Joanne Mitchell’s psychological horror Broken Bird blends eerie gothic imagery with a strangely sympathetic exploration of grief and desire in an unlikely subject.
Mitchell spoke to Soundsphere’s Christina Brennan about her experimental debut horror, ahead of Broken Bird’s US theatrical release on 26th April 2026
Sybil, the grieving mortician in Broken Bird. Image credit: Catalyst Studios
Director and producer Joanne Mitchell doesn’t shy away from darkness in her work. She has produced and starred in the zombie drama Before Dawn (2013) and “female revenge thriller” Bait. Through her own company, Mitchell Brunt Films, co-founded with Emmerdale star Dominic Brunt, Mitchell has also produced eye-catching horrors like Wolf Manor (Scream of the Wolf) (2022). After building the slate of independent genre projects that have played festivals across the world, Mitchell has turned her hand to directing with her debut feature Broken Bird.
The Gothic world of Broken Bird
Broken Bird is a highly personal project that builds on the emotionally raw, psychological horror of her previous short film Sybil (2018). Both Sybil and Broken Bird centre on the eponymous Sybil, a lonely mortician searching for love and connection in increasingly disturbing ways. It’s a premise that could easily tip into something grotesque and alienate many viewers. But Mitchell grounds her filmmaking in a compelling attention to the nuances of her characters’ behaviours. Her attention to the dark contradictions of Sybil’s emotional makeup encourages you to feel sympathy for her misguided search for acceptance. “I kept thinking about the character,” she explains. “Why does she do these things, and what compels her to make certain choices?”
The award-winning actress Rebecca Calder‘s performances enhance Sybil’s eccentricities in ways that make her strangely likeable. Rather than positioning Sybil as a straightforward villain, Mitchell was keen to lean into this unexpected likeability and complicate her. “She’s a character you want to hate […] but there’s also something very human about her,” she says. That tension, between empathy and being repelled, is where Broken Bird finds its most unsettling power.
Creating Psychological Horror
Broken Bird examines the human need to hold on to the dead. Image credit: Catalyst Studios
That tension between empathy and horror is central to Broken Bird. Working alongside screenwriter Tracey Sheals, whose writing credits include Asylum: Twisted Horror and Fantasy Tales (2020), Mitchell expanded Sybil’s story into something more layered. What makes Broken Bird stand out in the crowded psychological horror space is its commitment to an intense form of emotional realism.
“I wanted her to be based in an emotional truth – that was really important to me. Everything had to come from her, from what she’s been through, from her perspective. Because in her world, everything she’s doing makes sense. It’s her way of coping, of dealing with grief and loneliness and that need for connection. She processes everything through her imagination, through poetry, through trying to put things back together again. So even though what she does is dark and unsettling, it comes from a place that’s very human.”
This impulse also feeds into Mitchell’s broader interest in writing realistic female characters. Mitchell is clear that she wanted to avoid reductive archetypes. “Women should never be pigeonholed into one thing. We’re contradictory, we’re messy, we can be empathetic or nurturing, but also dark and complicated. That’s what interested me with Sybil.” As Broken Bird develops, Sybil becomes an increasingly messy, contradictory figure who is empathetic and monstrous at the same time.
Broken Bird and the Northern Gothic
Sybil, the heroine of Broken Bird, is both poignant and strangely likeable. Image Credit: Catalyst Studios
Visually, Broken Bird leans into a recognisably Gothic aesthetic. Mitchell describes wanting the film to feel distinctly Northern. Whilst the region has beautiful landscapes and scenery, the North can have an ominously dark feel in autumn and winter.
“When it’s dark, it can feel very oppressive in the North, almost coffin-like,” Mitchell says, reflecting on the Northern landscape that shaped the film’s tone. That interplay between light and darkness became central to the visual language in Broken Bird. In the film, warm interiors frequently contrast with colder, clinical spaces like the mortuary where Sybil works.
Working with cinematographer Igor Marovic, whose other credits include the post-apocalyptic horror Son’s Will (2024), Mitchell developed a strong visual look through a collage of lookbooks that captured the film’s eerie, oppressive setting. This is no small task, given that much of the crew hadn’t experienced the UK firsthand. “I wanted the warmth of the funeral home, the sort of antique, wooden feel, but also a coldness to it, to contrast with the blues and greens of the mortuary. That contrast felt like part of her character as well.”
Joanne Mitchell’s Horror Influences
Mitchell’s influences point clearly to a strain of women-led horror. Films like Saint Maud (2019)and The Babadook (2014)were key films for Mitchell, with their focus on emotionally complex women navigating trauma.
“I love films that play with that […] a character at its core,” she says. There’s also a nod to the imaginative, fairy-tale qualities of Guillermo del Toro, particularly in the way Broken Bird blends darkness with moments of strange beauty.
That mix of influences helps position Broken Bird within a contemporary wave of horror that retreats from explicit gore and instead generates subtler forms of dread and unease.
Mitchell on micro-budget filmmaking
Like many independent horror projects, Broken Bird was made on a micro-budget. This is a constraint that Mitchell is familiar with and something she views as both a challenge and a strength.
“There’s no time for ego, especially on a micro-budget film. Everyone has to pull together and everyone has to be as passionate as each other. If someone comes in with an ego, it can fall apart very quickly. You’re relying on teamwork and support, and people are doing it because they want to be there, not because they’re getting paid a huge amount. So it becomes this really organic, collaborative experience.”
That commitment to emotionally driven storytelling is what makes Broken Bird so compelling. It’s a gothic psychological horror that is also a study of loneliness and the strange ways people try to connect with others despite trauma.
In Mitchell’s hands, the premise of a conventional horror film becomes a deeply empathetic exploration of human vulnerability.
Following a strong festival run, including screenings at FrightFest and the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Broken Bird is set for a wider audience. Broken Bird will be available to rent or buy in the UK via Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Google TV from May 7, 2026