The Monsters Born of Neglect

Review of the short film Mothmama

Directed by Jessica DiCosta, Mothmama focuses on the relationship between a daughter and her young single mother—a mother who, without being fully explicit about it, clearly values being seen on social media and collecting likes more than she values her small daughter. By concentrating on this relationship and on the absence of anything resembling family security, the film addresses the harm the child suffers from her bond with her mother. That harm manifests itself through the monsters the girl sees. The film’s horror elements therefore have their precise causes inside the story itself, within the mother-daughter relationship. Because she receives no attention from her mother, the girl not only feels unsafe but imagines that creatures outside the house are watching her. The situation intensifies when the mother posts a video of herself and her daughter; from that moment even classmates and ordinary people who are not monsters begin to stare at the girl the way the monsters do.