and Norman were highly educated professionals yet they were struggling financially. Solange was from old money, and she offered the couple a way out of their financial troubles, but the elderly woman was able to exert power over Norman and Belinda.

The Front Room was a film that attempted to cover many ideas, but these have been done better in other films. If you want a racially-themed horror film, go to Jordan Peele’s work, a horror-thriller about people being pushed to their limits, there are two versions of Funny People and Speak No Evil, and if you want a Christian-themed horror film, there are tons of options. The Front Room was a nasty horror thriller that offered disgust and discomfort.