Weekend Watch: ‘Prevenge’ Delivers the Pregnancy Horror Movie … – Decider

Weekend Watch is here for you. Every Friday were going to recommend the best of whats new to rent on VOD or stream for free. Its your weekend; allow us to make it better.

Theres a scene early on in Prevenge the new indie horror movie currently streaming on the Shudder platform where the very pregnant Ruth, played by the films writer/director Alice Lowe, has a pre-natal checkup and ischeerfully told by her well-meaning practitioner, You have absolutely no control over your mind and body anymore! The practitioner then gestures towards Ruths belly: This one does! For a movie about a pregnant woman whos getting orders to kill from the voice of her unborn child, its a bit on the nose, but then horror does often try to hit you over the head. Literally.

Theres a peculiar way we deal with pregnant women in society. Theyre tended to. Catered to. They get a seat on the bus unless youre dealing with some real jerks. But theyre also discounted, overlooked, and disregarded as anything but their function as baby incubators for basically the entirety of their pregnancy. Even beyond the point where their bodies are political battlegrounds, pregnant womenarent treated as people. Theyre treated as pregnant. Which honestly makes themgreat choices for horror movies, which are often so rich with stories of overlooked people who curdle into monsters.

Theres also the rich tradition of motherhood being mined for psychological horror, fromRosemarys Baby toThe Babadook. InPrevenge, thechirpy little notion that Ruth doesnt have control over her body becomes literally, terrifyingly real. And woe to anyone else she sets her sights on.

At first, it seems like Ruth has merely become a psychopath, driven mad by the voices in her head and indiscriminately killing random men. That voice, by the way, is this thin, demonic, Moaning Myrtle, little girl from The Otherschirp of a voice, like if you had an particularly malevolentcricket talking to you from inside your body. This is Ruths baby, and shes quite insistent that Ruth take her knife and slice throats, sever genitals, and do all manner of things to her string of victims.

As the film goes on, though, we learn a bit more about Ruth, her victims, and the connection thats binding them together. The themesbecome murkier, yes; theres more to Ruth than just being the least likely serial killer in England. Theres grief at work. And vengeance. But you start to see the intention behind Ruths eyes, too, which is as scary as it gets.

There are parts ofPrevengethat reminded me of Ben WheatleysSightseers, another movie written by and starring Alice Lowe about people who dont look like horrible murderers turning out to be horrible murderers. At other times, I was reminded of the recent filmThe Eyes of My Mother,which was about the curdling effects of dealing with grief in seclusion. Both are films you definitely want to be compared to if youre looking to make a mark as an indie horror film, and all credit to Alice Lowe for this inventive film, and for her fiercely committedperformance as Ruth, filmed all while she was really pregnant. Writer/director/star while she was pregnant. Leonardo DiCaprio got an Oscar for doingwhat again?

Theres another line inPrevenge, this one coming closer to the end, as Ruth has tracked down one of her final victims during a Halloween parade to which shes come dressed as some white-faced demon in a blood-red dress. Its a standout scene in its own right, and thats before she spits the line, Im not grieving! Im gestating fucking rage! Its a line that slices directly to the dark, raging heart of this movie, which is sure to rank as one of the years best horror films.

StreamPrevenge on Shudder.

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Weekend Watch: 'Prevenge' Delivers the Pregnancy Horror Movie ... - Decider