The Gutters own Carol Borden finishes up Fantastic Fest 2025 with Taratoa Stappard’s Mārama.

In 1859, an orphaned Māori woman, Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne) has traveled from New Zealand to Yorkshire, England to meet a man. She has received a letter from a Mr. Anthony Boyd, who claims he has important information about her family. She stops in the home of Nathaniel Cole (Toby Stephens), who claims to be a friend of Boyd. Mārama uses classic Gothic horror conventions to relate a story of imperialism, colonialism and decolonization. There are the heaths and moors Mary (Ariāna Osborne) traverses. There are the crashing ocean waves. There is the remote country house of Nathaniel Cole, his dissolute brother Arthur and Arthur’s daughter, Anne (Evelyn Towersy). There is the lonely grave of Anne’s mother, Emily Cole. There is Peggy (Umi Myers), a recently hired Māori servant, who doesn’t trust Mary at first. There is a secret room and a secret house. There are close dark halls that Mary walks at night. There is a missing and, perhaps, mad woman. There is a party of terrible white people. There are Mary’s strange dreams and visions. And I don’t think it spoils anything to say that there is the presence of Toby Stephens himself. Mārama is an intense film with a slow burn. Ariāna Osborne gives a tremendous performance in a film that demands so much from her. She does an an excellent job as Mary penetrates a house filled with terrible men and their terrible secrets.

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