phancy.com - horror reviews - MOH 2024

Birth/Rebirth



IMDb Info

Release Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 41m
Country: USA
Language: English, Spanish
Genre Tags: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Plot Summary: A morgue technician successfully reanimates the body of a little girl, but to keep her breathing, she will need to harvest biological materials from pregnant women. When the girl's mother, a nurse, discovers her baby alive, they enter into a deal that forces them both down a dark path of no return.

Poster - Title Card


phancy.com rating:

phancy.com notes: A riff on Frankenstein featuring all women. Less of an overt horror story, and more of a tale of the crushing sadness of grief and the unwillingness to move on. Both leads are fantastic as very different types of people working together towards a common goal. There are the requisite blood and guts, but they're realistic and not sensationalized, which may ironically be more off-putting to some people. The sharp script shows how grief complicates decision-making and causes people to ignore ethical boundaries they'd normally never cross. It also takes the time to discuss how women's bodies are often just biological objects to be used as material for others.


Outside Reviews:

Sheila O'Malley
3 out of 4 stars - rogerebert.com

Both actresses deliver layered and complex performances. The film is often funny, one of the many ways Moss allows for the unexpected. The humor comes from the juxtaposition of what Rose and Celie are trying to do with how matter of fact they are doing it. The dead child lies in bed as the women make lunches, or feed the omnipresent Muriel, or problem-solve each crisis. They make cracks about one another’s diet like a bickering married couple. “At least you didn’t do anything unethical like eat a ham sandwich,” snaps Celie at one point. Celie is all warm and caring; Rose is cold and calculated. Together they make a formidable team. They will use anyone and anything to achieve their goals. In this, they betray the women in their care—dead and alive.