Antibirth

So, I can't say that this was my all-time favorite movie of the year, nor can I say it didn't lack substance. However, I did watch this movie 2 times, being an indie film producer and writer before giving any rating or review. This film, in my opinion, is meant to be satirical and humorous while also being horrifying and bloody grisly fantastic. We have Natasha Lyonne, perfectly cast, as the main character who basically wakes up pregnant and has all these strange things start to happen to her. I will say, this film is not a stand alone "Thriller" so do not be confused. After my second go around with this film, I realized the meaning of it. Also, while watching, keep an ear out for the music choice as it is perfectly placed and could not have been picked better. 10 stars on music and Natasha Lyonne's performance. This movie will either be your cup of tea, or it will not. Think, Trainspotting. This movie is nothing like it, but you either loved or hated it. I loved both.

"Antibirth" starts out promising with some really intriguing characterizations from Natasha Lyonne and Chloe Sevigny. The screenplay has some great dialogue, and Ms. Lyonne in particular is, as usual, fascinating to watch. Unfortunately, as the film begins to develop a plot it becomes more and more derivative, confusing and absurd and stops being enjoyable; it just becomes plodding and dull. There are so many stereotypical subplots from body-horror films as well as ripoffs from "Rosemary's Baby," "Demon Seed" and others that "Antibirth" just becomes another minor product aimed at the quickie Hollywood horror market. Meg Tilly is wasted and looks as though she's still trying to figure out the plot herself during her scenes. I recommend watching the first fifteen minutes and then turning it off and doing something more productive... I stayed until the end and felt ripped off waiting for something to original to happen.

Of course, I freely admit I would watch just about anything starring both Natasha Lyonne and Chloë Sevigny . . . what could possibly go wrong?

OK, all joking aside (well, sort of), Natasha and Chloe are absolutely brilliant here, they nail their characters perfectly, and then some.

As for the film itself, the best description that comes to mind is bizarre, twisted, completely ridiculous . . . and very fun to watch.

This is definitely a low budget, B minus sci-fi horror genre' production, with a dash of evil ET conspiracy twists submerged in a veritable swamp of drug dazed existence. Even if the story, such as it is (or perhaps tries to be) is murky at best, the characters are perfect exaggerations of characters I've seen or met over the years.

If anything, this production consists of a very loosely connected jigsaw puzzle of plot pieces, which serves as a sort of ecosystem for the aforementioned exaggerated real life type characters to flourish in.

Well, maybe flourish isn't exactly the appropriate description here.

But however one may want to judge this production, it certainly can't be criticized for lack of uniqueness.

Chloë is particularly adept at playing various roles in unique productions ("Hit and Miss" immediately comes to mind), but this definitely rates as one of the more, well, experimental sorts of indie film productions she has appeared in.

This film is certainly not for everyone, or even most, but for those with an proclivity toward indie projects more than just a bit outside the box, this just could be your cup of tea.

I'll offer a somewhat tentative 6 stars for this one . . .

It seems that hard-drinking, bong-ripping, up-for-anything Lou might be pregnant-- although she has a hard time understanding how that could possibly be the case.

Antibirth isn't much of a horror movie, even if it has some decent early creep. It's more of the "independent" genre: high weirdness, with a plot that plays second or third fiddle to its characters. But there is a bit of gross-out thrown in, maybe just for fun. And you might find the prospect of watching a pregnant woman down a fifth of vodka horrifying.

Horror movie or not, AB is a good movie, mostly because of the well-written and well-acted characters. In particular, Natasha Lyonne plays her part perfectly. She makes the entire film work with her drunken, stoned charm.

The actual plot is a little thin; it ends up being just an excuse to make a movie. The pacing is just a tad slow. And the budget is obviously tight (but still, top notch characters).

It's not horror, but if you don't like horror, don't watch it. If you spent your youth being useful rather than getting high, don't watch it. If you just want to be scared, don't watch it. But otherwise, check out Antibirth.

Honestly, I was very sceptic going into this movie, however after letting my guard down and allowing the film to get going, I was drawn into its strange world. The whole experience was a rollercoaster ride. Some of the scenes are immaculately shot, the cinematography really impressed me and took me off guard more than once. And then, during some other scenes I just kept thinking: "oh my god why did they edit it this way?"

The performances are mostly good, the editing, as stated before, has its ups and downs. Honestly just give this movie a shot if you like campy weird horror movies.