Alex Casey reviews the latest entry to the gooey local horror canon.
Here in Aotearoa, we have a proud tradition of slopping about in goo, viscera and bodily fluids on film. Whether it’s the ear vs custard scene in Braindead, our brave heroes wading through the offal pit in Black Sheep or a particularly brainy addition to the New Year’s cheese board in The Weed Eaters, there’s been no shortage of slimy set-pieces in our cinematic history to turn stomachs and test our capacity for ooze. Then there’s Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant.
This is a local sci-fi body horror comedy that really does what it says on the tin. The appropriately-named Mary (Hannah Lynch) is a millennial dropkick who lives in a brick unit with her overbearing, kaftan-wearing mother Cyntha (Yvette Parsons). After a wayward late night encounter with her twitchy neighbour Boo (Arlo Green), who happens to have an extraterrestrial appendage, she finds herself suddenly burdened with an unwanted alien pregnancy.
The debut feature of directing duo Thunderlips and inspired by producer Alix Whittaker’s own “totally fucked” experience of having a baby, Alien Pregnant might be full of fleshy protrusions and galactic jizz, but there’s a deeper meaning bubbling under the many layers of goo. It’s not just an exercise in catharsis that brings all the hilarious humiliations of the reproductive process to light, but a clever way of looking at a system still hellbent on controlling women’s bodies.
When Mary heads to the late night chemist for the ECP, she faces invasive questions about her weight by the pharmacist (a crazy cameo from Sir Ian Mune). The next day, her mum gently suggests she might have been “asking for it”. By the time she’s seeing the hapless GP played by Jonny Brugh, who doesn’t listen to any of her concerns and instead offers his congratulations, the message is about as subtle as breast milk squirted directly into one’s eye.
Speaking of Brugh and Mune, it’s also worth mentioning that Alien Pregnant has one of the most impressive comedy casts in ages. Lynch and Green make a perfect unlikely pair, her unbridled rage offset by his constant trembling, and their mothers are similarly well-matched. Parsons’ free-spirited Cynthia wears her heart on her sleeve (often with at least one bare breast on display), whereas Jackie van Beek’s pedantic Ann could not be more buttoned-up.
There’s a distinctly New Zealand sensibility about the understated writing paired with some of the most outrageous set-pieces you can imagine. When a paramedic played by Angella Dravid arrives to find Mary near-drowned in Powerade-blue vomit, she simply says “it’s a bit intense in here, eh.” There’s shades of Eagle vs Shark and more than a dash of Wellington Paranormal – so much so that you’ll barely blink when Karen O’Leary arrives in another perfect cameo role.
Alien Pregnant is gross, silly, smart and ultimately kind of sweet, crashing into the zeitgeist at a time where our male politicians are blethering on about lazy mothers and rallying against woke birthing language, all while our maternity care crumbles. And while it is about the twisted experience of pregnancy, it is also a bold exploration of bodily autonomy and the right to choose. Or, as several characters in the film might put it: we can say “yeah” but we can also say “nah”.
Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant is screening now as a part of Whānau Mārama, and is in cinemas nationwide on September 10.
