When I first met John Adams, Toby Poser, and daughters Lulu and Zelda Adams (collectively known as The Adams Family), they hadn’t begun making horror films. It was over a decade ago, at the Victoria Texas Independent Film Festival (VTXIFF). A shift began with their 2018 film “The Hatred,” about a young girl who conjures an executed soldier back from the dead. The following year, they delivered the horror indie classic, “The Deeper You Dig .” Since then, the Adams Family has given us “Hellbender,” “Where the Devil Roams,” “Hell Hole,” and now “Mother of Flies,” playing in select theaters and streaming on Shudder. Did I mention they also score their films with music from their metal band, Hellbender (H6llb6nd6r)? Catch a live show if you can!
In “Mother of Flies,” a young woman named Mickey (Zelda Adams) has been diagnosed with cancer. She convinces her father (John Adams) to take her deep into the woods to seek the dark magic of a reclusive witch named Solveig (Toby Poser), whose relationship with death and deep roots in the land might heal her. For three days, Mickey undergoes dark rituals as buried secrets rise to the surface. But every cure has a cost. And every curse is another’s gift.
I sat down with John, Toby, and Zelda to discuss “Mother of Flies.” It was wonderful seeing them again, their passion for filmmaking even stronger than when we first met a decade ago.
As a filmmaking family, sharing directorial duties, how do you decide who gets to direct a scene?
Zelda: We all have certain types of approaches to scenes we are good at. For instance, Toby is fantastic at writing dialogue. So maybe she’ll take the lead on a scene with heavy dialogue. John is great at implementing violence [everybody laughs] and implementing religious undertones. He’ll take the lead on scenes like those. I personally love cinematography, so if I can get my hands on a camera and direct from that point of view, I love that. We’ve all found what we’re great at, and we give each other space to do just that. If we ever have any disagreements, we’ll shoot a scene three different ways, and in editing, we’ll see which take wins.
Zelda, I’ve watched you grow up in film. Going from acting to directing. It’s only a matter of time before you step away from the family and venture out on your own. When that moment comes, will we see you in front or behind the camera?
Zelda: I’m not sure yet. I really love doing both. I’ve grown up with my hands in different filmmaking baskets, and I kind of want to keep doing that. So, I would love to direct a project and act in it too.
Toby, in “Mother of Flies,” you play a necromancer, a self-proclaimed witch named Solveig, who claims she can heal Zelda’s character Mickey, who’s been diagnosed with cancer. In the past, you’ve shared your personal battle with cancer, and so, drawing from your personal experience, did you find your role to be therapeutic in any way?
Toby: Absolutely. 100% yes. When you can tell a story on your own terms, it’s super powerful, it’s cathartic. And this is a story that affects pretty much everyone on earth because cancer is ubiquitous. Equally important, this is also a story about love. One person loving another, fighting for their life. It was important to honor both. In our family, we’ve been in all these positions, and so playing Solveig, who is this sort of ambassador or liaison between life and death, was a real gift. I enjoyed it and found it incredibly therapeutic. I absolutely loved playing her.
How did the storyline come together? What inspired you to make this film, and did the story change at any point during its writing?
John: With this one, we knew from beginning to end what we wanted to say. We didn’t stray much. We don’t follow a strict script in terms of what we have to say to each other, but the overall message and tone stayed the same. It’s a celebration of life, but also of death. We’re saying that death is OK, too. And death can be just as beautiful as life because the two of them hold hands. They are never separated. That’s what this film tackles. Both Toby and I went through something where we had to confront the idea that my life might end. I need to make peace with where I’m going. And we don’t have a religious structure that we can just rely on and say, “This is what’s going to happen when we die.” We have to think it through in a different kind of way, and that’s what this film is about: that faith, in death, is as innocent as life was.
Your films are known for their three-dimensional characters, stunning visuals, and, of course, horror. How do you balance the violence and blood while keeping the focus on these fascinating characters?
Toby: You’ve known us before we started making “so-called” horror films. You’re familiar with the entire canon of our work, and maybe you would agree that the shared DNA with all of our films is a modicum of love. That is the underlying current. When you have a lot of love, you can balance that out with violence and darkness. With our horror films, we think about that. We know how much violence, gore, and darkness we can put into them, alongside the love that is there. I think that balance is crucial to us.
I never imagined your family would evolve into a group of filmmakers known for their low-budget, independent horror films. Once you started, you couldn’t stop.
John: [laughing] That was so fun cutting my head off! Let’s cut off your head!
So, yes, let’s talk about the special effects. I love the scenes in your films where someone is levitating. You also work with prosthetic special effects. I’m an old-school horror fan who grew up watching George A. Romero movies. I appreciate physical special effects over CGI. Not to take away from Toby or Zelda, but I feel, John, this is your forte. When I see someone covered in blood and maggots, I think, John Adams.
John: I’m so glad you think of me that way. But you know what’s funny? With “The Deeper You Dig,” when we really got into violence, yes, I was the one pushing it very hard. But someone (pointing to Toby) has really fallen in love with it. So now a lot of the prosthetics and gore are coming from Toby. She loves directing that kind of stuff. We work with a guy named James Bell who makes great body parts for us, from babies to bellies to arms to legs. Very realistic stuff. We get to use real pieces of horrible things. Visual effects artist Trey Lindsay puts the final touches on these elements, bringing them to life. He’s a composite wizard who sits in his basement, films things moving, and then puts them in. It’s really a combination of a lot of people who love doing nasty sh*t.
Toby: John does have an affinity for maggots.
John: I love maggots, especially in my mouth! With “Mother of Flies,” I did vomit all over the floor. With maggots, you have to make them out of stinking, rotting meat. I opened a bag of maggots this time, smelled it, and yelled “Film it!” before vomiting really hard. You know the scene I’m talking about.
That’s hardcore. And yes, I’ll never watch that scene again in the same light.
[everybody laughs]
Switching to Zelda. Z, this is one of your most emotional performances. You play Mickey, the person affected by cancer. Your character turns to this necromancer, Solveig, a witch, to find a cure and get healed. In the film, there’s a gory, emotional scene between the two women. It requires you to react with many different emotions, mostly fear and horror. What was it like shooting that scene?
Zelda: It felt easy to tap into that side of myself. It was the result of many conversations with my parents about their experiences, and of having the freedom to really go there emotionally, hoping it would bring the audience to that place of deep emotion as well. Shooting with prosthetics and blood makes it easier to tap into your character and the moment. Working with physical effects is so important because it makes everything feel real for the actor. I applaud actors who work only with digital effects because that takes an extra level of acting. You have to show what’s going on around you without actually feeling or seeing it.
Toby, did you write most of the dialogue? In the film, you recite poetry, which is great.
Toby: With the poetry, John and I shared that effort. John is one of the coolest witches (John interjects, “Warlock”) that I know. He’s got a really strong witch bone (“Careful,” John comments). Personally, I love poetry. We use it a lot in our films as a vehicle to tell the story with a twist. I love the lyricism of poetry. I’m really inspired by the woods where we live. Nature is just always there: the death magic of decay, the rotting ruin, and then the renewal and rebirth in spring. It’s very inspirational. I was really just pulling from that while having fun and enjoying the opportunity to say beautiful words about a dark subject with zero shame. I loved it.
John: That’s the horror community allowing us to do poetry in a movie. I mean, it’s just one of the greatest things about being in the horror community. They love any kind of art. You want to lay something out, they’ll watch it. They might not like it, but because of them, we are allowed to do these kinds of things.
“Mother of Flies” is now streaming on Shudder. https://www.shudder.com/
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