If horror movies have taught me anything it is this: NEVER GET PREGNANT.
As if the actual process of successfully giving birth wasn’t terrifying and disgusting enough, it has now become a trope so successful it is now its own sub-genre.
Whilst re-watching the Alien franchise again
after absolutely loving the new Alien: Covenant; I’ve realised alien (1979,
Directed by Ridley Scott) is the mother of all pregnancy movies (see what I did
there?). Slimy, gooey, bloody, deadly, terrifying is the whole
face-hugger/chest-burster scenario; sounds like childbirth to me. The entire movie is just this huge writhing experience of sex, birth and body
horror;if you don’t agree then you just have to see
what this guy's blood looks like.
In light of all this swimming around in my head, I felt it was
time to watch something that has been on my watch list for a while now: the
Danish pregnancy horror ‘Shelley’ (2016, Denmark, directed by Ali Abbasi).
Rich hipsters Louise and Kasper who cannot fall pregnant, convince their housemaid Elena to become their surrogate in return for enough money to get her own place for her and her son. Soon however it becomes apparent that something is not quite right; is the baby sucking the life force from Elena or is the pressure of surrogacy just causing her to have a breakdown.
I have heard others describe this film as a ‘slow burn’ like it’s a bad thing. It is not a bad thing. Slow burns are great for providing much needed tension and character development. ‘Shelley’ is at the pretty normal time of hr and a half, which is easily sat through thanks to wonderful and unique performances from its main cast, and stunning setting and cinematography. As a viewer I both appreciated the surrounding lake and forest and the seemingly idyllic farm life, while also feeling the crushing weight of isolation and vulnerability our lead character, Elena goes through.
Rich hipsters Louise and Kasper who cannot fall pregnant, convince their housemaid Elena to become their surrogate in return for enough money to get her own place for her and her son. Soon however it becomes apparent that something is not quite right; is the baby sucking the life force from Elena or is the pressure of surrogacy just causing her to have a breakdown.
I have heard others describe this film as a ‘slow burn’ like it’s a bad thing. It is not a bad thing. Slow burns are great for providing much needed tension and character development. ‘Shelley’ is at the pretty normal time of hr and a half, which is easily sat through thanks to wonderful and unique performances from its main cast, and stunning setting and cinematography. As a viewer I both appreciated the surrounding lake and forest and the seemingly idyllic farm life, while also feeling the crushing weight of isolation and vulnerability our lead character, Elena goes through.
The film is spoken mostly English which is made believable
by having Elena be from Romania and English being the only way to communicate. It
is also interspersed with Romanian and Danish- this works well to further show Elena’s
isolation as the scenes where she is smiling nervously while others speak
Danish around her are so awkward it was setting off my anxiety. So, watch this
film with subtitles.*
I enjoyed this film immensely, it look the time to develop characters
I cared about which in the end paid off when the film comes to a climax and
which has ruined knitting needles for me forever.
All in all ‘Shelley’ was an effective psychological horror which thoroughly creeped me the fuck out. For sure I’d give it a well-deserved 8/10.
All in all ‘Shelley’ was an effective psychological horror which thoroughly creeped me the fuck out. For sure I’d give it a well-deserved 8/10.
**, if you are like me and having subtitles on while people
are speaking English is the equivalent of nails down a chalk board except on
the inside of your brain- I suggest a neat little blocking device you can take
on and off when they switch languages. If, however you are a very normal person
who isn’t triggered by something so mundane- please continue normally.
