Director: Brandon Christensen
Writer: Colin Minihan, Brandon Christensen (Screenplay)
Starring: Christie Burke, Jesse Moss, Rebecca Olson, Jenn Griffin, Michael Ironside, Sheila McCarthy
Plot: Mary, a new mother, gives birth to twins, but only one of them is alive. While taking care of her living child, Adam, she suspects that something, a supernatural entity, has chosen him and will stop at nothing to take him from her.
Tagline – Losing a baby is devastating, but having a baby is terrifying.
Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Still/Born starts as Mary (Burke) returns home with her first born child Adam, she lost the twin during the birth, which would cause the pain she is going through, while her husband Jack (Moss) is returning to work to cover their luxury life.
When Mary start to suffer from visions of something supernatural in the house, she doesn’t know who to turn to for help, with her husband continuing to want to work away, she must try to figure out the truth.
Thoughts on Still/Born
Characters – Mary is the new mother that did lose one of the twins in child birth, she is looking to get used to motherhood in the new home, without anyone she knows around her, with her husband working away. She does make friends with a neighbouring mother but starts to believe something is trying to take her baby and shows signs of increased paranoia. Jack is the husband that is spending more time away from home for work because of the commitments he has made for the future. Rachel is the only friend that Mary has made, a new mother herself she welcomes her to the neighbourhood.
Performances – Christie Burke takes the leading role of the film, which will see her needing to take control of the horror moments, showing the fear through the film well, but struggling to mix between the fear and calm. The rest of the cast don’t get much time to shine in the film, with them filling the generic roles.
Story – The story here follows a new mother that starts to believe that a supernatural spirit is trying to take her baby, growing ever increasingly worried about the truth as her sanity it put into question. This is a story that we have seen before, as we know how this will unfold with the mother dealing with her own side effects of post-natal depression, we get to see how there might be a supernatural side to everything, which no one else believes. The story does have big questions about it, which is why the husband went back to work so quickly after the loss, it might well have a few differences to what we know, but overall it is mostly more of what we have seen before.
Horror – The horror in the form comes from seeing how Mary is struggling to cope with losing a baby, while believe a supernatural presence is trying to get to her baby.
Settings – The film is mostly set in one location, which is the home that Mary has found herself isolated in during the early days with her baby.
Scene of the Movie – Hospital camera viewing.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Jack doesn’t seem like a good husband.
Final Thoughts – Still/Born is a simple by the book horror that doesn’t hit the full heights of many horrors around the genre.
