Prevenge

From the co-creator and co-star of Ben Wheatley's brilliantly berserk Sightseers (2012) comes another slice of deliciously dark, ultra-violent British comedy-horror. Making a belated but welcome big-screen directorial debut, the wonderfully talented multi-hyphenate Alice Lowe tears up the screen--and several hapless males--as widowed mum-to-be Ruth, who starts to receive (and obey) messages of homicidal intent from her unborn progeny. Filmed when Lowe herself was seven months pregnant, with a sparkling supporting cast including UK-indie favourites Jo Hartley (This Is England) and Kate Dickie (The Witch), Lowe's screenplay works deftly on multiple levels.

A bracingly confident affair marked by in-your-face feminism and deceptively smart psychological insight, this is a satirical stalk-and-slash smorgasbord--Rosemary's Baby and David Cronenberg's The Brood feature among the obvious cinematic forebears, alongside more disreputable 1970s chillers--that's certainly not for the sensitive of stomach.

"Similar in texture if not tone to Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook," enthused Michael Leader in Sight & Sound, "Prevenge turns the ‘demonic pregnancy’ trope on its head. At the heart of the film is a deeply-felt and authentic insight into soon-to-be motherhood – albeit filtered through Lowe’s ear for the meticulous rhythms, euphemistic small talk and banal politeness of British vernacular." NY

Alice Lowe (b.1977) studied Classics at Cambridge, then worked in experimental comic theatre and television. She has appeared in many British programmes and films including Hot Fuzz and has continued to work in theatre as performer, writer and director. In tandem with Steve Oram she developed character-based pieces which led to Ben Wheatley's Sightseers (2012).