Video summary
The video review focuses on *Marama*, a horror film released in 2026 as an exclusive title on Shudder, set to premiere on September 11th. Directed by Taratoa Shepherd, who previously worked on *Stories of Lost Souls* and *Reclaim*, the movie is a collaboration between New Zealand and the UK featuring English, French, and Maori languages. The narrative follows a Maori woman summoned from her homeland to the United Kingdom due to a familial connection, where she begins working for a white colonialist who has a deep, albeit perhaps misguided, interest in Maori culture. As the story unfolds, the protagonist becomes increasingly uncomfortable with her situation, hinting at a sinister dynamic involving her employer's additional interests in her, which sets the stage for the film's horror elements without revealing specific plot spoilers.
The reviewer praises the film's strong technical execution and atmospheric direction, noting that it is set in 1859 as a period piece that effectively establishes a sobering historical context through its opening text. While the cinematography captures gorgeous scenery and utilizes appropriate lighting for the era to create an unsettling mood, the color grading receives mixed feedback; although the interior shots look muted and bleak to suit the theme, the exterior whites are sometimes oversaturated to the point of being blown out. The score is highlighted as a standout element, composed with primal sounds that build tension and tie into the film's central themes, while the lighting successfully balances period accuracy with narrative clarity despite the challenges often faced by lower-budget independent productions.
Despite its visual strengths, the review points out some narrative weaknesses, particularly regarding pacing and script logic. The film runs for approximately 1 hour and 29 minutes but feels somewhat dragged out, suggesting that a collaboration with a stronger writer could have tightened the story's progression from point A to point B. While the dialogue is commended for its realism—a difficult aspect of screenwriting—the plot occasionally suffers from moments where character decisions lack logical consistency, making certain actions feel unearned or confusing towards the end. These gaps in storytelling are noted as problematic, yet they do not entirely overshadow the impressive performances by the cast, who are described as cohesive and engaging without any weak links.
Ultimately, the reviewer concludes that *Marama* is a relatively good film with a disturbing but impactful ending that serves its thematic goals well. The movie earns a rating of 3.5 stars on Letterboxd, reflecting a balance between its impressive technical achievements and its narrative flaws. The review suggests that while the film is enjoyable and impressive in many ways, it would benefit from further development in its writing to fully realize its potential. The reviewer recommends checking out the film for those interested in its unique story and themes, inviting viewers to share their own opinions in the comments section after watching.
Read the full video transcript
Thanks for checking out this movie
review video. This is for the 2026
release Marama. It is a Shudder
exclusive and it's coming to Shudder on
Friday, September 11th. So, this is a no
spoiler review. Now, this one is written
and directed by, I'm going to do my best
on the name, Taratoa Shepherd,
um who did Stories of Lost Souls and
Reclaim, which I have not seen either of
those. This film is a New Zealand and UK
collaboration and the languages in it
are English, French, and Maori.
Uh this is a Maori film. It is about a
Maori woman uh who is summoned from New
Zealand to go to the UK because she has
some sort of uh familial connect-
connection there
and she ends up showing up and she's
working for this guy who is, you know, a
colonialist white dude who is very into
the Maori culture, uh at least as he,
you know, views it and understands it.
And she starts to feel kind of
uncomfortable and
she's living there and working there and
it's potential that he's got some sort
of additional interest in her and I'm
going to leave it there because I don't
want to give away any of what the horror
elements are because this is on Shudder,
so it's obviously a horror film. So,
that's what all I'm going to give you as
far as synopsis goes. Now,
my notes from when I was watching it. Uh
there are some pretty sobering opening
text. I really like how they open this
film. It gives you a lot of context
going into it from the get-go, so you
kind of know what lens you should really
be viewing this film through. Uh and
like I said, it's very sobering as well.
So, it does a really good job to set the
tone of like this is stuff that is based
on things that actually happened. Uh
obviously, it's not, you know, it's it's
fiction, but [clears throat]
it is still kind of nonfiction on
certain levels. And so, it it does a
really good job of kind of giving you
that historical context. Uh and I think
it takes place in 1859. So, just so you
know, it's a period piece. So, I know
there are some people out there are like
period pieces are not for them. So, you
just know that.
Uh I don't know how I feel about the
color grading for this film because at
times it looks very oversaturated,
especially like the whites when they're
outside look very oversaturated.
Uh on the inside it looks a lot better.
