By Simon Thompson
Writer/director Taratoa Stappard’s Mārama is an eerie gothic horror movie, rooted in Māori culture and history. As a director Stappard manages to create a strong sense of mood and atmosphere that’s present throughout the narrative.
Set in the Victorian era, the plot of Mārama follows Mary (Ariāna Osborne) a young half Māori woman who has travelled all the way from New Zealand to Hawkser Manor, Yorkshire, after receiving a letter from a mysterious stranger who claims to have the answers that she seeks about her family history. Upon her arrival, Mary is greeted by the head of the house Nathaniel Cole (Toby Stephens), who hires her to be a governess for his granddaughter Anne (Evelyn Towersey).
As Mary begins to spend more time in the house, she quickly comes to realise that despite the outward civilisation of both the manor and Cole himself, they are far away from the image of upper class refinement and cultivation, that they project.
Stappard’s direction and the movie’s tone are strongly reminiscent of Get Out, Robert Eggers’s work, but the stranger in a strange land aspect recalls 70s gothic horror classics such as Don Siegel’s The Beguiled and Richard Loncraine’s Full Circle. Gin Loane’s cinematography makes the location of Hawkser Manor feel characterful and alive, with a dinner party scene in particular having a gorgeous colour palette that looks like something out of an eighteenth century painting.
Ariāna Osborne and Toby Stephens are a superb screen pairing who play off each other nicely. Osborne pulls off the difficult task of giving a performance which is both quietly restrained yet angry at the same time, and Stephens (an actor who should be a way bigger star) is both charismatic and truly monstrous as Nathaniel Cole, clearly revelling in being able to bring the character’s worst qualities onto the screen.
The only major flaw that this movie sadly suffers from, is that it’s about thirty five minutes too short, as Stappard’s script sets up a series of interesting ideas about the colonial exploitation of the Māori, that sadly aren’t developed to the extent that they should have been due to the movie barely clocking in at ninety minutes.
If you like gothic horror movies set in creepy old houses, then Mārama is the movie for you, while the plot might be a little lacking in some areas, the atmosphere and visual imagery more than hold your attention.
Marama screened as part of Grimmfest 2026.
