Perhaps I’m mistaken, but it appears that in the horror titles released in 2024, the motifs of the pandemic are simply ubiquitous. Admittedly, stories of isolation have existed almost from the very origins of the genre, but ever since 2020 made everyone stay indoors all over the world, movies where parents lose their minds over an unseen threat outside their door have acquired a different level. Just after the release of the nearly identical “Never Let Go,” Hulu has offered another version of insanity in “Hold Your Breath” by Karrie Crouse and Will Joines where a mother is suspected of going mad after a TIFF premiere a month ago. There is no doubt all of it is underpinned by a strong Sarah Paulson performance, typically. But “Hold Your Breath” is in the end a disappointing piece, a collection of strong sequences that lack enough conflict to make us invest in them. It is a film rife with moments but with no sense of movement.
“Hold Your Breath” is set in Oklahoma in the year 1933 during what is known as the most disastrous time, the dust seasons where dust storms can blow in, run through the area and destroy resources as well as take lives. In this vast emptiness, the mother Margaret Bellum (Paulson) is left alone with her two remaining children, Rose (Amiah Miller) and Ollie (Alona Jane Robbins) while her husband is away. One of the nights, Rose tells Ollie a story about the Gray Man, a legendary creature that resides inside dust and shadows, a creature that may be able to penetrate into the depths of one’s soul and force them to perform “terrible things”. Is there a being such as that in the dust storms, something that drives ordinary individuals insane to partake in heinous acts?
The threat level towards the Bellum family is increased when they hear of a man who took the life of yet another family near theirs. Now they have to be cautious of the dust, the Gray Man, and this unknown man who is nowhere to be seen. But perhaps, the fiercest threat is posed by Margaret’s gradual insanity. She has started wandering around her house in the middle of the night and tends to have vivid dreams about sandstorms. A similar trajectory to Margaret’s can also be seen in Esther (Annaleigh Ashford), another marginalised local mother that is believed to be suffering in a parallel fashion.
It is quite rare to view a social drama that reveals how the extreme pressures endured by a mother when children are involved can culminate into psychosis. There is no doubt however that raising children in the Dust Bowl in the 30s would have been incredibly challenging. The same can be said for Paulson in this role, the more fascinating part focuses on the lack of clarity in terms of the actual threat level towards her daughters, whether it is external or internal in nature.
There are indeed memorable moments in “Hold Your Breath” such as the two involving the preacher, Ebon Moss-Bachrach from “The Bear.” His first scene is quite striking in that he appears from a barn maker like figure that brings Nosferatu imagery to mind. Other than that, it was just one of too few striking visuals in the picture. Later, there’s a mesh of tension and a delicate performance from Paulson and Moss Bachrach who are seated around a dining table. Finally, there is a brief moment in time when Margaret is basically forced to act like someone who is mentally sound, or risk having her children taken away by the local population, although this moment seems rather rushed in the edit.
I can’t even recommend “Hold Your Breath,” but there are these beats that cut through the dust which give me hope of a better film lost to the storm. These moments do not depend on Gray Man or dust all over the screen with computer generated imagery. There is no more horror than a mother at the breaking point, and all tighten the focus around the actors rather than on the big idea. Certainly, there is nothing that takes our breath away quite the way, for instance, a great actress can, when she is doing what she does best.
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