Wandering Rose

There's no way of putting it mildly. Demon Baby is barely passable as a family vacation video. Take a few actors in camping site, make them act with inconsistent script and call it a movie. The entire short length of the movie is Rose having pregnancy scare, she's moody and grumpy while Theo plays the compassionate lover role. For those hoping for good psychological twist or any coherency at all, the movie will disappoint.

It delivers little to no depth, not to mention the narrative stumbles around like Rose actually does on-screen. With barely over an hour runtime, much of it is spent in slow pace bantering and resulting in timid scare at best. It can't decide if it opts for possession, usual haunting or psychological breakdown, so it mashes all tidbits and creates a shoddy excuse for thriller.

If there's anything, at least the view is kind of nice and the actors do try. Soundtracks remind me of Silent Hill, not bad considering the limited production value. Honestly, this looks like a tryout in local cinema or the director's personal tape. Highly not recommended.

Theo (David Wayman) and his pregnant girlfriend Rose (Carina Birrell) travel to an isolated camping area by van to spend the weekend. During the night, they are waken by Officer Thwaites (Cameron Jack) that warns the couple that they are in a dangerous area and suggests them to move to a nearby camping. Rose is disturbed with the baby and is haunted by visions and dreadful nightmares. She wants to get rid of the baby but Theo wants to have his son. Along the weekend, Rose has a breakdown with tragic consequences.

"Wandering Rose" is a tedious B-movie with three characters only where nothing happens. The task of writing a summary is very difficult to be accomplished since there is nothing to tell about. Maybe the most frightening moment is when Officer Thwaites knocks on the van's door. My vote is one (awful).

Title (Brazil: "O Bebê do Mal" (The Baby from Evil")

Sometimes one wonders: "How can you survive something like this ?". Never was the opening line of a Gorki song so relevant as for this movie (difficult for non Belgian readers, since this is a Belgian band). Because you will surely need perseverance to complete this wannabe horror. Are you expecting a kind of "Rosemary's baby" story ? Well, turn it off because it's nothing like that. I had an inkling already from the beginning with the first paranormal phenomenon (or delusion). This is going to turn out bad because it really looked cheap and old-fashioned. But there were some factors that made sure I didn't classify it immediately in the category "Hopeless cases".

First the very successful wide shots of the Scottish landscape. The Scottish Highlands are beautifully portrayed with its hills and idyllic lakes. And when a local resident, who speaks with a blandly Scottish accent, participates in this movie, the big picture is complete. And that's how this film begins. A mobile home driving on a narrow and winding road. A subtle way to show that the place where Rose (Carina Birrell) and Theo (David Wayman) are heading for, lies far from civilization. Total isolation where even a mobile phone can't be used. But admit it. You also can admire such wonderful pictures on "National Geographic".

In general "Demon Baby" is far from scary or creepy. The musical accompaniment and sound effects try to create a creepy atmosphere and support the scarce scares. However, they didn't succeed in bringing real frightening moments, because they simply weren't very frightening from the start. A few hazy appearances and knocking sounds (as if the sound technician was banging his huge woolly microphone against something) aren't particularly creepy. There's only one specific moment I would call scary (to a limited extent). But ultimately that's not sufficient enough for a horror / thriller.

Next I admired the acting of the for me unknown actress Birrell. Actually, her performance is the reason why I didn't qualify it as an utter crap movie (And no, it's not because of the shower scene). A proper interpretation reflecting the panicky, unstable condition and the uncontrolled mood swings. She's a totally unpredictable character, which makes you constantly wonder whether she's really experiencing paranormal phenomena or her mental decline has something to do with it. Ultimately, this film feels a bit like "The Babadook".

This contrasts with the character Theo. Not that Wayman makes a mess out of it. I think the script wasn't that great and he tried to make the best out of it. Theo is an attentive guy who's extremely concerned about his pregnant girlfriend. And although Rose reacts irritated, he tries to make her feel as comfortable as possible. On the other hand he's like a pubescent teenager who can't wait to experience his first sexual contact. Every other minute he tries to seduce his girlfriend to play around a bit (he even gives her some sexy lingerie). After the umpteenth rejection, however, he runs of like a sulky teenager. Not so thoughtful and understanding suddenly. But his thoughtfulness, started to annoy me when Theo asked that same question again. "Are you alright?". Instead of waiting for the constantly recurring answer that Rose gave ("I'm just tired"), I had the urge to shout it out loud as well. I was sick and tired of that bloody stupid question.

Not exactly a success story, this British horror experiment. It fails in terms of genre-picking. Is it a horror? Or is it just another psychological thriller? If you look at the poster, you expect a demonic baby to pop out of that swollen belly. Just like in "Alien". Right ? But sorry. No baby. No demon. The best thing you do is to get a bottle of authentic Scottish Whisky, put on some bagpipe music as accompanying background music while putting on a matching kilt. At least you're in the proper mood. Don't expect the movie to do that for you!

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It was soo bad I fell asleep while watching it. I didn't understand a single thing about it. It was supposed to be a horror movie, but it's more of an failed wannabe. The story wasn't even getting somewhere, why would she act like she still had the baby if she had the abortion? Made 0 sense. It was messy, low budget. And don't even get me started on the acting, it's like they took the worst actors they could find. The facial expression were either too exaggerated or not even there when they had to. The plot was... nonexistent at this point. The discription made it sound cool, but it really was a disappoinment. I just wasted an hour of my life.

This film really confuses me, not in the films content or anything like that. In the rating. To read the reviews the films makers have committed some sort of atrocity, but this is far from the case.

Little Devil (Demon Baby/Wandering Rose) is a competently made, great indie film, it's shot beautifully, has nice performances, and does not try EVER to be something it's not. Yes at times it's a little slow as the creators battle with trying to achieve suspense, but beyond that it's all very very good.

I understand the movies budget was about £10,000 and trust me, that's a great return on a small investment.

The film tells a story of a couple on retreat for a holiday, but things are not all as they seem, lots of sub-plots occur and the film is a true mystery. The pay off may not be as strong as the build up, but still its a much better movie than other reviewers here make out.