The Moogai, 2024.
Written and Directed by Jon Bell.
Starring Meyne Wyatt, Shari Sebbens, Tara Morice, Clarence John Ryan, Bella Heathcote, and Tessa Rose.
SYNOPSIS:
A young Aboriginal couple brings home their second baby. What should be a joyous time takes a sinister turn, as the baby’s mother starts seeing a malevolent spirit she is convinced is trying to take her baby.
Based on his short film of the same name, there is no question that writer/director Jon Bell has a decent idea with The Moogai, exploring crimes committed against indigenous individuals, specifically Australia’s Stolen Generations, through the lens of a supernatural creature feature regarding a demonic figure that steals children.
It’s also possible that the execution worked in the form of a short, but even at only 86 minutes, this feature-length version is often embarrassing, anything but scary, poorly acted, and preposterous (without getting into why, there is a part where a baby falls from her mother’s arms onto the floor, only to be fine), but perhaps most frustratingly, doesn’t even bother to attempt anything compelling with the previously mentioned allegory.
Instead, The Moogai is painfully generic, shoehorning in nearly every cliché one could think of with startling unawareness. Following the one competent and effective sequence in the film (a flashback prologue showing the separation of two sisters, complete with children singing is somewhat catchy song), corporate lawyer Sarah (Shari Sebbens) is introduced; she has a loving carpenter husband named Fergus (Meyne Wyatt), a daughter, and is nearing the due date for her second child. Suddenly, she simultaneously goes into childbirth and cardiac arrest, although the baby is delivered fine.
Sarah also happens to be the estranged daughter of Ruth (Tessa Rose), who had her sister stolen by the titular Moogai while running away from white settlers. Once the usual creepy occurrences start (strange behavior and visions), not to mention some creepy drawings from her daughter, Ruth desperately tries to explain that the demon is back. For the most part, Sarah just ignores these warnings and isn’t even particularly happy that her mom visited her in the hospital. Meanwhile, the doctors advise Fergus to take over and do as much as possible for Sarah, which generates some friction.
All of this amounts to nothing but endless shouting and disagreements, with everyone clearly in the wrong for not taking Sarah’s hallucinations seriously or listening to Ruth. However, it’s all overacted and far too blunt, leaving almost no characterization or story worth investing in. The attempts at scares are baffling, mostly relying on the newborn child potentially getting hurt (there’s a scene inside her crib that takes a turn for the worse, lingering on the possibility of a broken leg), at least until it’s time for a showdown with the Moogai, who comes across more hilarious- looking than threatening.
The Moogai is a cartoonishly dramatic horror story about the importance of listening to women, especially in the wake of a life-threatening pregnancy and other forms of remaining trauma. However, the real disappointment is that the story isn’t concerned with taking advantage of any cultural specificity there is to bring to the tale. Ruth occasionally attempts a ritual, but like everything else, those sequences feel hollow. The historical suffering is more background dressing than anything, which is probably the exact opposite approach to take to make this movie stand out at all.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
