Venice Film Festival: Jennifer Lawrence gets the chills in horror story mother!

The film, a delirious horror story that escalates from menace to mayhem to mind-bending weirdness, provoked strong reactions at the Venice Film Festival

Guests dress like thriller character walk the red carpet ahead of the Michael Jackson's Thriller 3D screening. Vittorio Zunino Celotto / Getty Images

Directors Kate Mulleavy and Laura Mulleavy pose with actor Kirsten Dunst during red carpet event for the movie Woodshock. Reuters

Actors Woody Harrelson, left, and Sam Rockwell pose for photographers on the red carpet for the premiere of the film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri. Ettore Ferrari / ANSA via AP

Woody Harrelson poses for selfies with fans on the red carpet for the premiere of the film 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri. Ettore Ferrari / ANSA via AP

Model Gigi Hadid. Ettore Ferrari / ANSA via AP

Actor Javier Bardem (top-R) arrives for the movie mother! Reuters

French model Tina Kunakey Di Vita arrives at Lido Beach. The festival runs from 30 August to 09 September. EPA

Actor Fukuyama Masaharu, right, films with his phone as director Kore-eda Hirokazu walks in front of him as he arrives for the photo call of the film Sandome No Satsujin (The Third Murder) AP Photo / Domenico Stinellis

Actor Jim Carrey poses for photographers at the photo call of the film Jim and Andy The Great Beyond. Claudio Onorati /ANSA via AP

From left; Italian directors Manetti Bros., Marco and Antonio, actress Serena Rossi and Italian actor Giampaolo Morelli arrive at the Venico Lido. Ettore Ferrari / ANSA via AP

>Fans wait in front the Cinema Palace for the red carpet of the film mother!, with Jennifer Aniston. Claudio Onorati / ANSA via AP

Director David Batty, left, and actor Michael Caine pose for photographers during the photo call of the film'My Generation. AP

Director Darren Aronofsky (L) poses with actors Javier Bardem (R), Jennifer Lawrence (2nd R) and Michelle Pfeiffer during a photocall for the movie mother! Reuters

Jennifer Lawrence's new film, a delirious horror story that escalates from menace to mayhem to mind-bending weirdness, provoked strong reactions at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday.

Darren Aronofsky's mother! stars Lawrence and Javier Bardem as a couple living in that horror-flick staple, an isolated old house. They start to receive mysterious house-guests, with results that go from puzzling to apocalyptic.

The film, which Aronofsky describes as a "fever dream" provoked by angst at the state of the environment and society, was greeted with a mix of applause and boos at its first press screening in Venice.

Most critics were impressed by what a review in the Hollywood Reporter called the "madhouse bacchanal" of the film's final stretch. Others wondered what it all meant. Variety found the film impressive but empty, a "baroque nightmare that's about nothing but itself."

Aronofsky acknowledged the movie was "a very, very strong cocktail."

"Of course there are going to be people who are not going to want that type of an experience. And that's fine," Aronofsky told reporters before the film's red carpet premiere in Venice.

"I've been making it clear that this is a roller-coaster ride — only come on it if you are really prepared to do the loop-the-loop a few times."