‘A Mother’s Love’ Review – Maternal Horror Outing Struggles To Deliver Psychological Or Emotional Depth [AFF 2025]

Few things are as unsettling as a horror film that blurs the line between mental illness and the supernatural. A Mother’s Love, written and directed by Patrick Q. Roberts, tries to walk that tightrope, exploring postpartum depression through the lens of psychological horror. On paper, it’s an effective setup: a new mother, a dream home, and a corpse in the walls. But while the film has moments of real tension and an undeniably strong central performance from Emily Hall, it ultimately struggles to deliver the emotional and psychological depth its premise promises.

From the start, Roberts creates an atmosphere thick with unease. We meet Kenzie Carter (Hall), a new mother whose exhaustion and paranoia are almost tangible. When she and her husband Eric (Nathan Owens) move into their newly renovated home, they hope for a fresh start. Instead, the discovery of a dead body hidden in the walls sends their lives spiraling. Detective Greta Palmer begins investigating, but the true horror comes from within Kenzie’s mind–her worsening visions, her fear of harming her newborn, and her crumbling sense of reality.

The film’s first half succeeds in generating an uncomfortable, anxiety-inducing rhythm. Hall carries every scene with a raw vulnerability that makes her unraveling feel authentic. Her portrayal of Kenzie’s disorientation, the sleepless nights, the intrusive thoughts, the emotional numbness captures the horror of postpartum depression more vividly than any of the film’s supernatural touches. When Genevieve (Kara Hayward), the mysterious nanny, enters the picture, the film takes an even darker turn. Their scenes together are among the most compelling, as Genevieve’s quiet comfort blurs into something sinister and maternal in its own right.

Yet, despite the strong performances, A Mother’s Love falters in execution. The film is intentionally frustrating and anxiety-inducing, but beyond that surface-level discomfort, it feels shallow. Roberts teases deeper ideas–the fear of being an unfit mother, the cyclical nature of trauma, the haunting grip of guilt–but rarely follows through. The pacing drags, and much of the narrative feels manipulative, built to prolong tension rather than explore character. Kenzie’s husband Eric, for instance, is so poorly written that his presence becomes more irritating than essential. His disbelief and detachment might be meant to heighten Kenzie’s isolation, but instead, they flatten the emotional stakes.

The film’s biggest flaw, though, is that it becomes painfully uninteresting. For all its tension and symbolic flourishes, like the recurring Satanic imagery and the body in the wall, A Mother’s Love never quite earns its dread. A late-stage reveal about Genevieve should feel devastating, a tragic culmination of Kenzie’s fractured psyche. Instead, it comes across as predictable, another example of the film’s habit of telling rather than truly showing.

There’s no denying that Roberts knows how to build atmosphere. The sense of isolation is palpable, the sound design quietly unnerving, and certain shots, especially of Kenzie alone in the house, carry a haunting stillness. But as the film trudges toward its conclusion, it’s hard not to feel emotionally detached. The film wants to say something profound about motherhood and mental illness, yet it ends up using both more as tools for suspense than subjects of genuine exploration.

Emily Hall gives a deeply committed performance that almost redeems the film’s shortcomings. Her portrayal of Kenzie’s breakdown, equal parts horrifying and heartbreaking, deserves a better script around it. A Mother’s Love aims for the emotional intensity of The Babadook but lands closer to a standard psychological thriller that mistakes confusion for complexity.

In the end, what’s left isn’t the fear or the tragedy, but the frustration of what could have been a film that begins with promise but ultimately becomes another forgettable horror film.

A Mother’s Love had its World Premiere at the 2025 Austin Film Festival. 

Director: Patrick Q. Roberts

Writer: Patrick Q. Roberts

Rated: NR

Runtime: 90m