Surrogate – Movie Review
Director: David Willing
Writer: Beth King, David Willing (Screenplay)
Cast
- Kestie Morassi (Wolf Creek)
- Jane Badler (Virtual Revolution)
- Taysha Farrugia
- Lousie Siversen
- Darcy Kent
Plot: A ghost horror about a single mother and nurse Natalie who falls mysteriously ill and struggles to stop her family from being destroyed.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Surrogate starts when a single mother and nurse Natalie (Morassi) looks to help somebody in medical need. After she returns home, she experiences a mysterious illness, that doctors believe is childbirth, only she wasn’t pregnant.
When this drags in child protective service officer Lauren Balmer (Badler), Natalie must prove her innocence. To make matter worse, Natalie finds her own daughter Rose (Farrugia) is being tormented by a spirit, that is making both their lives a nightmare.
Verdict on Surrogate
Characters
Natalie is a single mother and nurse, after a medical encounter she finds herself suffering from an unknown illness. She has the pressure of child protective service believing she has done wrong watching over her. Natalie must first prove she hasn’t done anything and secondly solve the mystery about the ghost.
Lauren Balmer is a child protective services officer, she is called in to investigate Natalie. She must look at the evidence which isn’t favourable to Natalie, where she must watch from a distance to make sure a child is safe.
Rose is Natalie’s daughter who starts getting haunted by the spirit in the home. She shows signs of abuse because of this, forcing Natalie to let her family look after her.
In the supporting characters, we get to meet different people who might have clues about the spirit. Each one has a story that will guide Natalie in her search for answers.
Performances
Kestie Morassi in the leading role is great, she shows the kind nature of her character that is drawn into the world she isn’t prepared for. She shows the strength to fight back and the smarts to solve the problem, all while showing the fear in her eyes. The supporting cast doesn’t get as much time on camera, with each performer doing well when they need to make an impact.
Story
The story follows a single mother that must figure out what is happening in her home. After getting a mysterious illness that seems to have unleashed an evil spirit in their home.
This story could easily be compared to ‘The Ring’ with the idea of a mother racing to stop a spirit before it takes their child. Yes, there is a different motivation but the investigation into the truth is what drives the story forward. This does bottle down to a spirit haunting someone who needs to investigate what happened to them. It is a fun storytelling style in horror and one that always gets strong moments.
Themes
Surrogate is a horror mystery that uses haunting moments to create an investigation into the truth. The scares are strong with the séance to learn what is going on being an edge-of-your-seat experience. Elsewhere, the mystery being solved is one that is interesting to see unfold.
Final Thoughts – Surrogate is a great ghost investigation horror movie, with plenty of mystery and scares.
