Tuesday, October 4, 2016


A Rundown of the 13 Best Horror Movies I've Seen in the Past Year
[10 of 13]
The Natal Horror Slot



The third tie, and the winner for Most Severe Tonal Whiplash Double Bill of the Year...

ANTIBIRTH
(January 2016)


"I just... I really can't be pregnant, all right? It is not my style…”

So, seriously. Look at that cast.
Natasha Lyonne (pulling down double duty as one of the producers, too!), Chloë Sevigny, and Meg Tilly!
Do I have to say anything more?!

If I do, then this sordid little bit of lo-fi horror from writer/director Danny Perez is, by far, the most off-the-wall, bizarre title this year.
Hard partying Lou (Lyonne)--who was definitely not in line when God was giving out maternal instincts--discovers, to her boozy, laid-back annoyance, that she’s beginning to exhibit signs of pregnancy, when, as far as she’s concerned, she can’t be (“… I think I’d remember if I had someone’s c*ck in me”).
As it turns out, “pregnant” is an absurd oversimplification of what takes place in Antibirth.

Check it out for the cast, then stay for the gooey bits…

SHELLEY
(February 2016)


Elena (Cosmina Stratan) is away from her Bucharest home (and civilization), working for childless couple Kasper (Peter Christoffersen) and Louise (Ellen Dorrit Petersen).
As evident from the one sheet, someone gets pregnant, and then things gradually go downhill from there.

Ali Abbasi’s Shelley (from a script by Maren Louise Käehne and Abbasi) is measured and oblique natal horror--so pregnant women or expectant couples, beware!
Actually, this stuff is creepy and disturbing, even for someone who doesn’t fall under either category…
As Abbasi’s feature debut, Shelley is also a powerful first cinematic shot, and a very promising indicator of what we can hopefully expect down the road…

Parting Shot: Incidentally, Christoffersen and Käehne both worked together previously, on the second season of Bron/Broen, which I’ve talked about here at the Iguana in the past.

(Antibirth OS courtesy of impawards.com; Shelley OS courtesy of shocktillyoudrop.com.)

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