Written and directed by Matthew Diebler and Jacob Gillman
Starring Debra Wilson, Kiersten Warren and Richard Riehle
Running time: 1 hour and 46 minutes

by Hunter Bush

If you read the Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival wrap-up I co-wrote with Allison, you may recall me saying that The Invisible Mother is my favorite film of the year. If not, there you go. I also explained that the “Unnamed” part of their moniker is a signifier of their preference for showcasing films that are difficult to pin down under one neat little label.

The Invisible Mother falls into that category of the not-easily-qualifiable. You could say it's a haunted house movie, but lumping it in with all those others would be like putting Beetlejuice next to The Taking of Deborah Logan because they’re both “possession movies" or putting Serial Mom alongside Zodiac as "true crime". While these descriptors are technically accurate, you get no sense of the tone or sheer style involved. PUFF 2019 co-host Father Evil referred to the film's vibe as an "Avant-garde Hell" and I'm inclined to agree (in general I feel it may be unwise to disagree with Father Evil but that's besides the point). In The Invisible Mother, filmmakers Matthew Diebler & Jacob Gillman have combined a variety of influences and made something altogether new out of them. Their Avant-garde Hell is built on the shoulders of filmmakers like Jodorowski & movements like Giallo as well as an affinity and flair for practical effects that, at times, reminded me of Jan Švankmajer but more polished.

The weirdness begins almost as soon as Marcy (Fayelyn Bilodeau) moves back into her grandparents' house. As she drifts off to sleep that first night, the runner at the top of the wallpaper begins to rotate around the room. But that's probably just the effect of the joint she smoked prior to arriving combined with her overtired imagination, surely. Other strange things have happened in the house as well, but only Marcy's grandmother Mona (Helen Slayton-Hughes) has experienced them firsthand and she isn't the most reliable eyewitness. The reason Marcy came back was to help her grandfather (Richard Riehle) deal with Mona's encroaching dementia. So when Mona answers a phone that wasn't ringing or warns Marcy about the man on the couch in the garage, that's probably just bouts of dementia. Right?

Instead of making blank slate protagonists for the audience to project themselves onto, The Invisible Mother's characters are all just a little off the beaten path. They're lovable oddballs who all feel like they exist outside the bounds of the narrative and that makes them easier to empathize with. While Marcy follows some of the traditional "final girl" clichés - initially chalking the spooky goings on up to everyday explanations like drug use (on her part) and encroaching senility (on her grandma's) - she never feels like the same character you've seen in other flicks. She's tender with her grandparents, believably blasé towards the general weirdness in the house and warm towards quirky neighbor Coco (Kiersten Warren) - who has a daily call scheduled with Gloriana the phone psychic (Debra Wilson). There's also Wyatt (Kale Clauson), Marcy's dealing-weed-from-an-ice-cream-truck buddy in the neighborhood who joins the illustrious tradition of characters in horror movies who love horror movies alongside the likes of Evil Ed from Fright Night and Randy from Scream. All these characters could almost be denizens of a town not unlike Twin Peaks; they're peculiar no doubt, but so lovable!

The story in The Invisible Mother is simple and well-constructed, but that isn't the biggest goodie. The What is a set-up for the How. It's difficult to accurately convey something this visual. So when I tell you that though I've seen these effects and tricks before but rarely in this combination and never this well, you'll just have to trust me. Gorgeously detailed sets, audacious Giallo colors, lightly psychedelic imagery, stop-motion and reverse photography, yet somehow it all comes together so cohesively!

The Invisible Mother's overall tone is a bit like a carnival haunted house. Diebler & Gillman have all but completely disregarded jump scares and blood in favor of a more sustained unsettling feeling that effectively makes the scares almost a relief; now that something spooky is happening you're no longer waiting anxiously for it! It's extremely effective and left me with a huge grin.

While some films feel like gauntlets you're expected to endure, The Invisible Mother is a treat. It was no surprise to me then, that it won the PUFF Best Feature crown (which is an actual crown) on the final day of the festival. It's not that none of the other films were great (many were!) it's that The Invisible Mother just feels special.

Therefore, it's very surprising to me that it has apparently yet to find distribution. Diebler & Gillman talked briefly about this after the film screening, saying any outlet that had showed interest requested cuts be made to the material. Not for time (it's only 1 hr 46 mins) or graphic content but, presumably, because they wanted some of those more unique and endearing elements I mentioned removed to make the film more mainstream. The fact that the filmmakers have declined to do this is admirable and means that when you finally get to see The Invisible Mother for yourself, you'll be seeing all of it, as created, as intended.

I sincerely hope you get to see it.