Director: Reed Shusterman
Release date: 2021
Contains spoilers
Release date: 2021
Contains spoilers
Vampire infants, they add a whole level of creepiness to the uncanniness of the vampire, and this is a vampire infant film – sort of. I say sort of as it is perhaps more Rosemary’s Baby – the fear of birth and what the mother may be carrying to term. However, it is certainly a vampire film and the v word is used (though dismissed as loaded terminology).
The film actually starts with screaming and a worker for the Gravida Foundation enters a room covered in blood when Gravida agents Ola (Melanie Haynes) and Lilith (Jody Jaress, Love at First Bite) enter. Baby and mother are dead, it is reported, though the father is alive. Lilith is angered (incidentally she is only in the prologue and mileage is not made of her name) where Ola seems more concerned about the woman. Lilith calls a clean-up crew.
Married couple Makayla (Rosie Moss) and Eric (Antoine Perry) are at a support group for childless couples. Makayla is at the point of letting go of being a mother but Eric still wants to try. Later, Makayla’s friend Cherise (Laurine Price) mentions to her that her cousin, Susan (Leah Verrill, 4 Dead Girls: The Soul Taker), had been helped to conceive by the Gravida Foundation – after a hysterectomy. Through Susan they are introduced to Ola but we see, in Susan’s kitchen, a baby bottle with blood in it.
Ola visits and, using magic, causes an egg from the pantry to become a full-fledged chick. She makes no bones that it is magic and, whilst the couple are sceptical, they eventually decide to use the Foundation. Of course, it seems too good to be true with the treatment being free and the Foundation supporting families financially. They have to cleanse for three weeks and then Ola will come to live with them for a week. It is only when she arrives for the week that it is explained that conception to birth will only take a week. Makayla is examined by Dr Zekeny (Cole Gerdes) and, good to go, the couple are lead through ritual sex and, the next morning Makayla is confirmed pregnant.
As the house is prepared (windows shaded – magic makes the baby’s eyes sensitive), Eric gets more and more cynical. Ola and Dr Z’s stories don’t add up but there is no denying the efficiency of the ritual – even if Eric has to do a ritual where his life energy is drawn into the foetus. Dr Z is a child of the Foundation and late into the film we see him in vamp mode, which isn’t really a spoiler given the way the film has drawn us. The pregnant Makayla licking blood she gets on her hand is dismissed as cravings. Other than sensitivity to sunlight we get every little vampire lore.
This was fun, the cast are great but especially Melanie Haynes as Ola – she goes from kindly, bumbling, to stern and controlling in a blink of an eye. The premise may be a little silly – and I don’t mean the magical vampire baby as much as the couple’s willingness to go along with things – but it does keep you engaged. It probably needed more at the end of the film regarding the children/Foundation but nevertheless its worth a watch. 6 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
On Demand @ Amazon US
 |
| Jody Jaress as Lilith |
The film actually starts with screaming and a worker for the Gravida Foundation enters a room covered in blood when Gravida agents Ola (Melanie Haynes) and Lilith (Jody Jaress, Love at First Bite) enter. Baby and mother are dead, it is reported, though the father is alive. Lilith is angered (incidentally she is only in the prologue and mileage is not made of her name) where Ola seems more concerned about the woman. Lilith calls a clean-up crew.
 |
| blood bottle |
Married couple Makayla (Rosie Moss) and Eric (Antoine Perry) are at a support group for childless couples. Makayla is at the point of letting go of being a mother but Eric still wants to try. Later, Makayla’s friend Cherise (Laurine Price) mentions to her that her cousin, Susan (Leah Verrill, 4 Dead Girls: The Soul Taker), had been helped to conceive by the Gravida Foundation – after a hysterectomy. Through Susan they are introduced to Ola but we see, in Susan’s kitchen, a baby bottle with blood in it.
 |
| Melanie Haynes sa Ola |
Ola visits and, using magic, causes an egg from the pantry to become a full-fledged chick. She makes no bones that it is magic and, whilst the couple are sceptical, they eventually decide to use the Foundation. Of course, it seems too good to be true with the treatment being free and the Foundation supporting families financially. They have to cleanse for three weeks and then Ola will come to live with them for a week. It is only when she arrives for the week that it is explained that conception to birth will only take a week. Makayla is examined by Dr Zekeny (Cole Gerdes) and, good to go, the couple are lead through ritual sex and, the next morning Makayla is confirmed pregnant.
 |
| vamp form |
As the house is prepared (windows shaded – magic makes the baby’s eyes sensitive), Eric gets more and more cynical. Ola and Dr Z’s stories don’t add up but there is no denying the efficiency of the ritual – even if Eric has to do a ritual where his life energy is drawn into the foetus. Dr Z is a child of the Foundation and late into the film we see him in vamp mode, which isn’t really a spoiler given the way the film has drawn us. The pregnant Makayla licking blood she gets on her hand is dismissed as cravings. Other than sensitivity to sunlight we get every little vampire lore.
 |
| Makayla and Eric |
This was fun, the cast are great but especially Melanie Haynes as Ola – she goes from kindly, bumbling, to stern and controlling in a blink of an eye. The premise may be a little silly – and I don’t mean the magical vampire baby as much as the couple’s willingness to go along with things – but it does keep you engaged. It probably needed more at the end of the film regarding the children/Foundation but nevertheless its worth a watch. 6 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
On Demand @ Amazon US
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