Director: Raymond Creamer
Year: 2026
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Undertaking a home birth, an expectant couple going through the final stages necessary for the special situation, alongside their midwife, slowly start to become more unhinged as the experience drags on through a raging snowstorm, forcing them to figure out the truth about what they’re doing.
Review:
This was a generally frustrating one-note genre effort. The positives for this one are all centered around the sense of unease felt with this one that unravels the longer it goes on, with these people stuck in this situation and trying to find a way out of it. The whole thing revolves around the birth taking place at a remote house and the series of events taking place there impeding that from happening, from the snowstorm and the mysterious disappearances to the strange demands that are being placed on the midwife, which go against everything she’s been trained to do in this situation, all of which slowly start to bring about a genuinely unnerving sense of dread the longer this goes on. This one immediately starts that as well, giving this slightly off-kilter environment all the more unease with how this one manages to introduce the concept of something unnatural about the birth to come, resulting in the most effective elements within this one once it goes for the type of approach it does with the big finale, creating the kind of action expected in this kind of feature.
That works incredibly well at generating some solid atmospheric touches, yet it also manages to highlight the main drawback here, with the formulaic approach from this setup undermining much of the tension with how obvious it all is bearing on its conclusion. The fact that there’s such a highly effective and overt sense of dread and discomfort from the very beginning, with how they manage to get the special preparations made and started for the birth, the early stages of what they’re about to do, and the eventual series of preparations that go into trying to make her ready for the process, is all fine for getting that setup but also highlighting the rather easily observed conclusion it’s going towards. These different interactions that take place inside the house trying to ensure that the experience is safe and secure before it all starts to get interrupted, don’t feel as tense as they should since the conclusion is quite easy to spot, and while that can be a big issue with the brevity keeping it from developing any kind of twist reveal beyond what is literally happening, some might be turned off by this overall.
Overview: ***/5
A likable if somewhat one-note genre effort, this one manages to get some really enjoyable elements here and makes for a really fun effort in this style, against a few minor drawbacks that might hold this down. Those with an appreciation for this style of slow-burn genre fare or who are curious about it will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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