A few weeks back, my colleague Evan Miller reviewed Never Let Go (2024), a horror film about a mother and her two children whom she is trying to protect from an unseen evil in a secluded area. Much to my surprise (and minor disappointment), I was greeted by the same concept this week with Hold Your Breath, starring Sarah Paulson, Amiah Miller, and Alona Jane Robbins.
Set during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, Margaret Bellum (Paulson) struggles to survive with her two daughters (Miller and Robbins) on their dried-out, secluded farm. With little interactions with the distant townsfolk and frequent storms that limit visibility outside the home, Margaret struggles with her anxieties as a mother as she tries to keep dust and an unknown evil out of her home.
Although Paulson gives an impeccable performance layered with fear, anxiety, and mania, the film is overall too flat as it falls amongst the many horror films that have used a similar plot before.
With the very limited supporting cast, including the notable Ebon Moss-Bachrach as a conman/fictional evil being Margaret half-dreams up, the film quickly establishes that the scariest thing in the diegesis is the mind. Margaret can’t handle the stress of trying to keep her and her girls safe; she fears the dust, the strangers, the unknown, and, most of all, being separated.
Unfortunately, there is little else to be said about the film because, other than Paulson’s and Miller’s performances, the rest is rather forgettable. The cinematography is monotone, the score is generic, and the supposed “twist” comes from a mile away. However, as we enter the last lap of 2024, it is interesting how this film falls amongst the rest of the female-led horror portfolio.
Red Broadwell at The Rolling Tape discussed the “devil baby horror trend” citing 2024’s Immaculate, The First Omen, and Longlegs – all of which, in some way, dealt with the corruption and lack of control of body autonomy, specifically relating to motherhood. Within the realm of “lack of control,” The Substance, released September 2024, deals with a woman (Demi Moore) trying to take back control as she deals with society’s view of the aging female.
And while each film similarly attacks various ideas, they, along with Never Let Go and Hold Your Breath (and even Amy Adams’ horror-comedy Nightbitch), attach themselves to the idea of female agency and motherhood. In Hold Your Breath, as the woman loses control of her abilities as a mother, she deteriorates, becoming the thing she fears most–the thing that separates her from her children.
So are the biggest horrors for women in 2024 our fear of being forced to become a mother, being a bad mother, or simply losing control of our autonomy? They might be. For now, the answers lie in the wide range of female-led horror of 2024, and, unfortunately, Hold Your Breath leaves little impact on the year’s portfolio.
Review Courtesy of Sara Ciplickas
Feature Image Credit to Searchlight Pictures via IMDb