Prevenge

Ahhh, babies. Society would have you believe maternity to be a blissful, self-sacrificing, sweetly generous nine months of growth and transformation; the existential pinnacle of the bewombed. But let’s not overlook the inherent violence of pregnancy: the parasitic invasion, the loss of autonomy, the grueling pain, blood, stretching skin, sore squirting nipples. A teeny human tears out of a vagina like a watermelon through a keyhole (or through an abdominal slice). Horrific.

Recently widowed and heavily pregnant, Ruth (Alice Lowe) embarks on a homicidal rampage, methodically taking down all who’ve wronged her… according to her unborn baby. Children can certainly be demanding: Ruth’s is ruthless. Dictating from within the womb, the tiny-voiced, mighty fetal misanthrope calls for the blood of her enemies: those who’ve contributed to daddy’s premature demise.

Chronicling her kill list inside baby’s first book, Ruth struggles with grief, a hesitant conscience, and a mad strain of prepartum insanity as she succumbs to the whims of her terrifying tot, who knows a thing or two about how to wield a blade. As the delivery date nears, Ruth will be forced to choose between redemption or ruination, and what’s best for baby.

Nihilistic, merciless, and darkly hilarious, the unapologetically weird, wry, and wonderful brain of triple threat director/writer/star Alice Lowe (co-writer/star of 2012’s Sightseers) has spawned a vicious and sharp-as-the-knife-she-wields pregsploitation allegory of what to expect when you’re expecting.