PREVENGE is another one-note film from Alice Lowe, who wrote and directed as well as starring in the production. She's essentially playing the same character as her one in SIGHTSEERS, with the twist that she's heavily pregnant (as was Lowe during the shoot). She also happens to be a schizophrenic who hears her unborn baby telling her to kill people, and she complies.
I read that Lowe wrote the script in three days and it doesn't surprise me. The premise is lightweight and tired and the events that play out are deeply predictable. The direction is a little better than I expected but Lowe's unpleasant performance is severely detrimental to your enjoyment of the movie. This feels very much like a low rent copy of the better Hong Kong horror flick DREAM HOME. The best thing about PREVENGE are the cameos from genuinely good performances like Gemma Whelan, Kate Dickie, and Jo Hartley.
Prevenge
2016
Action / Comedy / Crime / Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
Plot summary
Widow Ruth is seven months pregnant when, believing herself to be guided by her unborn baby, she embarks on a homicidal rampage, dispatching anyone who stands in her way.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
Cheap and hurried
Baby will tell you what to do
The film is a dark comedy about a baby that takes over a woman's body. Ruth (Alice Lowe) is instructed to "listen to her baby" as it will tell her what to do, i.e. "Look Who's Talking: The Prequel." In this case the production goes to an inane degree as the baby instructs Ruth to enact revenge on characters not developed. The film was rather a repetitive slasher with Ruth's character not being well developed either. I couldn't empathize with a pregnant woman protagonist, although I am guessing women who have experienced the take over of their body might find the film rather amusing.
Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity Winner :Screen International's Rising Star Award FrightFest 2016; Monster Innovation Award Monster Fest 2016
A delightfully twisted revenge horror
This very dark comedy is centred on Ruth, a heavily pregnant woman who is on a killing spree. For reasons that aren't immediately obvious she has a list of people to kill... and believes it is her unborn daughter that is directing her actions. The deaths are quite gory with throats cut, heads battered and in one case a man is castrated and bleeds out!
The success of this film is down to Alice Lowe who not only plays Ruth but also wrote and directed. Her portrayal of Ruth is great; too often in such films the killer is either obviously bad or excessively glamourous but Ruth is an outwardly ordinary woman; the sort people hardly notice which makes her easier to believe. It is important that she isn't too hard to sympathise with and there are scenes where she shows a caring side... most amusingly when she cares for a man's mistreated mother shortly after dispatching him. There are hints at why she is doing what she is doing early on but it isn't made totally clear too soon which provides a degree of mystery. The humour of the film certainly won't be for everybody but if you enjoy pitch black comedy in your films then I'd certainly recommend checking this out.