Ruth
probably takes reasonable precautions during her pregnancy, like only smoking
filtered cigarettes and drinking clear booze. Granted, committing violent spree
murders seems like a source of unnecessary physical stress, but you can’t blame
her for it. She is convinced each killing was planned by her unborn daughter.
Things will get messy in director-screenwriter-star Alice Lowe’s Prevenge (trailer here), the opening
night film of the 2017 Boston Underground Film Festival, which now streams
exclusively on Shudder.
Her
first victim will be a lewd pet shop proprietor. Her second vic will be an even
crasser jerkheel. Yes, Prevenge has
plenty of feminist implications, but they will be complicated by her subsequent
victim, an ice cold professional woman named Ella. In fact, Ruth will become
downright distressed when her collection of embryonic tissue insists a conspicuously
nice dude will have to die, so she can reach her next intended prey. At this
point, it should be clear to all her targets are not randomly selected. They
are linked in a very personal way.
Ruth’s
pregnancy certainly looks convincing, because Lowe really was expecting during
the filming. That sounds absolutely exhausting, but at least she was able to
channel her discomfort into on-screen mayhem. She has a knack for delivering bracingly
caustic lines and has the power to summon some wickedly potent fierceness. Lowe
truly makes Ruth a force to be reckoned with, but she still manages to evoke
the insecurities that plague her.
As
befits a semi-pseudo-feminist horror film, the strongest support comes from Jo
Hartley as her chipper Health Service midwife, who is only partially aware of
the awkwardness of the platitudes she tells Ruth. Tom Davis and Dan Renton Skinner
also make strong impressions as her absolutely odious early victims.
