5 Disturbing Gestational Horror Movies by Paul Lonardo

 

Any mom-to-be will tell you how life-changing and wonderous the experience of those nine months leading up to the birth of their child can be. As the givers of life, mothers also endure all the discomfort and the side effects associated with the gestational period out of love for their child and the joy that this special bond brings.

This Mother’s Day, I went out and searched for a handful of movies that featured the most disturbing stories about pregnancies and came up with these five. So, as to demonstrate the universal sacrifice that women around the planet make for the continuation of human life, I selected a film from five different countries.

While pregnant women dream about what their babies will look like and if they will have their eyes or their papa’s nose, the would-be moms in these terrifying films have deeper and darker concerns keeping them awake at night, and the difficulties associated with their child’s in utero development is much more dire than morning sickness and swollen ankles, as you will soon see.

In no particular order, I begin with Inside (À L’Intérieur), a 2007 French film that will catch you by surprise if you view this one blind, as I did. It starts out with a run-of-the-mill set up as a loving couple get into a car accident, the husband dying and his pregnant wife, Sarah, surviving.

Four months later, Sarah is alone and still grieving, not to mention pregnant. Clearly, she is vulnerable. This is where the real terror begins. It is Christmas Eve and Sarah is expecting her baby the following day when there is a knock on her door. A strange woman asks Sarah if she could use her phone. Sensing something is wrong, Sarah tells the woman that her husband is sleeping and doesn’t want to be disturbed. The woman calls out the lie, claiming to know that her husband is dead.

It’s a chilling moment, and it’s the spark that lights the fuse on this visual stick of dynamite, ushering in the blood and violence that become the singular feature of Inside.

I don’t want to give away too much more about the plot, or reveal who the uninvited woman is and why she has specifically targeted Sarah for fetal abduction, but the use of scissors, knitting needles, and other common household appliances as weapons in the murders of various victims in this movie add a darkly homey touch to the heavy carnage.

At just an hour and twenty minutes, with so much tension and action, it goes by quickly.

Inside is considered a classic entry into the French Extremity movement, a brutal, uncompromising, and savage exploration of grief and violence. All that with a considerably high tomatometer rating of 88%.

2016’s Prevenge is a low-budget British-made film about an expectant mother named Ruth whose unborn child encourages her to go on a killing spree. With a premise like this, the only way to make it work is as a black comedy/horror, and that’s what the filmmaker did, and it was a quality job at that, providing equal amounts of blood and laughter.

As it might be considered standard in these kinds of films, Ruth’s husband is killed late in her pregnancy. It is a climbing ‘accident’ that claims the husband’s life in this one, but he apparently had been cut loose by the rest of his group, and now Ruth, through a special connection she has with the vengeance-seeking fetus inside her, is compelled to track down and murder everyone responsible for the death of the man who was her husband and the baby’s father.

This is definitely a movie you have to be in the mood for, but if you are, you won’t be disappointed.

Prevenge was not only written, produced, and directed by Alice Eva Lowe, but she plays the lead character, and she herself was eight months pregnant during the duration of this film’s production. She came up with the premise for this movie while she was pregnant and no-one would hire her in any other roles.

This film was every bit a labor of love for Lowe that certainly could not have been achieved by a man.

Still/Born is a 2017 Canadian psychological horror film about a new mother named Mary who is pregnant with twins, but sadly, only one survives childbirth. Dealing with the complex emotions of grief as well as new motherhood, Mary finds herself increasingly isolated in a large, new home and she begins to experience unsettling events. She hears noises on the baby monitor that shouldn’t be there and catches fleeting glimpses of figures or disturbances around her baby’s crib.

Postpartum depression is suspected as the woman enters a spiral of neurosis, believing that a demonic being that feeds on mothers and newborns wants to take her son. In her research, she discovers tales of a demon, the Lamashtu, known for preying on newborns and mothers who have suffered loss.

Mary’s husband, Jack, is not dead, and in fact he supports her. However, her increasing paranoia and erratic behavior strain their relationship. Realizing that his wife is not well, Jack takes her to a psychologist, Dr. Neilson, who is portrayed by famed Canadian actor, Michael Ironside, who horror fans know well from some of his earlier films such as Scanners and Total Recall.

There are a lot of tense moments in this film, the acting is superb, and the conclusion works on a number of different levels. Of the five movies previewed in this article, it’s my personal favorite.

The Womb (Inang), a 2022 Indonesian horror film, may seem reminiscent of Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, as it focuses on a pregnant woman’s terrifying experiences with other people before giving birth. However, not willing to go so far as to put The Womb in the same company with one of cinema’s all-time classics, this indie/Indo film does not disappoint.

The Womb tells the story of Wulan, a woman dealing with an unplanned pregnancy and an apathetic partner who in desperation decides to give her child up for adoption. She turns to a mysterious older couple, Eva and Agus, who she is introduced to through a support group she finds online. They seem genuine, kind, and caring enough, and they promise to take care of Wulan’s baby. When Wulan gets evicted from her apartment due to her inability to pay the rent, they welcome the pregnant woman into their home for the duration of the pregnancy and offer to take care of all medical bills.

What could go wrong?

Plenty, as any experienced filmgoer would expect.

Eerie circumstances start to unfold as Wulan witnesses the couple behaving strangely. Wulan is also haunted by nightmares of other pregnant women and babies. The family’s sinister plan starts to unfold when their grown son, Bergas, suddenly returns home unannounced. This creates a problem for his parents and the sinister plans they had for Wulan. I won’t spoil the ending, but suffice it to say that Bergas starts to remember things from his past and is horrified when he figures out the truth. The knowledge is even more terrifying for Wulan, who thought she was doing the best thing for her baby.

The filmmakers spread the tension out for the 116 minutes duration of The Womb, providing a slow-burn approach, but the horror is genuine despite the meager body count.

Last but not least, Grace, a 2009 American film written and directed by Paul Solet that redefines breastfeeding for all lactating mommies who nourish their newborns this way. Nuff said there.

Madeline is a woman who has unsuccessfully been trying to get pregnant with her husband, Michael. When they finally succeed, Madeline decides on being assisted by a midwife rather than the family obstetrician. Just as Madeline is due to deliver her baby, of course there is a tragic car accident which kills both Michael and the unborn baby. Madeline refuses to go to the hospital to have the dead fetus removed and instead delivers it in a birthing tub.

It’s a horrific premise, and it only gets darker and more disturbing.

Madeline pleads for her stillborn baby to live, and miraculously it does. Overjoyed, Madeline names the baby Grace.

As Madeline cares for her infant daughter, she starts to realize what the rest of us already know; something is wrong with Grace. Most mothers don’t need to hang fly paper in the nursery to rid the room of all the flies that are attracted to your child. Sort of a sign that the Diaper Genie is not the source of the problem.

Nursing is often painful, maybe even to the point of causing the breast to bleed, but no normal baby would ignore the milk and feed on the blood instead. Grace is no normal baby, and each feeding becomes more gruesome while Madeline becomes dangerously weak. I won’t get into all the bloodshed provided by the other characters in this film, but there is plenty of it.

Some say the mother is the last to know, but Madeline is just providing for her baby and giving her baby what it needs to survive. And isn’t that what all mother’s are supposed to do?

Happy Mother’s Day!