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Fantasia Fest 2026: Nightborn Review
Image Credit: Shudder
Loading...Directed by: Hannah Bergholm
Written by: Ilja Rautsi & Hannah Bergholm
Starring:
Seidi Haarla – Saga
Rupert Grint – Jon
Pamela Tola – Taru
Pirkko Saisio – Saga’s Mother
Rebecca Lacey – Jon’s Mother
John Thomson – Jon’s Father
Silvia Saloranta – Anna
Running Time: 93 minutes
Not Rated
It’s no surprise that motherhood is the commonly mined theme for horror. As terrifying a prospect as it is beautiful, it’s filled to the brim with body horror, emotional turmoil, anxiety and worse still. From Rosemary’s Baby and The Babadook to Prevenge, It’s Alive and many more, films about pregnancy and motherhood have been a source of horror and catharsis since time immemorial.
With birth and motherhood being such primal things, it’s also not a surprise that many such films contain at least an element of folk horror to them. Nightborn pushes that genre to its forefront. Hannah Bergolm’s film, which premiered at Fantasia International Film Festival and premieres on Shudder on Friday, relies on the eeriness of isolation and its two lead stars to sell an engrossing slow-burn experience with plenty of emotional resonance.
As Nightborn opens, our lead couple Saga (Seidi Haarla) and Jon (Rupert Grint) are already getting savvy horror fans’ hackles up as they move out to the rural Finnish home that Saga inherited from her grandmother. The home, right on the edge of the wilderness, is in disrepair but the two banter about fixing it up while discussing their goal to start a family there.
It doesn’t take long before, thanks to a romantic trip out into the woods, Saga is with child. But the birth isn’t an easy one, and the child comes out oddly hairy. There appear to be some other aspects about baby Kuura that aren’t entirely normal from the way Saga reacts, though we don’t see exactly what and no one else seems to notice.
If pregnancy was difficult for Saga, motherhood is even harder. Breastfeeding Kuura proves to be a bloody and painful experience, and she feels increasingly concerned that there’s something wrong with her child, which she keeps referring to as “it.” Of course, Jon doesn’t understand what’s going on and attributes the matter to Saga’s mental health. But Saga is increasingly convinced her child is something unnatural and perhaps even evil, a situation exacerbated by problems with both the house (which the forest is close to encroaching on) and her relationships with her husband, family, and friends.
Bergholm is not unfamiliar with the topic of filial pressures; her directorial debut was 2022’s Hatching which looked at what young women go through trying to be a part of a perfect family. In some ways, Nightborn serves as a spiritual companion piece looking at similar pressures from a mother’s side. Saga is expected to conform to certain aspects of what it means to be a mother, and she’s struggling with that. Seidi Haarla digs into the role with relish and gives us a look at a woman dealing with perfectly natural issues, seen through an unnatural lens. It’s a fantastic performance by Haarla that keeps Saga on the edge of her frayed nerves, making her both sympathetic and occasionally terrifying.
It helps that she has a great scene partner in Grint. The Harry Potter alum has a difficult role to play; Jon is by necessity the adversarial role because we need someone questioning Saga’s behavior. It’s hard to make a husband who is (even unintentionally) gaslighting very likeable, but Grint manages it well.
There’s probably not a lot that’s going to surprise people in terms of the plot. Again, these aren’t exactly uncharted ground for horror, and the script by Bergholm and Ilja Rautsi isn’t trying too hard to hide what’s going on. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t effective. Getting the mystery out of the away allows the film to avoid getting distracted away from the themes.
It’s also hard to be too angry at the film when Bergholm is killing it with the body horror. The birthing scene is like a hardcore horror moment, and the makeup effects on Saga are visceral in the best ways. The film also benefits from its approach toward baby Kuura, which are largely practical with some CGI, and some truly gorgeous woods cinematography. It takes some clever inspiration from Scandinavian mythology to tell an anxiety-filled story that isn’t afraid to deliver more than a couple of shocking moments.
Fantasia International Film Festival takes place in Montreal, Quebec from July 16th through August 2nd. Nightborn releases on Shudder starting July 31st.
