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Ivan Kavanagh’s 2014 horror-thriller, The Canal, spooked audiences with its atmospheric dread-entwined mystery and many terrors, helping carve a path for understated horror cinema. Kavanagh crafted The Canal with the aid of unnerving soundscapes and intuitively-chosen scares without falling into the trappings of knee-jerk fueled horror, which is undoubtedly what the genre needs and has gradually evolved into. The Irish filmmaker continues this tradition with his latest offering, Son, wherein he evokes a compelling familial setting entrenched in the genuine fear and helplessness of a mother hellbent on saving her only child. Starring Andi Matichak (Halloween franchise), Emile Hirsch (The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Into The Wild), and Luke David Blumm (The King of Staten Island), Son chronicles the tale of a mother and son, wherein both are purportedly suffering from a serious illness while being on the run from a satanic cult. Upholding genre tropes whilst subverting them, Son is an unsettling fever-dream drenched in unspeakable acts that leave viewers on edge until the end.

Son opens on a note of anxiety, with discordant sounds interjecting the visual of a pregnant woman, Laura (Matichak), who seems to be on the run from a dangerous cult. Amidst the heavy downpour that assaults the empty, neon streets and the painful howls of Anna in labor inside a car, Son sets the tone for its sordid offerings. Fast-forward ten years later, Anna lives a quaint life with her son David (Blumm), and the film spends quite a lot of time developing the tender bond between the two, adding dimension and believability to the events that transpire later on. Their seemingly idyllic existence is shattered one night when Laura believes she hears David’s footsteps in the hall, only to find a group of strange people standing around her still-sleeping son before they slam the door in her face. However, when the police arrive, they are unable to find evidence of forced entry or anyone inside the house for that matter, but Detective Paul (Hirsch) expresses sympathy for her situation.

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Apart from being concerned about the safety of her son, Laura is constantly plagued with horrific nightmares, with visions of her childhood bedroom and a foreboding message of “He Is Coming.” Soon after, David becomes violently ill, puking blood and convulsing in pain, leaving doctors at a loss as they are unable to pinpoint a medical reason behind his dwindling condition. Despite the misgivings of the doctors, David appears to be miraculously cured. While Paul and Laura share a tender moment, David falls ill again, flesh all mottled and bruised due to some unidentified craving.

However, when she believes that members of the cult are part of the hospital staff, she flees with David, who seems to have acquired an insatiable hunger for human flesh, without which he might die. What does a mother do in such a situation? This question haunts the entirety of Son, and the answers are neither easy nor savory. The balance between whether Laura is suffering from delusions due to her own trauma and the very real possibility of a demonic cult wishing to claim David for their own is maintained expertly by Kavanagh throughout. Despite the audience’s misgivings about what’s really transpiring, the fact of David’s illness and altered cravings remains utterly real, wherein the child alternates between gorging ferociously on human innards and brimming with genuine innocence right after.

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Blumm carries most of the weight of the film, bringing nuance and believability to his affliction, which is by no means an easy feat for a child actor. On the other hand, Matichak is brilliant as the deeply troubled Laura, managing to evoke sympathy for her condition right until the very end. While Hirsch belts an understated performance as the gentle and ever-caring Paul, his presence pales in comparison to the powerhouse performances offered by the titular duo.

In essence, while Son does not offer a narrative that is new or groundbreaking, the nightmarish thriller manages to evoke a palpable sense of dread and unease via creepy flashbacks, eerie lighting, and genuine emotional stakes. Apart from this, the film does not rely overtly on jump scares, although a few are scattered far out in interesting ways, which only adds to the appeal of the narrative. Although some might find the ending highly predictable and poorly fleshed out in comparison to the rest of the tale, Son is a thrilling ride into the bloodied entrails of terror and paranoia and is definitely worth consideration.

Son is available in theatres, digital, and VOD in the U.S. on March 5, 2021, courtesy of RLJE Films. The film is 98 minutes long and remains unrated as of now.