The Front Room - Review

Names are powerful.

Sometimes all it takes to get you into a movie theater is the name of the star. Other times, the name of a famous relative is enough to get you in the room and greenlight your film. But names alone are never enough.

The Front Room is a 2024 film directed and written by Sam & Max Eggers, based on a short story by Susan Hill. If the name "Eggers" rings a bell, that's because Sam & Max are the twin half-siblings of Robert Eggers, the director of The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman, and the upcoming Nosferatu. Being so closely related to a creative mind that many (myself included) consider one of the great horror auteurs of our time is a lot. Comparisons are inevitable. But you can also leverage that connection to turn your own ideas into films. Are Sam & Max nepo babies? I’m not sure, but I’d say... sorta.

The film stars Brandy (of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer fame), Kathryn Hunter (Poor Things, The Tragedy of Macbeth), and Andrew Burnap. The plot revolves around Brandy’s character, Belinda, and Burnap’s Norman, a married couple expecting their first child. They’re struggling with financial difficulties and career challenges in their underfurnished new home. Things get worse when Norman’s father dies, leaving behind a final request that they take care of Hunter’s character, Solange. Solange is a devoutly religious, strong Southern woman, played entrancingly by Hunter. She disapproves of Belinda and Norman’s interracial relationship and attempts to impose her will, seeking to separate them and claim the role of mother to their baby.

Now, let’s address one of the many, MANY issues with this movie you might have already noticed: the names. Brandy’s character is named Belinda—a name I’ve never heard a Black woman be called, and one that reminds me of old slave names. Then there’s Hunter’s character, Solange, which brings to mind THE Solange, the Black singer-songwriter, who is as far removed from this Solange as you can get. Even the name Norman feels odd. What time period are we in? Susan Hill’s short story takes place in England, where I assume Belinda and Norman are more common names (UK readers, fact-check?). This was hard to get past—a sign that the filmmakers were making arbitrary decisions disconnected from the reality of the film’s premise. Why change the location but not the names?

Another issue is the dynamic between Belinda, a Black woman, and Norman, a white man. This interracial relationship isn’t in the original short story. In Hill’s version, the couple is white, and their struggle revolves around the psychological torment of a homeless woman they take in, driven by Belinda’s Christian zeal. The Eggers brothers decided to adapt the story and turn it into a commentary on racism. Unfortunately, they don’t fully understand racism. Don’t get me wrong—they know it’s wrong, and they seem to have a basic grasp of concepts like "microaggressions" and the fact that the Confederacy was bad. But they don’t grasp the deeper, more insidious mechanics of racism: what makes it so frightening, what feeds into it, and how it permeates society. The film misses a profound opportunity to explore the realities (and horrors) of an interracial relationship.

While watching The Front Room, I was hyper-aware that I was watching an Eggers brothers movie. This film comes out the same year as Robert Eggers’ highly anticipated Nosferatu, and it seems the brothers were aware of this too. Rather than copying the gothic, realistic environments of their brother’s work, they seem to be aiming for the social commentary and absurdist comedy of a Jordan Peele film. Peele would’ve taken this concept to new heights (because he already has, in Get Out). Instead, the movie falls flat, relying on "comedy"—if you can call it that—based on fart jokes and scatology.

To her credit, Hunter does her best to carry the film. She rarely disappoints, and this mess of a film is no exception. I wish with my whole heart she could’ve delivered this performance in a movie that deserved her talent. I feel similarly about Brandy, whose return to horror was eagerly anticipated by the online horror girlies. But this film was a waste—so many nonsensical choices removed any semblance of reality.

The Front Room is a dragging, at times boring, movie with far too many poop jokes. Its misuse of Hunter is almost criminal, and the portrayal of old age feels too mean-spirited to be scary. In the hands of a less capable actress, it would’ve been humiliating.

Names have power, but names can’t replace the work that talent does.

1/5 stars