The Beldham

Having a child changes your whole life. Before you were a parent you could go out any night you wanted, hang out with friends anytime you could see each other. You might have travelled together to a foreign country without planning anything, just living life. All of that changes once you are a parent, but this is actually good. Because at the end of the day, you will always love your own child more than anything in this world. All the memories you create together with your child, all the holidays you spend together, it´s all worth it and you can look back and remember the good times. But what if you woke up from a coma, finding out you have amnesia and don´t even remember your own child? This is exactly what happened in the 2021 horror film The Kindred from director Jamie Patterson. This film begins with lead character Helen Tullet ( played by actress April Pearson from the really good British drama film Tucked, a must see ), running outside from a appartment buidling where a man jumped from a roof. It turns out this was her own father, while a car hit Helen as she pass out. A whole year goes by and Helen is still in a coma, until one day she suddenly wakes up. She have problems remembering things because of amnesia, as her partner Greg Tullet ( Blake Harrison ) try to help her come back to ordinary life with their baby Heidi. As Helen train herself through rehabilitation. she gets flashbacks from her past where she is trying to understand her father´s suicide. The Kindred may not be a unique horror film in any way, but i do appreciate this film for lifting up the serious condition of amnesia.The lead actors April Pearson and Blake Harrison both give good acting performances, if you enjoy mysterious horror films i would recommend watching The Kindred on VOD or physical media. Last year i read about a horror film called The Beldham about a mother with a newborn, who experience strange things in her own mother´s house. Since i have a sof spot for horror films with children included, this sounded interesting to me. Is this a horror film you should see this spring, or should you skip this one and just watch The Kindred from 2021 instead? 

Harper ( Katie Parker ) moves in with her baby daughter Christine, into her mother Sadie´s ( Patricia Heaton ) house, where she lives with her partner Frank ( Corbin Bensen ). At first everything seems to be pretty normal, until Harper begin to see strange things happening around the house. Is she actuall seeing strange things happening, or is her mind playing tricks on her?

The Beldham may start off as just a pretty ordinary psychological horror film, where we begin to wonder if there is something wrong with the main character Harper ( played by actress Katie Parker ). Have she experienced something traumatic in the past? Or is there something mysterious going on inside the walls of her mother Sadie´s ( played by actress Patricia Heston, who i remember especially from 90´s comedy TV series Everybody Loves Raymond ) big house? Without going into spoilers, i will tell you what i think works with this film. The fact that this film changes tone and become more mysterious after a while, was exactly what this film needed. There was a moment where i felt that this could become too predictable, and when you make things too easy that could become a negative impact on the main story. Thankfully the plot is a little bit more complicated than that, and towards the end we do see a completey different twist that at least made the film more interesting. The acting is in general alright, and i especially appreciate the screen chemistry between the daughter and mother characters Harpie and Sadie. They clearly have a lot of personal issues between each other, while Sadie is trying to raise her baby. Nice to see legendary actor Corbin Bensen ( yes the actor who made The Dentist movies from the 90´s ) here in a nice smaller role as the character Frank. Regarding the plot, the witch influences is what really makes this film interesting. If i had to find something to say that´s negative, perhaps they could have made the plot even more twisted, or left an unexpected surprise that would have been nice. At the end of the day, i would say that The Beldham still manage to work as a horror film if you accept it´s not bloody or very violent. This is more a psychological horror film meant to play with your mind. Director Angela Gulner proves with The Baldham that you don´t need a big budget to make a good psychological horror film. Worth a watch on VOD if you enjoy old school folklore horror films.

Rating: DDD