Laura Birch has been estranged from her mother Celia for many years, but when she mysteriously survives a fatal overdose, Laura and her mother are reunited. Claiming to be acting on a mother’s intuition, Celia contacts Laura the day after her near-death experience and succeeds in luring her back to the village from which Laura ran away as a teenager, on the promise of taking care of her. But as Laura’s body starts to secrete a strange black ooze, the village’s strange secrets come bubbling to the surface.

 

If you’ve ever reconnected with estranged friends or family and had a rough time, thank your lucky stars that it wasn’t like this! We at Celluloid Screams have been great admirers of the work of director Ben Steiner ever since we screened his short THE STOMACH  back in 2014, which went on to win our jury award for best short film, so the opportunity to screen his debut feature was not to be missed. MATRIARCH is a truly unique vision of horror, combining folk horror elements with a heavy dose of body horror and an unhealthy helping of familial trauma, so settle in and prepare yourselves for an unsettling, grotesque experience.

 

We are delighted to welcome director Ben Steiner and members of the cast to Celluloid Screams to introduce the film and take part in a Q&A after the screening.

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Screening with FROM.BEYOND

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