So, I'm assuming this was a very
intentional choice to make it look the
way it does. Now,
it looks muted and kind of bleak,
which I think is good for the film in
the sense that it brings across kind of
this feeling that goes along with the
sobering text in the beginning of the
film and kind of like the overall theme
that the filmmaker's going for here.
But, that whole like being oversaturated
thing does become a bit problematic from
time to time cuz you're just like, "Man,
that white is like blown out." Um so, I
didn't really like that aspect of it. Um
it's shot very well and the scenery is
gorgeous. Uh there's also some really
great imagery and I also just think like
direction, cinematography,
really good.
There's a lot of promise with this
filmmaker in my opinion. Um I don't
necessarily think the script writing is
top-notch. It is good. Like, this is a
good story and there are there is some
good writing. I do think the dialogue is
quite realistic and that is actually
something that's very hard to get when
it get right when it comes to script
writing. So, I really applaud the script
writing aspect of the dialogue and the
overall story of it. It's just getting
from point A to point B, I think it was
kind of clunky and uh it does have some
pacing issues in my opinion. Actually
has a decent amount of pacing issues.
And this is a film, I think it's an hour
and 29 minutes with the end credits. So,
it's not a long film, but it does
feel kind of long for what's going on.
But yes, it looks great. Like
wonderfully shot. Uh it's one of these
instances where I think it'd be really
great if this filmmaker were to be
teamed up with someone who's a really
good writer and maybe they you know, it
doesn't need to be totally un uh
uninvolved in the writing of the script,
but at least have someone to collaborate
with
and then go ahead and handle the
direction because
great job there.
Uh the score is really well composed and
really sells this kind of unsettling
feeling throughout the film. The score
was one of my favorite things about this
film. It's so good and a lot of the
sounds that they end up using in the
music, it it's very kind of primal in a
certain way and you do get hints as to
how those sounds are kind of built uh in
the very beginning of it. Like what
those some of those sounds are coming
from and it's really cool and it really
ties into kind of like the central theme
of the film in a really interesting way.
So, the score is extremely well done in
my opinion.
They do a real nice job with the
lighting, especially since it's not
contemporary due to kind of the time
period that the story takes place in.
And that's one of the things that
ends up being very problematic with a
lot of kind of lower budget independent
horror films well, just lower budget
independent films in general is they
just can't get the lighting right,
especially when it's you know, one of
these period pieces and they're inside.
So, it's kind of darker and they need it
to look like it's kind of the lighting
of that period where it's like, you
know, kerosene lamps and stuff like that
or like candles.
But they did a really nice job of making
sure that the lighting looked right for
the time period, but also you could see
exactly what you needed to see in the
film. So, a lot of good attention paid
to it right there. So, there's a lot of
really good technical things with this
film.
Uh it is slowly paced, but the
performances are quite good. They do
keep you engaged. I thought the cast was
really good um as a whole. I think they
really brought it, really came together.
I didn't see a single weak link in this
cast, which is phenomenal.
Uh the ending does get a bit disturbing
uh in a good way. I mean, you kind of do
want it to go there because of the
impact that's trying to be had with with
the theme here. Uh and the you know, the
underlying uh
I wouldn't even say subtext. The the
underlying text of the film.
Um
but it does get disturbing. So, if
you're someone who can't really handle
that type of thing,
just know that. I thought it was a was a
relatively good payoff for the film
having that disturbing aspect in the end
of it. Uh there are unfortunately some
things that characters do and don't do
that really end up not making sense. And
this kind of goes back to some gaps with
the writing where
it needs to feel real. Like those types
of moments where you'll be watching a
movie and like something happens with a
character and you're immediately like,
"Why didn't they just do this? It's
right in front of them." Like there's no
way they would have just done what they
just did or not do what they just didn't
do. You know, those types of things. So,
there's a little bit of that and that
becomes pretty problematic in my
opinion, especially towards the end of
the film. Uh but
overall, I did think this was a good
film and I would definitely recommend
checking this one out, especially if
what you've heard here uh story-wise and
otherwise uh it does sound interesting
to you. So, I will tell you it's sitting
at a three and a half star average on
Letterboxd right now and I'm go going to
go ahead and say that's that's right on.
Um I was between three and three and a
half, but with all the great technical
stuff that ended up going well with this
film,
um I'm I'm going to the three and a
half. It's it's pretty enjoyable and
it's pretty impressive in a bunch of
ways. Uh I did like it, but would love
to hear other people's opinions on this
film if you've seen it or if you go and
see it and want to come back here and
comment, go ahead and put it down in the
comments and we can talk spoilers in the
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