A mother-daughter camping trip doesn’t go as planned in this supernatural horror film from director Cory Choy.

Hannah and her daughter Esme are going on a trip to see Hannah’s old family grounds. However, Hannah sees the trip as a last chance to connect when she notices symptoms of a terminal illness in Esme. When they arrive, they camp on the grounds but eventually make their way to an abandoned house where Hannah used to spend time with her parents and grandparents. When Esme finds a small digging shovel, Hannah seeks the opportunity to start digging for some family heirlooms.

However, things start to go a little crazy for both Hannah and Esme. Fearing the worst, Hannah slowly begins to take desperate measures to ensure they stay at the farm. She also begins envisioning an angel while Esme begins to see her mother not looking the same. Soon enough, Esme uncovers a book that once belonged to Hannah’s relative Emily. She soon learns something extremely wrong is going on and she must convince her mother they have to leave before it’s too late.

If you are into supernatural mysteries such as Insidious or even The Shining, this is one film that you may get into for sure. The story of a mother taking her daughter on a trip to her old family grounds with supernatural things begin to happen is well made as there are only two cast members in the film (much like 2022’s The Issue with Elvis) and the focus is on relationships. Cory Choy meshes true events with a story he heard to bring this to life and added a few easter eggs along the way.

The driving force of the film is the chemistry between young Audrey Grace Marshall as the titular Esme and Stacey Weckstein as her mother Hannah. Weckstein is phenomenal in the role of a mother who is not only worried about her daughter, but has thoughts of what could happen when things get worse. We get treated to little shots here and there of Hannah’s morbid thoughts as she sinks deep into madness a la Jack Nicholson in The Shining, especially when she starts to find old family relic dug up near the family farm.

As for Marshall, she brings the emotions to an all-time high in a breakout role in which she plays the worried daughter who may or may not be facing a terminal illness. One thing to note is a juxtaposition of angels and devils in the eyes of both mother and daughter. Hannah sees a young girl in white like an angel while Esme sees a figure looking like her mother with a blank face which brings some of the terror. Wackstein gets kudos for the “devil” role as well because she goes in blind, literally, and needing help from the assistant director as to where to go when the script calls for it. The final act slowly solves the mystery of why Hannah brought Esme to the old grounds, and it leads to a very shocking discovery.

Esme, My Love is a great film that churns out excellent performances by Audrey Grace Marshall and Stacey Weckstein, with some shocking twists and turns along the way.

WFG RATING: A-

Terror Films presents a Silver Sound production. Director: Cory Choy. Producer: Cory Choy. Writers: Cory Choy and Laura Allen. Cinematography: Fletcher Wolfe. Editing: Cory Choy.

Cast: Audrey Grace Marshall, Stacey Weckstein.

The film will be released on Digital on June 2 from Terror Films.