Birth/Rebirth

It is not a true horror, but it is medically graphic, so be warned. Both lead actors do a good job, taking their respective characters in two long gradual arcs. One from an emotionally cold, socially marooned, savant existence, to eventually showing some small instances of warmth and connection, possibly even yearning?

The other, from a warm, caring, nurse, mother, to being morally complicit in their dubious scheme to cheat death.

Tension is driven along by good editing and an idiosyncratic, edgy soundtrack, that draws you in to the point where you yourself feel complicit, as you root for the pair, in their dastardly, if well intentioned, endeavours. It is however broken at a few points with some, I am sure, deliberate humour.

It could have had the last 8 minutes or so cut off to make a tidy 90 minutes. As by this time it had tailed off into borderline nonsense.

It's not often that the horror genre throws up an original idea these days, but this film is a rare example demonstrating that it is still possible. It is a twisted and disturbing tale that avoids falling into established genre cliches. Not an easy film to watch, especially for the squeamish, with lots of blood and body parts on display. But for those with strong constitutions, the story is gradually revealed, drawing the viewer ever more deeply into the twisted plot and the increasingly mad behaviours of the two lead characters. The acting is very good, somehow managing to engage the viewer whilst at the same time revealing the repellent nature of their actions.

Mortician Rose discovers how to bring the dead back. Unfortunately, it's a work in progress; her latest subject is Lila, a young girl who died of meningitis. Her mum, Celie, a nurse, gets in on the project to keep her daughter alive.

I saw the name Shudder in the opening credits, and I imagined a naff, low-budget affair. What followed really surprised me. Talk about Frankenstein's daughter: a tried-and- tested story brought up to date and very effectively rewired.

Not horror in my eyes, but more a suspense thriller with a couple of shocks thrown in. There are a few nasty scenes, particularly towards the end; we learn exactly the lengths a mum will go to for her child. It would perhaps have benefited from one or two touches of humor; they could have enhanced the film a little.

I thoroughly enjoyed the performance of Marin Ireland. Talk about intense! But the whole cast performed very well. It's not brilliant, but it's definitely worth watching.

7/10.

Phew, that was... emotionally exhausting. Technically this seemed much more like a dark, atmospheric drama... however I FEEL like I just watched a horror, so that's a new and interesting experience that I appreciated.

There was so much to be appreciated about this movie. The story was intriguing and engaging. It took a subject matter that was familiar, yet out of the grasp of our current reality and made it feel feasible and realistic. It was done with a finesse and tact that was eerie, unsettling, yet relatable.

A large portion of the success here is due to the performances by our two leads. The mother did a great job giving a gut wrenching performance, and the doctor in particular served us a character that was so unrelatable yet so round, consistent and realistic. They both did a pretty stellar job.

The pacing got just slightly off mainly towards the middle and dragged a bit, but nothing that was unredeemable. I was pretty glued to the screen, taking in the beautiful picture quality, a bit of gnarly gore, an intriguing story and some truly solid acting. I found myself wanting more once it was finished, but in a good way. Would recommend.

There was the movie The Influencer from Shudder I watched recently and now this one. Its cool to see the streaming service evolve over a short time, and now producing some of the best horror movies coming out in recent years.

The two things which sold this movie to me, was one the medical research detail, and secondly the special effects. Although bringing someone back to life is pretty implausible, this movie goes as far as it can do to sell the idea to those (like my self) who are not medically trained.

The medical sequences do look very realistic, and the story does get dug in to the science and procedures, where most other dumbed down horror modern movies fear to tread.