AT AN ISOLATED RETREAT, LONG BURIED MEMORIES AND GENERATIONAL TRAUMA TAKE TERRIFYING SHAPE IN THIS HARROWING SUPERNATURAL NIGHTMARE
Recovering alcoholic Michi (Cornelia Ivancan) retreats to her estranged father’s isolated countryside house with her eight-year-old daughter Hanna (Lola Herbst), hoping to mend the bond shattered after a drunk-driving accident. But the quiet refuge quickly turns hostile, as long-buried memories surface, and whispers of Michi’s mother — who died by suicide in the house — begin to seep into every room.
Hanna starts sleepwalking. An eerie drawing of a woman in purple appears. Neighbors speak in riddles about a spirit that never left. As shadows move through the overgrown garden and night terrors escalate, Michi becomes convinced her mother’s presence is stalking them. Haunted by visions and wracked with paranoia, she spirals back into alcohol, her grip on reality unraveling as fear gives way to rage. And when Hanna nearly wanders into traffic during a midnight trance, Michi realizes the haunting is no longer confined to the house –it lives inside her.
The nightmare reaches its peak in a vast sunflower field, where Michi confronts the monstrous apparition of her mother and the devastating truth of her own inherited trauma. In a final act of desperation, Michi must choose between surrendering to the darkness or breaking a generational curse before she becomes the very monster threatening her child.
SMOTHER (2023)
Written & Directed by: Achmed Abdel-Salam
Cast: Cornelia Ivancan, Lola Herbst, Lukas Turtur, Heinz Trixner,
Inge Maux, Franziska Rieck
Produced by: Lena Weiss, Eugen Klim (Glitter & Doom)
Co-Produced by: Viktoria Salcher, Mathias Forberg (Prisma Film)
Executive Produced by:
Cinematography by: Alexander Dirninger
Genre: World Cinema/Horror
RT: 90 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1:85:1
Sound: Stereo 5.1
Language: German with English Subtitles
