Mother May I (2023)

Mother, May I is a psychological thriller from writer/director Laurence Vannicelli that stars Kyle Gallner (Smile, Dinner In America) and Holland Roden (Teen Wolf). The film is the debut feature from filmmaker Vannicelli.

In Mother, May I, Emmett (Kyle Gallner) and Anya (Holland Roden) unexpectedly inherit his estranged mother’s house after her passing. As they sift through her estate, Anya begins acting more and more like Emmett’s mother – forcing him to question if she’s pushing him to confront his traumatic past or if she’s actually been possessed by his mother’s spirit. The cast also includes Chris Mulkey (Twin Peaks).

Emmett wants to clean and flip his recently deceased mother’s house: get in, get out, and avoid any trauma still lingering from when she abandoned him as a young child. Anya, his fiancé, see’s this as an opportunity to finally force Emmett to deal with his trauma because she believes it is preventing him from being the partner she needs. So she convinces him to take mushrooms to get him to let go. But something strange happens while they’re tripping: she starts behaving like his mother. The next morning he wakes up sober, but she still won’t drop the act… Anya loves playing games – is this her taking it too far? Or did his mother’s spirit somehow possess her?