SummaryAfter an overdose nearly takes her life, Laura Birch (Jemima Rooper) escapes from the high-stakes pressure of the advertising world to return to her roots. Accepting an invitation home from her estranged mother (Kate Dickie), Laura hopes the time away in the secluded English village will help calm the demons raging inside of her. She soon discove... Read More
Directed By:Ben Steiner
Written By:Ben Steiner
Matriarch
Metascore
Available after 4 critic reviews
tbd
User score
Generally Unfavorable
3.8
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Oct 21, 2022
72
Just like the black ichor seeping into Laura, Matriarch saturates viewers’ senses until it pays off its many adumbrations with unexpected revelations.
Oct 21, 2022
60
Like Ari Aster’s similarly slippery “Hereditary,” Steiner’s film shrewdly shifts back and forth between the real physical threat of dark supernatural forces and the more elusive harm done by a lifetime of bad parenting.
User score
Generally Unfavorable
20% Positive
1 Rating
1 Rating
20% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
60% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Nov 2, 2022
5
Some folk horror that has an intriguing premise but lacks an interesting protagonist, and that is because in the face of the mystery she shows a complete disregard for finding the answers. That's why when the script needs to provide explanations, this is made in a forced manner to keep the plot moving forward. Details are sparse and the film focuses more on atmosphere and visuals. The development is slow and the horror itself is scarce.
Its effectiveness as I said is focused on the visuals. It's not a film of jumpscares or violence, so if that's what you're looking for, you're going to have to find it elsewhere. There's more ideas, vigor and ambition than comprehension, but from the results it seems like the director understood that a more complex route would have been more problematic for his story and while he doesn't deliver everything on a silver platter, you won't break your head trying to make sense of it either.
Oct 30, 2023
3
You know, sometimes it looks like you're going to watch a good job, but you realize that it won't be in the middle of the movie. Matriarch is exactly that kind of movie. At least I can be consoled that I watched Kat ****. She's a great actress.
Oct 20, 2022
20
Matriarch opens by watching a nude figure descend into a pond of black muck, but the slog that follows in this derivative, tar-flow-paced thriller from Britain is strictly for the viewer.
Mar 30, 2025
1
British horrors are either really good or incredibly poor. Unfortunately this one is incredibly poor. There isn't much that's frightening in this film. Its more a supernatural thriller than a horror. I could predict the twists in this film before they happened and the supernatural twist with the mother has been done before and better elsewhere. But the worst thing about this film is how unlikable the main character is. The writer f this film gives the watcher no reason at all to care about her. She has no redeeming features and why she is as she is, isn't really explored other than in shouting conversations. The writer failed the golden rule of show don't tell.














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