Sin tiempo

I adore horror movies that are still finding ways to be different this day and age. Alexis writes and directs a love poem metaphor to women everywhere who don't want to have children in a society where they are made to feel like outsiders.

The lead actress's performance is absolutely stellar, the writing is great, and the body horror is apt (albeit of a narrow stripe, that will likely go over the head of those who don't enjoy cerebral horrors).

If you like your horror movies to be intellectual, Feminist, well-acted, off the beaten path, and just plain interesting as compared to the usual fare, Clock will work for you. I very much look forward to seeing more of Alexis' work in future.

I really enjoyed this movie. I found it to be relatable as another woman who doesn't want children. Nowadays I know more women who don't want children than do and I think its great. How many of us repeatedly have been asked when we are going to have children is so obnoxious and its very insulting, but unfortunately that's the world we live in.

I really enjoyed the conversation the protagonist had with the doctor as to why she doesn't want to bring a child into this world. It really resonated with me. Her reasoning is due to her ancestors living through the holocaust and why she wouldn't want to bring a child into this world. I don't want to give anything away, but that scene was very thought provoking.

This movie won't be for everyone, but for those able to look at things objectively I think you will enjoy it. I can see myself rewatching it again in a few years since it's a story that sticks in your mind.

This Psychological horror about a woman running out on her biological clock and falling prey to the peer pressure to have a baby. She decides undergo an experimental study where she is promised to overcome her fears and fix her broken biological clock to ensure her pregnancy well by triggering her need to have a baby. The fear she has stems from her family's past and her own mindset where she feels just not ready yet. But is the procedure she signed up for, devoid of negative side effects? How does it impact her and her life forms rest of the story.

This is truly an intriguing concept and there are unsettling scenes. The problem is the pace is rather too slow and despite those key scenes which do work, the film as a whole simply doesn't. The peer pressure to have a kid is understandable but those scenes weren't established properly as Ella's dynamics with her friends wasn't etched well. The same thing happens with the family and much of it is told verbally. The unsettling scenes don't scare. The ending however was indeed good. Needed a much tighter narrative to leave an impact.

Clock is a film that could have been good. It has a solid premise and set-up, although some of the dialogue is a bit heavy handed. The acting is solid - Agron is a great lead. However, the plot is completely scattershot and by the end the film has lost sight of whatever point it was trying to make. It constantly shifts gears, and in the second half piles on plot developments that really amount to nothing. Which is a shame because I think if it picked a lane and fleshed that out it could've been a really tight and engaging film. It's also devoid of any scares - though one scene at a birthday produced some solid tension.

Clock is a particularly female-oriented horror film.

So I'm not sure that I am the right person to be reviewing.

As, in the film, we find ourselves following Ella (played by Dianna Agron), who is facing the ticking of her biological clock, and all the anxieties that come with it.

Doctors seem to think she suffers from a syndrome, that instills a deep seeded fear about having children within her.

So it doesn't help that she feels pressured to have children by her family and friends...not to mention, nature, itself.

As a result, she subjects herself to a series of grueling psychological tests, at an institute that is studying women with her condition.

A series of tests that force her to confront the underlying darkness that has prevented her from having children up until this point.

This darkness seems to be a trait inherited from cultural trauma, passed down through the generations.

A trauma relating to her Jewish ancestry, and the experience her family went through during WWII.

With these rigorous psychological tests bringing her underlying anxieties to the surface...in the form of a series of bizarre hallucinations.

Making the whole thing a psychological horror.

As this darkness starts to consume her life.

And affect her relationship with her friends.

Particularly the pregnant ones.

The name of the film comes a grandfather clock her father owns, which is her family's most prized heirloom.

Being the only thing they managed to salvage from the war.

So it, not only, symbolizes the pressure she feels to procreate...but might also harbour a dark supernatural force...which has been preventing her from wanting to bring children into such a broken world.

It all seems to be pretty straight forward, until they throw a bit of a twist in at the end.

Which solidifies her descent into madness.

A result of the manipulation she feels she is being put through.

Agron does an excellent job, portraying a woman spiraling out of control, as a result of the transition from potential motherhood, to being a crone.

Ultimately leading to the film's unexpected conclusion (even when the hints are there).

I see that this film has been garnering some rather harsh reactions - mostly, from male viewers.

But I don't think they are warranted.

Because it is both an entertaining, and engaging, film.

That held my attention throughout.

But don't take my word for it...cause I'm just a dude.

As only middle aged, and post menopausal, women can truly understand.

5.5 out of 10.