Prevenge Review (Film, 2017) #31DaysofHorror
content warning: gore, alcohol abuse, sexual content, nudity
A pregnant woman goes on a killing spree. She believes her unborn child is controlling her, telling her exactly what to do in her day to day life. Even her doctor tells her that her baby has ways of telling her what to do.
Prevenge is a brilliant dark comedy/slasher film from writer/director/star Alice Lowe. Lowe filmed most of the project in two weeks when she was actually pregnant. Her daughter was born shortly after principal photography ended, allowing her to use her own child as the child in the film. This is also Lowe’s debut feature film as a director, building on a career as a comedy writer and actor.
Prevenge plays on a certain style of British sitcom. The dialogue is very fast paced and dry, stacked with joke after joke. It’s an exaggerated form you don’t see too often in horror, and Lowe definitely has a talent for writing and delivering it. I can’t imagine a better form of natural misdirection in a horror film than taking a perfectly honed talent in comedy writing and making the final punchline in each sequence a bloody death at moments of utter social humiliation.
There’s a deeper narrative going on in Prevenge that throws you off balance even more than the opening scare sequence in an exotic pet shop. Ruth is grieving the loss of her partner and just doesn’t want to talk about it. Even her doctor checking in on her pregnancy doesn’t know until she looks closer at the file.
The title is more than a clever play on words. Ruth is numb to the world, trying to find a sense of normalcy again while grieving. She begins to hear a voice she believes is her child telling her what to do. Her child is thirsty for vengeance, angry at a world she hasn’t even seen yet. Ruth is a natural caretaker, always taking the needs of others into consideration in everything she does. Her child, though, is already over the injustice of the world.
Evil child films are nothing new. Pregnancy horror isn’t the most common form of this, but it has its role in the genre. The form comes down to one of the most terrifying ideas in horror. What if some children are just born evil? There is no nature versus nurture debate because the cruelty of a child who takes joy in the pain of others and cannot be stopped is the core of their existence. You can fight it with the best parenting, teaching, and counseling in the world and nothing will turn an evil child good. At least in a childhood possession film, you can find the source of evil; the true evil child film is the desperate hunt for a deep secret that doesn’t exist. The child is bad and you have a duty to protect them as their caregiver. If you don’t, society will view you as a failure and blame you for all the pain your child has caused.
Prevenge has a very episodic feel to it. The structure is the progression of the pregnancy. Each slasher sequence is its own event. A connecting thread does begin to emerge going into the second act. The jokes become crueler, more aggressive, as the child really starts to make her presence known. That is, of course, assuming you believe that Ruth is hearing the voice of her child.
The greatest gag in Prevenge is Ruth’s pregnancy. You want to sympathize with her and trust her even after you’ve seen her murder with no provocation. She is under a lot of stress. She’s going to be a great mom once she gets through the struggles of the pregnancy. But the murder…there has to be a reason, right?
Prevenge is streaming on Shudder.
