Is ‘Mother Mary’ Actually a Horror Movie? A24’s Most Genre-Defying Film of the Year Finally Explained

There are few films in recent memory that have sparked as much debate over what genre they even belong to as ‘Mother Mary’. The A24 release has been labeled a thriller, a psychodrama, a supernatural fantasy, and yes, even a horror film, depending on which critic you ask.

Written and directed by David Lowery, the film is officially classified as a psychological drama and thriller, distributed by A24, and stars Anne Hathaway alongside Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, FKA Twigs, and Kaia Gerber. But its official classification barely scratches the surface of what the film actually delivers on screen.

What the ‘Mother Mary’ Psychological Thriller Is Really About

Iconic pop star Mother Mary, played by Hathaway, is in a crisis. Having survived a highly publicized accident during her last concert tour, Mary arrives at the doorstep of her former best friend and collaborator, fashion designer Sam Anselm, played by Michaela Coel, begging for a dress that will inspire a reinvention on the eve of her comeback performance.

There is a conflict between the clothing designer Sam Anselm and the hit singer Mother Mary. Despite Mother Mary’s betrayal, she finds herself desperately pleading with Sam to make her a new outfit. While Mary is coy with the details, Sam comes to realize she is mending more than just a dress. Their dialogue amid a rustic design studio becomes a cunning battle of earnest words blistering with bitterness and bluntness.

The film explores the strained creative and implied romantic relationship between an aging pop star and her former costume designer. Hathaway’s titular character draws aesthetically and lyrically from religious imagery, and appears to be inspired by pop icons like Madonna and Lady Gaga.

Lowery has stated the film was partly inspired by Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ from 1992. He also drew inspiration from Taylor Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour, describing it as one of the best concert films ever made. Hathaway’s character, Mother Mary, is Lowery’s vision for what a Taylor Swift-like figure would be in the future.

The Supernatural Elements That Blur the Genre Lines

The marketing for this film features posters that stress “this is not a ghost story,” and it’s accurate, there is no traditional ghost. There are summonings for some spirit, but not one that can be easily defined. The spooky something becomes that nagging sensation of egotism and the uncomfortable feeling of fame’s suffocating box.

It is not really a horror movie, more a supernatural fantasy. There is a ghost, but it is not one from which we are supposed to cower in fear. The spectre takes the form of a long strip of red fabric, and has been seen at points by both Mary and Sam. What it represents is left to the viewer to decide.

As the film’s poster cheekily insists, “this is not a ghost story,” but it is a seance. Lowery eventually busts out an actual Ouija board and begins to playfully blur the line between the real and the representational, a febrile mindfuck that allows the movie’s Bergman-esque first half to melt into its more Fosse-inspired final gasps.

Two women believe they are being haunted and possessed by the ghost of their mutual hatred, and they go to extreme lengths to exorcise it. That framing is as useful as any for capturing the film’s unsettling emotional core without reducing it to a simple genre label.

Anne Hathaway’s Performance and the David Lowery Vision

Anne Hathaway received widespread recognition for her transformative portrayal of Mother Mary, while the film’s music, costume design, and cinematography became major discussion points among critics and cinephiles. The project’s collaboration with musicians including Charli XCX and Jack Antonoff also strengthened cultural visibility considerably.

In her Vogue cover story, Hathaway spoke about the filming process, saying, “What struck me right away, reading the script, is that you can’t ‘perform’ Mother Mary. If I got the part, I would have to become material David could craft with.”

She continued, “I had to submit to being a beginner. The humility of that, showing up every day knowing you’re going to suck. And it has to be okay. You’re not ‘bad.’ You’re just a beginner. Getting to that mindset, I had to shed some things that were hard to shed.”

Lowery prioritizes emotional symbolism, surreal atmosphere, and psychological fragmentation over conventional backstage-drama realism. Hathaway delivers one of the most emotionally exposed performances of her career, portraying Mother Mary as both a glamorous pop icon and a psychologically collapsing public figure.

So Is ‘Mother Mary’ Actually a Horror Film?

Anyone walking in expecting the beats of a romance, the mechanics of a horror, or the arc of a pop-star biopic will likely find themselves frustrated, if not outright outraged. Instead of a masterclass in esoteric filmmaking, they may see The Emperor’s New Clothes. And it is precisely at this intersection where Lowery will either lose his audience or draw them to the absolute edge of their seats.

From ‘Vox Lux’ to ‘Trap’ to ‘Smile 2’, this decade has seen a mini-boom in horror and horror-adjacent films centered around pop stars. ‘Mother Mary’ may be the most resplendent example of this genre, a boldly theatrical pop exorcism where the wounds of the past serve as a gateway to forces that can consume or lift the possessed to ecstatic new levels of self-expression.

Lowery’s assembly of a relationship in repair starts with the restraint of a one-set play, and progressively weaves in the surreal. Through this stirring dose of psychological and supernatural horror, that clawing desire for expression is given an abstract yet empathetic form, with flashes of bloody summonings and pop-star power.

Despite polarized audience reactions, the film established itself as a major prestige art-house conversation piece within contemporary celebrity-focused cinema. Its themes of public identity, emotional loneliness, psychological collapse, and artistic self-destruction feel culturally timely and emotionally unsettling.

Whether you call it horror, fantasy, psychodrama, or something else entirely, ‘Mother Mary’ refuses to be filed away neatly, and that is exactly what makes it so difficult to shake, so if you have seen it, where did you land on the genre debate?