Among the upcoming horror movies kicking off the spooky season this weekend is A24’s The Front Room. The film marks Brandy Norwood’s return to horror for the first time in a while, and wow, does she outdo herself with a fantastic performance. But, I need to talk directly to the kids who loved the actress in Cinderella, because once you notice the parallels, you are going to see this project on the 2024 movie schedule in a new and twisted light.
How A24’s The Front Room Terrified Me More As A Fan Of Brandy’s Cinderella
Upon walking out of The Front Room, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a while as a big horror fan: genuine fear and stress in my body from the experience of seeing the movie. The flick follows an expecting couple who take in the husband’s stepmother Solange (played by Kathryn Hunter) after she becomes a widow and promises to financially support the pair if they let her stay with them.
Even though the concept is rather simple (I'll stay away from spoilers here), Hunter’s performance and the way in which she tortures Brandy’s Belinda and her husband Norman cut so deep to the point where I found myself as stressed as the characters.
On my drive back, I gasped when I realized that weirdly enough, The Front Room is oddly a Cinderella story in a way only an A24 movie could be as it harkend back to my favorite role of Brandy's growing up that still holds up more than other Disney remakes I’ve seen.
It made the whole messed up experience of the movie more pointed, because I realized it had to be purposeful. I grew up watching Brandy star in an absolute fairytale scenario, and then it was remodeled into an actual nightmare. It’s incredibly clever on the filmmakers’ part, but I’m still in shock over it.
What Brandy Told Us About The Parallels
Max and Sam Eggers confirmed my suspicions to be true when I read in the movie’s press notes that they were looking for “our Cinderella” when they were casting for the horror movie. And when Brandy’s name was mentioned, they just couldn’t “pass up” her role in The Front Room because it felt like a “stroke of genius”. When I brought up the parallels I noticed with Brandy Norwood during our conversation for CinemaBlend, here’s what she said:
It was a challenge. You know, Belinda was not an easy role for me. I had to really study and be on point and, you know, working with someone like Kathryn Hunter, you have to be on your toes, because you never know what she's gonna do, So I, I really worked hard on this role and I really wanted to see if I could pull it off. And it's very similar to Cinderella in terms of just her not having the best life in the beginning. So, that's pretty much the similarity.
So, Brandy doesn’t see it the same way I do, but she did speak to how difficult the role was for her to delve into after not doing a movie from the genre since the ‘90s. Next, Brandy is hoping she’ll get a call to join another horror movie, so she can join the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel’s cast. I really hope she continues to do work in this genre too, because she was so excellent in The Front Room.
However, I’ll warn you, I am also very traumatized by this movie and its strange parallels to the over-twenty-year-old Cinderella movie that was conversely what dreams are made of. Now, I’m going to need to watch the made-for-television musical with a Disney+ subscription to get me back to my happy place.
The Front Room hits theaters on Friday, September 6. Check out what other upcoming A24 movies are on the way here on CinemaBlend.
