Life has a funny way of changing course without notice. Bad people can become good under the right circumstances, and vice versa. Sometimes a life long path of destruction and desolation can lead to a life of loneliness and squalor. Director Patricia Chica takes a look into this interesting phenomenon with her latest short film Serpent’s Lullaby
Penned by Charles Hall, Serpent’s Lullaby stars JeniMay Walker, Annabella Hart, Samuel Nadeau, and Richard Cardinal. Together they tell the following story:
Few people know the name of the eccentric woman living in the centuries-old mansion just outside of town. Even fewer have seen her face. But everyone has heard the stories. Rumors of a secret garden in her backyard where her children are buried. Some think she is simply a grieving widowed mother seeking solitude. Others believe she’s a cold-blooded monster. When the empty baby’s crib in her home and her lost love become too much for her to bear she makes a decision that will change the course of her story.
Without giving too much away, Serpent’s Lullaby is a twist on a classic tale. Hall, however, made sure to make his characters differ from previous tellings of the timeless story. The film opens on an old house with a mother tending to her child when she notices something terrible. After burying her child in the garden, she returns to her life of solitude. After seeing a mother with child strolling in the park, the pains becomes too much and she must do what she can to keep the pain from searing her soul. The film is dark and tragic, filled with beautiful scenery and excellent camera work. Patricia Chica‘s direction gives the film a melancholic and longing sensation in which the audience feels every bit of pain as its protagonist. By the end of the film one can’t help but feel for the grieving mother, as she does what she must to keep her demons at bay.
Serpent’s Lullaby was shown in London this evening as a part of the Women In Horror Month at Whirled Cinema, with more screenings to follow.
