Review: Prevenge



(imdb.com)

A strong contender as one of the strangest film's this year is Prevenge. Following the story of a pregnant woman who believes her child is speaking to her; Prevenge is an absurdly dark horror-comedy with gumption. It's the type of movie that doesn't seem concerned with how the audience feels about it, because it is so sure in how it feels about it. Prevenge takes prenatal horror in a strange direction as the crude central character, Ruth, unhappy in her life takes a turn toward killing because of her baby’s pension for it. Prevenge is not for everyone at all, but as noted, it doesn't want to be.

Prevenge stars a particularly quirky Alice Lowe (Hot Fuzz) as mother-to-be, Ruth; she holds the entire film on her shoulders as the sole character with substantial dialogue and multiple scenes. She's fantastically droll, but also really interesting to observe as she interweaves with secondary characters and plots their murders. Other supporting actors include Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones) as a woman who has no time for Ruth, Kate Dickie (The Witch) as an employer with literally no life outside of her job, and Jo Hartley (This Is England) as a midwife frequented by Ruth. Dickie is especially fantastic; her slightly unhinged working woman is hilariously desperate and unconventional.

Prevenge is never scary in the literal sense. It leans heavily toward dark comedy and while it holds some horror aspects, it certainly doesn't adhere to its conventions. Perhaps the scariest parts of Prevenge - and probably intentional pieces of the movie, are the gross encounters she has with people who don’t care, are outwardly rude or are completely ignorant to her very real problems a pregnant woman faces. In fact, the death scenes are more fun than they are anything else, with precursory that even if her baby isn't talking to her, these people deserve to be killed by Ruth.

One of the oddest parts about Prevenge is in its lack of backstory. The film practically falls into the center of the story. Ruth is deeply pregnant and already hears her baby, neither are explained past brief comments and by the end of the movie, viewers won't t ever truly understand what happened and why, only that it did. There's subtext that is progressive, the nurturing mother figure so typical of stereotypes is broken apart, making way for a single woman unable to cope with her pregnancy and the issues she faces.

As mentioned previously, Prevenge will not be for everyone. It's very British and at times, low budget. But, for its lack of camera prowess and cinematography, the film makes up for in campy fun and a pretty entertaining performance from Alice Lowe. It's the type of movie that'll never make you hold your breath or scream, but it will engross you in a wayward world of talking fetuses and offbeat pregnancy. 6 out 10.