Prevenge

Prevenge is a 2016 British comedy slasher film written by, directed by and starring Alice Lowe in her directorial debut. The film also stars Kate Dickie, Kayvan Novak, Jo Hartley, Mike Wozniak, Gemma Whelan and Tom Davis. The plot follows a pregnant widow who is convinced her foetus is compelling her to embark on a killing spree as revenge for the death of her husband.

Principal photography mainly took place in Cardiff in under two weeks, whilst Lowe was herself pregnant. The film was released in cinemas in February 2017. Before the film was released, Lowe gave birth to a baby girl, Della, who was able to portray Ruth’s newborn in the film, at 10 days old.

Plot
After her husband dies in a climbing accident when he was cut loose by the rest of his group, Ruth, now heavily pregnant, becomes convinced that her foetus is compelling her to murder and she tracks down the other people who were involved in the climbing accident for revenge. Her first victim is the owner of a reptile shop, whom she kills by slitting his throat. When her midwife tells her that the baby will let her know what’s good for her, Ruth reveals that she thinks that her baby is already telling her what to do. Between several midwife appointments, Ruth kills people. On one of her last attempts to murder, Ruth suffers a life-threatening emergency regarding her baby. Her baby thus is delivered quickly via emergency caesarean section. Several days after the surgery, Ruth is quite depressed but soon realises that her baby is just a normal baby girl, not a psychopathic baby. The midwife tried to reassure Ruth that everything is going to be okay, and goes off to get the health assistant to help Ruth with her feelings. Ruth takes this time to kiss her baby goodbye and go off to the cliffs to kill one last time.

Cast

 * Alice Lowe as Ruth
 * Jo Hartley as the Midwife
 * Gemma Whelan as Len
 * Kate Dickie as Ella
 * Kayvan Novak as Tom
 * Tom Davis as DJ Dan
 * Dan Renton Skinner as Mr Zabek
 * Mike Wozniak as Josh
 * Tom Meeten as Zac
 * Eileen Davies as Jill
 * Della Moon Synnott as Baby

Reception
Prevenge received positive reviews for its blend of black comedy and horror. It holds a rating of on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The site's consensus reads, "As ambitious as it is daringly transgressive, Prevenge should thrill fans of pitch black horror comedy - and open untold opportunities for writer/director/star Alice Lowe."

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film four out of five, calling it "gruesomely successful". Mark Kermode, also for The Guardian, gave the film four out five and called it an "impressively peculiar film".

Jeanette Catsoulis of The New York Times calling the film "a brilliantly conceived meditation on prepartum anxiety and extreme grief". Guy Lodge of Variety called the film "a scrappy but excitingly singular directorial debut". David Ehrlich of IndieWire who gave the film a B− but felt the film could have used more time "in utero".

Less effusive was Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com gave the film one and a half, saying that it is "a gonzo idea in search of better execution".