The Fetus
A review by Aaron Barrocas


The Fetus is Joe Lam’s first narrative feature film effort, and a promising one. It stars Lauren LaVera, Bill Moseley, and Julian Curtis. The weight of the film is evenly distributed amongst the three, each with a very specific purpose in the story that they fill brilliantly.

Generational trauma is a constant life dynamic. We always fear visiting our deepest demons on our children. This is what The Fetus is about. Except in this case it’s a very literal bloodsucking demon.

We know this for a number of reasons. First off, this is an expedited pregnancy movie - and if you like horror, you know what I’m referring to. Woman learns she’s pregnant and hours later looks like she’s mid-second trimester. I’m a big fan of expedited pregnancy movies because the unnaturalness of it is inherently frightening. Also, pregnancies take forever, and that’s a lot of story to fill with routine ultrasounds, negotiations about maternal leave, and all sorts of stuff that dilutes this kind of fast-paced horror. In addition, an estimated delivery date several months away is so much less intimidating than “maybe in a few hours”. This is a huge tipoff to horror fans as there’s so often a supernatural or at least science-fiction-y explanation for these expedited pregnancies in movies. Upon realizing that there’s a baby bump 12 hours after a condom breaks, any horror fan immediately thinks - “Man - I sure hope that’s a demon baby!”. And in fairness, there’s something that definitely looks like a burning portal to hell before even the titlecard, so nobody’s really telling you that it’s NOT a demon baby.

Nonetheless, during conception, Mom-to-be does become a straight out Demon for a moment, growling and scratching Dad-to-be with claw-nails. So there’s some genetics at play here because that’s just science.

Another way that we know the baby is a bloodsucking demon is because it kind of frequently leaves the Mom’s body, kills somebody vampire-style by sucking a bunch of blood, and then rides its own cord back home. Like most parents whose partner didn’t come straight from Hell, I can count on less than one hand the number of times that happened before my son was born.

The Fetus is listed in several places as a horror-comedy, but despite a few very solid laughs, it’s much more of a fun horror than a horror-comedy. It gets a bit over the top, but the themes tackled tend to lean a little on the heavy side for comedy. There’s a lot happening under the surface in this movie.

A little bit of the story - Chris (Julian Curtis) learns he is about to be a father, and this news comes on the same day that he is refusing to attend his own father’s funeral because of the abuse he suffered as a child. Chris is also scrolling dating sites as his girlfriend Alessa (Lauren LaVera) is struggling with the revelation of her own pregnancy. His response to the news - aside from buying a morning after pill (expedited pregnancy - remember?) is “I really do like you”. Which is very much not what any expectant mother in a relationship wants to hear. In the first act of the movie, we hurt for Chris, and we hurt for Alessa. And we’re still kind of hoping it’s a demon baby because we love seeing that kind of stuff.

Alessa’s body works differently from other peoples’, and she informs Chris that her father made it clear that if she ever became pregnant, she needed to drive out to visit him immediately. Just hearing that brings memories of the best kind of horror stories from decades past. That is just a mischievous life rule, and holds so much promise. If anybody ever declares that you are never to eat red meat, or never remove the green ribbon from around their neck, or always keep the secret of the gargoyle that spared your life, or get to your father’s house should you become pregnant, I’m all in.

So we’ve got a bloodsucking fast developing demon baby, some real heavy life stuff, and now Mr. “I really do like you, here’s the morning after pill” is going to meet Alessa’s Dad, Maddox. Maddox is a blind, angry Vietnam vet with a shotgun, and is, of course Bill Moseley - a man with a hell of a horror history. Maddox accurately clocks Chris right away as an unfit partner and father, creating a beautifully tense dynamic between the two.

Here’s where the synopsis ends lest the spoilers begin, but let’s just say that Maddox knows the score. He’s got a pretty good idea of what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what to do about it.

These are three strong performances. Julian Curtis plays Chris as a young, imperfect man with a lot of room to grow. He doesn’t mean to be a jerk, but he’s not yet capable of being truly decent. That’s a fine line for an actor to walk, and Julian does it skillfully. Lauren LaVera’s Alessa is a woman who has no idea of exactly how strong she is yet (hence her relationship with Chris), and thanks to Lauren’s commitment to the role, we get to watch her learn. Moseley is an absolute force on the screen. Maddox is a character of a character. He’s somebody you watch just to watch. Don Draper, Nurse Ratched, Max Cady, Vic Mackey. Everybody cares about what Maddox has to say next, and that’s thanks to Bill Moseley making a meal out of each moment.

This is a low-budget movie that looks great on the screen, thanks to strong cinematography and clever production design. But the standout is the practical effects. The titular Fetus, who spends a little more time in the outside world than your usual developing human, looks like a mix between Alien’s chestburster, Spaceballs’ version of Alien’s chestburster, and a Pit Viper. Earlier I mentioned that it’s often incorrectly categorized as a horror-comedy. Another subgenre that it is listed as, and earns, is body horror. There is some gross stuff going on, and it’s well done. It’s not as severe as The Substance, or films by Cronenberg (either Cronenberg), but you’ll get your money’s worth on yuckiness. And if you have real concerns about the visuals related to pregnancy or childbirth that you might see, this honestly might not be the movie for you. Joe Lam is not an immature person making a movie - he knows what he’s tackling and does it with respect, but the subject matter and the fact that it’s a horror film does force some uncomfortable imagery, which might be triggering for those who have dealt with pregnancies that didn’t go as hoped. That being said, time and care was put into creating some truly interesting and creative practical effects which keep the movie alive, fun, and moving forward.
The film falters storywise in its third act a bit, as it tries to add the kitchen sink once it’s already got everything, but by that time, you’re hopefully invested, and don’t really mind.

Lam deals with tough subject matter, is fully aware of that, yet manages to keep an entertaining and kinetic energy throughout. This movie is currently playing in some theaters, and you can buy tickets, posters, and autographed condoms at https://thefetusmerch.com/products/the-fetus-movie-ticket.

It’s a good watch if you’ve got the stomach for it, and I give it 4 out of 5 bloodsucking babies.

Aaron Barrocas is an award-winning screenwriter, filmmaker, and editor living in Los Angeles. He has spent the past 25 years as an active part of the entertainment industry. AaronBarrocas.com