The Moogai

The Moogai, Jon Bell’s feature debut, expands his 2020 short into a culturally significant Indigenous horror film tackling the trauma of the Stolen Generations. Centered on a new mother haunted by a child-stealing spirit, the film mixes genre tropes with political commentary.

The Moogai (2024), directed by Jon Bell, is a haunting yet heartfelt horror film interweaving Aboriginal lore with the trauma of the Stolen Generations. Centered on a young Aboriginal family haunted by a child-stealing spirit, the film explores systemic racism, motherhood, and intergenerational resilience. A tribute to the strength of Aboriginal women, it uses genre conventions to confront cultural demons while offering a powerful message of survival, healing, and belonging within fractured familial and societal structures.

Inspired by 1980s horror, Jon Bell’s The Moogai blends genre thrills with Indigenous storytelling. Centered on a child-stealing spirit terrorizing a young Aboriginal family, the film explores the lasting impact of the Stolen Generations and intergenerational trauma. Bell uses horror as a “Trojan horse” to unpack institutional racism, while actor Meyne Wyatt emphasizes that the true terror lies in ongoing systemic injustices. The Moogai offers suspense with a powerful cultural and political undercurrent.

Writer-director Jon Bell’s debut feature uses a predatory monster as an allegory for the Stolen Generations, Aboriginal children taken from their parents in white assimilation programs.

Jon Bell’s The Moogai is a chilling horror film rooted in Australia’s dark colonial past. It follows Sarah, an Aboriginal woman haunted by visions after childbirth, as a sinister spirit targets her newborn. Drawing from real-life trauma of the Stolen Generations, the film blends supernatural terror with intergenerational pain. Bell uses genre to explore cultural identity, resilience, and history, delivering a powerful, thought-provoking narrative that goes far beyond typical horror scares.

Jon Bell’s The Moogai blends supernatural horror with Australia’s colonial trauma. Inspired by the “Stolen Generations,” the film follows an Aboriginal woman haunted by a child-stealing spirit after giving birth. Rooted in real fears, the Moogai represents both the Boogeyman and colonizer. Bell, influenced by ‘80s horror, uses genre to explore intergenerational trauma, cultural erasure, and resistance. His chilling debut entertains while confronting audiences with the ongoing legacy of institutional violence against Indigenous people.