52 Films by Women Vol 6. 45. HATCHING (Pahanhautoja) (Director: Hanna Bergholm)
One desperate gaps in my film knowledge is of Finnish horror, a void partially filled by Hatching ( Pahanhautoja ), in which Tinja (Siri Solalinna), the twelve-year-old gymnast daughter of a would-be social media influencer (Sophia Heikil ä ) nurses into life – well, that would be telling. Tinja finds a great use for a large cuddly toy as a nest substitute after finding an egg belonging to a distressed blackbird, whose suffering – after many, many attempts - she ends with a rock. Directed by Hanna Bergholm, whose story was developed into a script by Ilja Rautsi, it ends up at a familiar place but offers plenty of pleasures for horror lightweights like me. I am all too aware that genre aficionados are hard to please, with a desperate desire for something new - or at least Scream 5 . The film opens with wobbly camerawork as video footage for the blog ‘Lovely, Everyday Life’ is collected. Tinja and her mother tickle one another. They surprise Father (Jani Volanen) who is busy pai...