The Front Room (2024) review

Dir. Max and Sam Eggers

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

Based on Susan Hill’s short story of the same name, The Front Room is a horror film that should ostensibly leave you glum. Its premise deals with lofty topics such as intergenerational conflict, elder abuse, and the way in which parents can leverage money as a power-play on their children. The most welcomed surprise of the film — directed by Max and Sam Eggers, the younger twin brothers of Robert, who directed The Lighthouse — is its ability to leverage comedy into the mix, thanks to two juxtaposed combative performances.

R&B singer Brandy Norwood returns to the horror genre as Belinda, a pregnant anthropology professor, who quits her job after feeling marginalized and disrespected in her role. Her husband, Norman (Andrew Burnap) is a lawyer, but him now being the sole income further compounds their financial woes. Soon thereafter, Norman receives word that his father has died, forcing him to reconnect with his emotionally abusive, ultra-Christian stepmother Solange (Kathryn Hunter).

The 67-year-old Hunter looks like she’s over 100, buried under a thick wig, a pound of makeup, and two separate canes that make her walk like a tarantula. Solange agrees to leave Belinda and Norman her riches if they allow her to live in their house. Norman is so terrified of his stepmom that he almost refuses, but Belinda insists they take this miracle for what it’s worth.

The problem is Solange is so miserable and cantankerous that the money might not even be worth it. She’s racist, condescending, and cunning, taking over “the front room” (or “the frunchroom,” as my Midwestern linguistics revealed themselves to the ticket-taker at my local multiplex) of the home. Once Belinda’s baby, Laurie (a name Solange insists on) is born, it’s a competition between the infant and the mother-in-law to see who can be more needy. Belinda battles thinly veiled shots from Solange at her perceived inability to be a nurturing mother, as well as the geezer’s nasty bouts of incontinence, the likes of which the Eggers brothers can’t help but show in close-up.

There should be no humor in this story. The A24/2AM-stamp on The Front Room should suggest that themes of grief and trauma will reveal themselves at any point. But what perhaps even the Eggers brothers themselves didn’t foresee was just how well Brandy and Hunter would play off of one another. The two are absolute dynamite, particularly Hunter, who throws herself into the role of a croaky-voice mother-in-law from hell, making Joan Crawford seem like Mary Poppins. The two fight for the right to be the mother of the household, all while Norman is too timid to do anything.

The Eggers employ a variety of techniques, from slow-zooms and extreme close-ups in effort to make you feel consistently on-edge. I kept waiting for the rug to be pulled out, awaiting some twist involving an evangelical cult of some kind, which thankfully never came. The Front Room is a linear movie. Being that much of it is confined to Belinda and Norman’s home, it impressively resembles a haunted house movie, only the monster in this case is a bitch mother-in-law. Being that the Eggers, as a trio, are all under 45-years-old, there’s plenty of time for this brotherhood to turn into a horror dynasty that treats us to one disquieting, nasty chiller after another.

Starring: Brandy Norwood, Kathryn Hunter, Andrew Burnap, and Neal Huff. Directed by: Max and Sam Eggers.