Prevenge is a film written, directed and starring Alice Lowe, well-known for her role in Sightseers. She came up with the idea for the film when she couldn’t get work due to being pregnant. Essentially, she plays a pregnant widow whose misanthropic unborn baby is telling her to kill people, and she follows through by going on a murderous rampage.

It’s a black comedy that stays funny throughout. The situations she gets stuck in, such as a Seventies Night at a local pub that you know will end badly, and her interactions with her midwife, keep the laughs coming. Her scene with “DJ Dan” is golden. As the title indicates, there is a revenge angle, which is revealed later in the film, but the plot is mainly about grief.

In the world of British cinema, it’s really refreshing to see a female director at the helm of a film that’s willing to take some chances. There is a lot of Cronenberg’s The Brood in it—that’s the one Cronenberg film that I don’t like, but Prevenge turns the premise around. It also has a scene that’s very reminiscent of Possession. It’s a film with a lot of imagination, and breaks away from the typical British film mold. It has an ‘80s synth horror score, as do so many films currently, which works even though it’s become a bit of a cliché to have a score that sounds like Goblin.

The last act doesn’t completely add up, but as with most horror comedies, and independent films in general, it isn’t completely satisfying especially the final act. However, Lowe is certainly a singular voice, and whatever she does next should be interesting.

Special features include a commentary by Lowe, a “making of” featurette, and the trailer.

★★★½

Ian Schultz

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