Pregnancy, the act of giving birth, and motherhood are extremely intense experiences that are their own form of natural body horror, so to speak. There are about a dozen different reasons why this vulnerable period in a woman’s life has been infinitely featured in horror films, whether it’s through a victimized pregnant woman or a new mother who finds herself with dark feelings surrounding her progeny.

As much as pregnancy and childbirth are a period of vulnerability, it’s also an act that creates a remarkable bond that’s also ripe material to exploit in the horror genre. Turkish filmmaker Alphan Eseli’s Mutter: The Diary of a Mother is a modern folk horror film on motherhood that’s reminiscent of titles like Hatching, Lamb, and The Brood that explore separation anxiety, legacy, and transformative grief through a surreal lens that also succeeds as a one-of-a-kind creature feature. 

Mutter becomes a powerful examination of the unbreakable bond between mother and child. Gül (Hazar Ergüçlü) refuses to separate from her offspring, even if it’s more monster than man. It ultimately makes no difference. It’s hers, which is more than enough for Gül. Motherhood is painful and torturous, but an ordeal that’s worth all the trauma. Mutter: The Diary of a Mother is an equally distressing experience that tells a powerful, poignant story that dares to be different.

It bluntly highlights the beautiful and brutal horrors that surround the natural extremes of childbirth. However, this storytelling expands into a broader commentary on not just motherhood, but also the judgmental prejudices and corresponding misogyny that accompany single mothers. Mutter moans that this sweeping disrespect is entrenched in every aspect of the world as Gül cycles through transactional relationships in her life, yet it never feels preachy with its messaging. Occasionally on the nose, yes, but never preachy.

This is a movie that wastes absolutely no time, and it begins by throwing Gül and the audience into chaos. It’s not even a few minutes in and Gül has already given birth to some inexplicable monster and just as quickly been left by her partner. Gül begins this story abruptly, abandoned and afraid. Mutter’s fantastical dream logic makes it feel even more like it’s some kind of folk horror parable. It tragically presents motherhood as this all-encompassing force that takes over Gül’s life and is literally draining her dry. Beyond motherhood, Mutter also explores the fine line between love and hate, good and evil, and how these extremes are always at war and in flux. 

The messaging would be potent regardless of how it’s conveyed, but it’s appreciated that the film opts for old school practical effects for Gül’s inhuman offspring. The larval creature that comes out of her and struggles to exist is truly disgusting, while more instances of gruesome body horror reflect upon motherhood’s sacrificial nature. Mutter is a slimy and gross story that showcases especially disgusting sound design. There are frames that look like they belong in a Stuart Gordon or Brian Yuzna film from the ‘80s.

It’s easy to get caught up in the offensive practical effects. However, the best thing about this movie is the standout performance by Hazar Ergüçlü as Gül. She provides Mutter with a much-needed emotional anchor that gives the audience a reason to continue on this intense endeavor. Ergüçlü’s performance often channels Isabelle Adjani‘s haunting work in Possession, while still bringing plenty of original qualities to this role. When Mutter begins, Gül is left alone in the world, with no one, like a newborn. It’s a very lonely, isolating film that’s full of wide shots, barren spaces, and absent framing.

Gül’s compulsion to stay by her child’s side, no matter what, still manages to be inspiring even if it’s just as heartbreaking. Ergüçlü’s committed performance does a lot of the heavy lifting here, and she’s given many opportunities to convey a wide range of intense emotions. It’s a performance that’s vulnerable, fierce, inscrutable, and so much more. Gül transforms as much as her larval baby does, and it’s as if she’s in her own invisible state of metamorphosis throughout the film that mirrors her baby’s development.

Gül is dealt a bad hand, but the entire film conveys a brutalist aesthetic that’s meant to alienate. There’s bleak, drab lighting and sparse, cold set design that reinforces a depressing world that’s inescapable. It cultivates a heavy, crushing feeling where levity seems impossible. “There are so many sick bastards in the world,” is one of Mutter’s mantras, although this bleak statement is largely talking about men and how they’re this ongoing destructive force in Gül’s life. They’re the one constant that continues to let her down.

Mutter also addresses the concept of “God taking back his blessings” and if, perhaps, Gül actually deserves this cursed offspring for some reason, and that it’s a Biblical form of punishment. The whole film generates dread over a future for Gül that seems fated to fail. There’s some extremely dark messaging in the final act about the selfless nature of motherhood. “Nevertheless, she persisted” doesn’t cover half of it here. The fact that the film is dedicated to Eseli’s own mother is particularly wild and recontextualizes everything that’s come before it. 

Eseli delivers a fierce folk horror film that’s both familiar and disorienting. It checks many of the expected boxes for these types of maternal monster stories, and yet Gül’s plight never wears thin or grows repetitive. Eseli crafts a formidable film that doesn’t struggle to make any of its thoughts on parenthood known. If anything, Mutter’s pitch-black darkness is a little too much at times. The film would actually benefit from pulling back so that all this insurmountable sorrow never feels like parody.

Mutter never reaches this point, but it’s a melancholy exercise in extended sorrow that’s not an especially fun journey once it really locks in. Nevertheless, it is an effective meditation on motherhood and sacrifice that cuts deep despite tackling well-trodden territory.

Mutter: The Diary of a Mother made its premiere at Tribeca 2026, release info TBD.