Nightborn (Yön lapsi) is Hanna Bergholm’s sophomore feature, following the fairly well-received Hatching (Pahanhautoja), which premiered at Sundance in 2022. The move from a festival full of genre films to the Berlinale brought hope that the new work would be different. Saga (Seidi Haarla) and her British husband, Jon (Rupert Grint), relocate to a remote, timeworn house deep in the Finnish wilderness, where Saga spent much of her early childhood. Yet the moment their baby arrives, despite the reassurances of everyone around her, Saga senses that something is seriously wrong. As cracks begin to appear in their marriage, Jon finds himself increasingly unable to reach his troubled wife, who begins to suspect the disturbing truth surrounding their newborn.
There is a strong sense of deja vu early on. A woman who wants to get in touch with nature and her childhood memories, and brings along a confounded/sceptical hubby, is hardly revolutionary material. The friction between the parents is soon all too evident, and the spectator quickly begins to wonder when the film will leave its generic track and show its true colours. The sad truth is that it will not happen. The script by the director and Ilja Rautsi mostly dabbles in clichés that never go anywhere. The script lacks Substance, and, as in many other body horror films, the writers attempt to cover up the plot holes with blood and generic gore.
Who is actually the Nightborn?
Nightborn made me think about Aik Karapetian’s The Brazen, which was screened at the Black Nights Festival in 2023. The themes are similar: a family with a house in dire need of renovation; in The Brazen, it is a summer house. However, the execution of the films couldn’t be more different. The latter defied its low budget with a well-thought-out script, excellent cinematography, and perfect use of Honegger’s Third Symphony. Bergholm’s film seems to have been done without much thought at all. The VFX baby is hardly shown to us. One could make an ironic comment about the FX not being good enough to be displayed, but that is the least of this film’s problems.
I didn’t catch the director’s debut feature. What could be said about Nightborn is that it’s part of the deluge of body horror films by female directors that seem to have a free pass to film festivals nowadays. Even though this was a weak year for the competition, the inclusion of Bergholm’s misguided attempt at horror is one of the festival’s biggest mysteries. This is not elevated horror, unless the cable to the elevator has been broken for a long time.
