Now I'm pretty sure most know the origin story of Batman, where Bruce's parents are gunned down before his very eyes in his childhood, which planted the seed for him wanting to become a masked vigilante.

This film twists that story inasmuch as it asks what would happen if it was Bruce who was killed instead of his parents. Wouldn't his father (Tom Patrick Propofsky) maybe go out to exact revenge? And wouldn't his mother (Dani Scott) maybe go mad, mad enough to become this reality's Joker?

Skip Pipo plays the Waynes' butler Alfred, Ryan Kendrick Bruce's killer Joe Chill.

Now DC Comics main rival Marvel has been has been releasing What if? comics in various iterations over the years that were literally just that, stories about what would happen if only one key element of a comic series was changed - which was a fun concept for sure, but if you weren't into the particular series (including it's rich history and subtext) that got the What if? treatment, it was always more likely than not that the joke was lost on you.

In a way, Martha/Joker follows the What if? concept very consequently, but only up to a point, as instead on relying solely on the power of subverting the source material, this film tells an original story more rooted in the horror genre than its source material and that's much more about coping with loss or failing to do so, and it centers on characters instead of superheroics. And Chris R. Notarile's solid directorial effort and grounded performances totally help to bring this story to life, turning this into a very cool piece of psycho horror.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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