Hatching

Hatching (Pahanhautoja, 2022) is Hanna Bergholm's Finnish horror film, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Tinja, a 12-year-old gymnast, bends herself out of shape trying to be the daughter her mother demands. Then she hides a strange egg in her room, and it starts to grow.

Tinja's mother runs a blog about the flawless family: bright smiles, spotless floors, a champion kid. Underneath, the household runs on lies and quiet pressure. When the egg finally cracks open, a gangly, bird-like creature climbs out and becomes the girl's mirror, soaking up her hurt, fear, and rage and then acting on the things Tinja would never dare do herself. Siiri Solalinna plays both the fragile child and her monster, while Sophia Heikkilä makes the mother a cold force scarier than anything that hatched.

Bergholm's debut premiered at Sundance and won over critics as a story about a childhood crushed for the sake of an online image, told in the language of body horror. The creature is built from animatronics rather than pixels, which makes it genuinely repulsive. It's for viewers who want art-house dread with something under the skin, not jump scares. Stream Hatching online on iFILM.