‘Nightborn’ Review – A Nightmare On Motherhood

I went into Nightborn expecting another creature feature. I figured I was in for another straight horror movie built around an increasingly disturbing monster. That’s not really what this is. Yes, there are creepy moments and elements of a horror film mixed with some nasty body horror, and one very unsettling baby, but to my surprise Nightborn is much more interested in exploring the anxieties of early motherhood than it is in making you jump.

Whether that works for you will depend entirely on what you’re looking for. If you’re expecting a conventional horror film, there’s a good chance you’ll leave disappointed because this rarely builds sustained tension or delivers many genuine scares. Instead, director Hanna Bergholm uses horror as a way of visualizing postpartum fear and the overwhelming feeling that everyone around you thinks you’re overreacting. Even when the film stumbles, and it certainly does, I found it difficult not to admire what it’s reaching for.

Saga (Seidi Haarla) and her husband Jon (Rupert Grint) move into the isolated house where Saga spent much of her childhood, hoping to begin a new chapter as parents. After the birth of their son, however, Saga becomes convinced something is terribly wrong with the baby. He only seems comfortable in darkness, breastfeeding leaves her bloodied, his behavior grows increasingly disturbing every day, and no matter how desperate her concerns become, everyone around her insists she’s simply exhausted or struggling to adjust to motherhood.

That’s where Nightborn is at its strongest. The horror isn’t really about whether the baby is a monster but more so it’s about what happens when a new mother feels completely abandoned by the people who are supposed to support her. Saga constantly tells everyone something is wrong, only to be dismissed as tired, emotional, or mentally unwell. Bergholm taps into that fear remarkably well for the most part as she turns ordinary experiences like breastfeeding, sleepless nights, and the pressure to be a “good mother” into something deeply unsettling. The metaphor isn’t exactly subtle, but it’s an effective one. The downside is that because the film is so invested in that allegory, it rarely functions as a satisfying horror movie. It’s creepy far more often than it’s scary, and I kept waiting for the tension to reach a level it never quite does.

A huge reason the film remains engaging is Seidi Haarla. She carries almost every scene, and her performance keeps the story emotionally grounded even when the narrative starts drifting into stranger territory. Haarla does a fantastic job showing Saga’s gradual deterioration through small expressions and exhausted body language rather than exaggerated outbursts. You believe this woman is becoming isolated from everyone around her. Rupert Grint is also a welcome presence as Jon. He brings warmth and even a little humor to the film, and it’s easy to understand why he reacts the way he does. From his perspective, his wife seems to be unraveling under the weight of new motherhood. Unfortunately, the screenplay never fully commits to whether Saga is experiencing psychological trauma, supernatural horror, body horror, or all three simultaneously. There are moments where those ideas complement one another, but more often they compete for attention.

Visually, Bergholm creates an atmosphere that’s difficult to shake. The Finnish forests feel ancient and almost alive, the decaying house slowly becomes another source of unease, and the makeup effects surrounding Kuura are genuinely disturbing. The image of this strange infant feeding on blood instead of milk is grotesque enough on its own, but it also reinforces the film’s central idea that motherhood can leave someone feeling emotionally and physically drained. It’s one of those horror images that works because it means something beyond simply being disgusting. At the same time, the story doesn’t evolve much beyond that central metaphor. Once the film establishes what it’s trying to say, it spends a long time circling the same ideas, making the pacing feel slower than it needed to be.

The further the story progresses, the more uneven the tone becomes. There are scenes that are genuinely unnerving, particularly those involving Kuura’s increasingly violent behavior, but others tip into territory that felt unintentionally silly rather than frightening. It’s a difficult balance to maintain, especially when you’re asking the audience to accept something this bizarre while keeping one foot grounded in emotional realism. Bergholm occasionally finds that balance, but not consistently enough for the film to fully come together. Even so, I found myself respecting Nightborn more than I liked it, which might be the case for most experimental films I watch, but hey, what can I say. It’s trying to do something more interesting than simply tell another supernatural horror story or just another story about motherhood. It’s examining postpartum anxiety, maternal isolation, and the fear of losing yourself after becoming a parent through the language of horror. I don’t think it completely succeeds. The pacing can become repetitive, the tonal shifts don’t always work, and the film never fully decides what kind of horror story it wants to tell. 

Hanna Bergholm deserves credit for taking a familiar horror setup and steering it toward something far more introspective, and Seidi Haarla delivers the kind of committed performance that keeps you emotionally invested even when the story starts drifting away. Thereand there are other things about it worth admiring, but I just wish the screenplay had been as focused as its themes. It spends so much time hovering between psychological horror, supernatural horror, body horror, and family drama that it never fully commits to any one direction. The result is a film that’s interesting to unpack afterward but surprisingly difficult to become fully immersed in while watching. Even so, I’d still recommend it to horror fans looking for something different. It didn’t completely work for me, but it’s the kind of thoughtful, ambitious swing that’s far easier to respect than dismiss.

Nightborn is currently available to stream on Shudder.

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