Godmother [Fantastic Fest 2026 Review]

by Mike McGranaghan

During the early scenes of Godmother, I thought it was going to be a routine horror movie about how a seemingly nice older couple is actually evil. We’ve seen that “psycho senior citizens” idea played out again and again onscreen. It gives me great pleasure to say that I was wrong. The film does have a hook that’s reminiscent of a certain horror classic, but it’s original and full of surprises.

Colby (Cameron Cuffe) has carefully planned a romantic weekend getaway for girlfriend Theo (Paige Evans) in California’s High Desert. Unbeknownst to her, he plans to propose. Theo throws a monkey wrench into things by inviting her hard-partying sister Katie (Riley Dandy) along, to his great displeasure. The trio stays in a home rented to them by the Martinsons (Dee Wallace and Bruce Davison), a retired couple. You can correctly surmise that they are not the kindly people they appear to be on the surface, and it quickly becomes clear that they have a sinister plan in place for Theo.

To say any more would be a disservice. Godmother is packed with plot twists you won’t see coming. So how to describe what takes place? The word “demonic” would be appropriate. “Sacrilegious” might, too. The irony of the story comes from the fact that the Martinsons want to take away Theo’s control, but the situation they put her in actually gives her some agency to fight back against them. And she does, in a variety of ways. Every time you think you have the plot all mapped out, an unexpected event arrives to put a spin on the scenario. Not knowing for sure what’s going to happen next is immensely satisfying.

Under those twists and turns is an intriguing theme related to power. The movie is driven by the questions of how far people will go to access power and what they’re willing to do to others in that quest. The Martinsons believe they are behaving under obvious, infallible logic; it is therefore baffling to them that Theo resists giving in to their demands. This drama makes the more overt horror aspects of the story extra potent.

Performances in the film are good across the board, although special notice must go to Wallace and Davison. Both are legends in the horror genre. The Martinsons could have been caricatures. Under the actors’ watch, the motivations behind their scheme contain a ring of truth. As misguided as they are, we can feel how important the goal is to them. Evans, meanwhile, proves a winning heroine, turning Theo into a worthy adversary for the Martinsons.

Director John Veron, who co-wrote the screenplay with noted content creator Alanah Pearce, brings a great deal of style to the proceedings. Twisted humor is routinely injected to spice things up even further. With so much good stuff going on, Godmother is gory, ghastly, and great fun.