Childbearing Horror Films for Mother’s Day
Horror films revolving around gender and sexuality are niche. They have a unique ability to hone in on the body in ways that slashers cannot by focusing on the internal, self-perception, and transformation. Body horror films are beautifully disgusting, often relying on practical effects to shock their viewers. While slashers and monster flicks tend to lean on the hunter/hunted paradigm, gendered horror films, and particularly childbirth/pregnancy horror, couples this with an internal transformation that is exceptionally brutal in its own right.
CW: childbirth, miscarriage, abortion, C-section, infanticide. While this article is safe to read, I recommend proceeding with caution in watching the following films.
Haley Bennett in Swallow, image via IMDB
Inside
If you’re one for low-budget horror films that are very gory, Inside should be at the top of your list. Set during the winter holidays, a young photographer is in the final week of her pregnancy and grieving her recently deceased husband. What begins as a mystery-thriller quickly turns into an all out blood bath. I love this film for its ability to conquer so much plot in almost entirely one setting, its unrelenting gore, and the rare dichotomy of a female protagonist and antagonist. Inside is vicious, scary, and searing with pain.
Immaculate
An abysmal and forthright take on bodily restrictions within the strict religious confines of the Catholic Church, Immaculate is a breath-taking film that explores childbirth in a convent. While the film definitely focuses on main character Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) there is a good amount of screen time spent with other women in her proximity—a lovely nod to the experiences women often unknowingly share. Surprising, and subtly brutal, Immaculate takes viewers down an unexpected path to explore some of the most controversial topics of our time.
Mother!
Darren Aronofsy’s 2017 film Mother! featuring Jennifer Lawrence is another take on holy pregnancy. Mother! begins as a relatively normal (albeit unsettling) film, and quickly nosedives into absolute insanity. A fever dream of violence and terror, viewers are transported into a nightmarish world of what it’s like to be a vessel that holds life and death in the same hand. Lawrence’s performance is stellar, and her relationship to the home in which she and her husband inhabit beautifully reflects the child she so desperately tries to protect. Mother! is relentless and exhausting, a unique film that disturbs for days after.
Swallow
Swallow is a 2019 thriller that follows newly pregnant housewife Hunter (Haley Bennett) as she battles with pica, a condition that causes her to desire to consume inedible objects. As Hunter spends her days locked in the monotony of her belittling marriage, her secret disorder becomes a dangerous compulsion. The more serious her condition, the more confined Hunter becomes, along with a steady rise in emotional and mental violence from everyone in her life. Swallow is a frightful take on the importance of remaining healthy through pregnancy, both physically and mentally, and leaves viewers resolute in their unease.
Men
Men was a subject of controversy since the first trailer release simply because of the title. Already charged with gendered expectations and assumptive commentary the movie’s bizarreness might have gone overlooked entirely if it weren’t for the stunning performances by Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear. Instead of the typical masculine-coded violence of the standard slasher film, Men takes notes from folk horror, leaning into a grotesque deviation from other pregnancy horror narratives. Men intentionally blurs gender lines, asking the viewer to do intense emotional gymnastics as the stakes are raised higher and higher until a provoking final scene that is gross, strange, and unearthing.
Article written by Theresa B
Theresa writes about the intersection of art & anthropology and gendered horror. She loves demonic possession, Satan, and can be found on Letterboxd,
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