Set in the late 70s, pregnant couple Tabrett Bethell and (the late) Andy Whitfield are on their way to a relative’s place whilst travelling through the middle of nowhere. They stop at a crappy motel with an owner so cheap that he counts the foetus as an occupant as well! One night, Bethell (who has been having strange nightmares) is asleep whilst Whitfield decides to step out briefly for food. When he comes back, Bethell is gone. The search for his beloved begins. Meanwhile, we pick up with Bethell, who awakens naked in an ice bath…with the baby cut out of her! She appears to be in some kind of abandoned warehouse, and after some walking around, she discovers a few other women (Freya Stafford and Sophie Lowe among them) in similar predicaments. And then someone starts bumping them off one-by-one. What in the hell is a-goin’ on here? Elizabeth Alexander turns up at the 11th hour in a small, but pivotal role.
This Aussie flick from debutante writer-director James Rabbits (is he a fan of “Night of the Lepus”, then? The two of you can stop laughing now) would make a fun double-bill with Larry Cohen’s “It’s Alive”. Well, fun if you never ever want to have kids, because believe me, you won’t want them after watching these two films. Actually, this one plays a bit like an early 80s Ozploitation film at times (the uniforms are a bit “Turkey Shoot”, though thankfully the film doesn’t suck), and I liked how it slowly unravelled things without being confusing.
It’s sometimes interesting and certainly well-acted (veteran actress Elizabeth Alexander is particularly well-cast), but unfortunately, after a while, it started to bug me. The slow unravelling may not have been confusing, but it sure was annoying. I feel like splitting the narrative into two as we follow both Tabrett Bethell and Andy Whitfield was a mistake, as both seem to be serving the same function, albeit from opposite ends. Both are likeable, laidback, and in love, and the camera certainly loves Bethell. It just doesn’t seem necessary to spend so much time with both of them once separated.
Also, after a while, some things just don’t add up. Apparently the film is a fictitious story based on several true accounts, however, I wasn’t buying it. I’ll try to be vague here, but I just didn’t buy the reason behind any of this because it seemed way too over-the-top for such a simple thing. I can’t believe anyone would go to all of this trouble just for that. I also hated the ending which shows one character on their way to a happy ending but then cuts out before we actually see it. What’s the damn point then? Full credit to Bethell though, for a truly brave nude scene at one point in the film. I say brave because she’s literally in an ice bath. And looks amazing, by the way.
OVERALL SUMMARY
It’s a good-looking film, not without interest, but ultimately unbelievable and uneven. I also think some might question its credentials as horror, though I’m not sure what genre I’d classify it as, either.
