Munchausen is a 2014 American silent short horror film written and directed by Ari Aster. The film stars Liam Aiken as a boy about to go off to college, and Bonnie Bedelia as his overprotective mother who goes to great lengths to keep him from leaving her.The film is named for the phenomenon of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, "a behavior pattern in which a caregiver deliberately exaggerates, fabricates, and/or induces physical, psychological, behavioral, and/or mental health problems in those who are in their care."