Shelley

Talk about slow paced! This movie just went on and on and on with no real progression. It was an hour and a half movie that could have easily been squeezed into 30 minutes with the needless scenes and repetitiveness taken out. The premise was good but due to a lack of a good script, editing and direction the film just meandered on with no real climax, pay off or closure. As it abruptly ended you thought "Is that it?". You could have forgiven the director if there was a great finale after the incredibly slow build up but it just whimpered out after 90 minutes of hoping that something great was going to happen. Greatly disappointing. You could see the director has seen the Omen from the numerous plagiarized snippets he randomly inserted (all the cheap ones that don't involve CGI)but it was just a very,very poor imitation to a movie that did this infinitely better. This was no horror and barely a thriller.Unfortunately the director thought broody scenes of landscapes made up for actual content.Sorry but this movie was a complete dud.

Like watching a Tarantula molt, this film is incredibly fascinating, disturbing and effective. But, man, is it slow! Everything happens at a snails pace, and regardless of how thought provoking the events are, it does not excuse the pace of this supposed "horror" film. I am all for a slow-burn, in fact, I prefer them to teenage jump scares and other sophomoric tactics. But this movie literally made me want to watch it at 2X the speed, just so that people would pick up the f-ing pace. You know how there are movies that would have been effective if the creative teams knew how to just get to the good parts and edit themselves accordingly? This is one of those films. Had they been more overt with the horror elements, and made things flow just a bit faster, this would have been a worthy addition to the "baby horror" sub-genre. As it stands, it plods along, thinking it is being suspenseful, but in reality, it's just not getting there fast enough. Not recommended, as I am unsure that even the most ardent "slow-burn" fan will appreciate the pace of this film. That being said, the acting is superb, and the cinematography is top-notch.

Almost everyone compares this movie to Rosemary's baby but I don't think it's right. Imho this movie isn't about demonic children but it's a metaphor for the obsession of motherhood (could be applied to fatherhood too tbh).

There are people who are incredibly determined to have a child in spite of the most adverse conditions: phisical, social and emotional. They just want their baby no matter what, even if this mean force or trap the other parent. Imho this is what the movie is about.

A barren wife engages a maid in her remote home, before propositioning the girl with money to become a surrogate mother. The plan works ... until the baby kicks in.

Direction and editing are very good, setting the scene at a fair pace in a claustrophobic world with only three characters. Particularly good early on is the relationship between the women, which gives a genuine feel of them getting to know each other and enjoying their company. Lovely acting, and I got a good chuckle when the maid stuck her tongue out.

The sense of unease is created with subtle music, and the photography makes use of well lit landscapes and close ups. But why are we uneasy? I kept guessing where the threat was coming from, but sadly it comes from nowhere, so I began losing patience about halfway through. There were a couple of interesting efforts to deliver the evil eye from the baby, but it's another case for Inspector Babadook - horror methods used to give a frisson to personal difficulties that might be psychological, might be spiritual.

Problems with the story. The maid's background is interesting - educated but poor immigrant ground up by the West's wealth machine, but that doesn't inform her character, even though she's the plaything of unaccountably wealthy hippies. No attention paid to the fact she was effectively lured in with lies - when the proposition was made I was thinking, Uh oh. Apparently I was wrong. So where did we come from, and where did we end up? I dunno. Even the shaman departed in a state of confusion.

This is a Danish production, but mostly in English in the first part, so no need for subtitles until about 40 mins. And the first time I've seen fisting in a drama - shouldn't he have had it torn off at the wrist?

Overall, unfathomable because it lacks depth.

So it's a Horror movie and someone gets another person to carry their child for them. There could never go anything wrong now could there? Apart from the obvious and what we would expect (suspense, questions and themes of terror or at least Horror), this has some awkward acting in it. And while it may enhance the viewing experience for some, it may also feel wrong for a lot of others.

So buckle up and take this trip, try to stay with it and figure out what is going on. It won't be too clear cut from the beginning and there is enough suspense to go around. It's a decent stab (excuse the pun) to deliver on the premise the movie has. If you like the Genre you probably will like this too