User Reviews

The three Greek Furies that feature prominently in the 1934 Noirish movie, Crime Without Passion, are the central metaphor in Alice Lowe's extraordinarily dark Prevenge, billed as the world's first pregnant, slasher, comedy, horror movie.

In it, Alice Lowe's character, Ruth, embarks on a revenge murder spree goaded on by her helium-voiced, gestating baby.

It takes her to Wales and, in one breathtaking scene, the streets of Cardiff on Halloween night where she claims she almost needed protection from the boozed-up locals in a sequence reminiscent of Scarlett Johnassonn's Under The Skin street walk in Glasgow.

The reason for her bloody revenge spree is only revealed in drips (so I won't spoil it - like a preview I read before the screening did for me) which adds greatly to the narrative tension.

The making of this low budget Film Four offering is remarkable. Lowe was offered development money and finding herself pregnant used her condition to inspire this blackest of black script. She then wrote, produced, cast and filmed (in 11 days) the whole affair before her baby arrived.

Seeing an actor perform whilst heavily pregnant, and genuinely playing a pregnant character, is a rarity (my only recollection is Frances McDormand in Fargo) and Lowe certainly makes the most of the opportunity. Shooting took place in her late third Trimester.

The Furies are the ultimate avenging angels and she uses the extraordinary scenes from Crime Without Passion to symbolise her quest for justice, viewing the movie from the comfort of her hotel room where she takes respite, despite noisily bonking near neighbours, from her exhausting killings.

The killings themselves are simple but bloody affairs and each has hilarious set ups. Can she complete her task before the long arm of the law catches up on her careful forensic clean ups? You'll have to see it to find out.

This is classic British black comedy at its best. Using its low budget as a virtue but still making some moments of genuinely great cinematography, most notably in an exotic pet shop and a beautiful full facial dream sequence in a yoga class.

It has echoes of Mike Leigh's early work and Ben Wheatley's Sightseers is an obvious reference point. Obvious because Lowe is its co-star and it too shares a murderous plot line.

But, comparisons aside, this is an entirely original take on several genres that does its damnedest to create a genre of its own.

Whether there's room for thousands of pregnant, slasher, comedy, horror movies is debatable.

So we'll just have to agree on one thing. The original and best.

Wondering what to do for a hour and a half and wanting to see something just slightly different I stumbled across PREVENGE . Low budget British black comedy written , directed and starring Alice Lowe about a pregnant female going on a killing spree. Hmm . There's a danger that this sounds like a vanity project but I always give a film a chance and did notice that this page is very positive . I did double check that the reviewers were genuine because when you've got an unknown film on this with glowing reviews this usually means they're written by shills who give themselves away only registering when the film is released and never ever writing a comment for any other film

Truth be told PREVENGE exceeded all my expectations and found myself being caught up in the story very quickly. There's not a lot to the premise of "Deluded pregnant woman murders people she doesn't like" but this hardly matters . Ms Lowe who was seven months pregnant during shooting production has made a very quirky offbeat and violent black comedy that caused me to constantly smile. The idea isn't very persuasive , realistic or original but for some strange reason the details such as an aggressive charity worker turning up at someone's door and being greeted in an equally aggressive manner does come across as being somewhat naturalistic. Characters react and interact in ways you might expect them to out in the real world

As I write this one American reviewer has posted a rather negative review. To be fair to an international audience PREVENGE has obviously been made for a domestic audience and you'd need to understand the dark sense of humour we have in Britain . Dare I say we Brits have a very nasty sense of humour ? Regardless of cultural sensibilities PREVENGE is an enjoyable black comedy

There's some fun to be had here with this dark comedy. A pregnant woman goes on a murdering spree on the people involved in her unborn child's father's climbing death. A movie like this could have been completely unwatchable so I appreciate that they got the tone just right. The child speaks to her from the womb but it never gets completely goofy. The violence she commits is brutal and bloody and it doesn't attempt to trivialize or justify their deaths.

Despite that, there is entertainment to be had as the more she kills the more unhinged she becomes. At times it's an almost playful performance from Alice Lowe who also wrote and directed it. Overall a respectable movie. Nicely shot considering it was done in under 2 weeks.

We all know that pregnant women are supposed to get strange cravings. Most of the time these are usually nothing more than for the odd toastie in the middle of the night with perhaps a disgusting filling or two. Ruth's cravings, on the other hand, are a good deal darker. Egged on by the voice of her unborn baby girl Ruth gets a craving to kill people and it would seem with justification since all of her victims were, in some way, responsible for the death of her baby's father.

"Prevenge", in case you hadn't guessed it, is a comedy and a very black one. It was written and directed by the multi-talented Alice Lowe who, up until now, was better known as the female half of the team that brought you "Sightseers". She also plays Ruth, and plays her superbly, and her victims are made up of a host of outstanding British character players, including the monstrously underused Kate Dickie. Naturally, this isn't a film that will appeal to everyone, (I think pregnant mothers should stay well clear), but if you have the same very sick sense of humour that I do then seek it out; you certainly won't regret it.

Written by, directed by, and starring Alice Lowe (of Brit black comedy Sightseers), Prevenge follows heavily pregnant woman Ruth (Lowe, who was actually with child at the time) as she takes revenge on those responsible for the death of her partner, urged on in her killing spree by her unborn baby (who she can hear talking to her).

Clearly Ruth isn't firing on all cylinders, which results in plenty of extremely dark humour, the sort we Brits do so well, but with the lady suffering from mental illness/severe depression as a result of her loss, the film is also incredibly poignant—funny but sad—Ruth not receiving the professional help she so desperately needs to deal with her grief.

In addition to Lowe's accomplished direction, sharp writing and excellent central performance, Prevenge also benefits from several wonderfully drawn supporting characters, including Tom Davis's misogynistic DJ Dan (who gets his balls cut off for being such a sleazebag!), a well-meaning but condescending midwife (Jo Hartley), and corporate bitch Ella (Kate Dickie), who interviews Ruth for a job that she has no intention of giving her.

How much you enjoy Prevenge will depend a lot on how warped your sense of humour is, but if you have seen Alice in Sightseers, use that as a yardstick: if you appreciated her witty, dead pan performance in that film, then you'll probably have a good time with this one too.

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Isn't Alice Lowe a POWERHOUSE - Go Girl. Writer, Director and lead in this Psychological thriller, with a spattering of black comedy throughout, about a psychopath's love for her unborn psychotic child. Sounds brilliant(?) Well it is... sort of.

This is one of those movies you really do have to stay with. I very nearly turned off about five minutes in. You have a scene where Ruth, Alice Lowe, is in a pet store asking the owner about buying a reptile or spider for her eight-year-old son; the more dangerous the better. I wondered what I'd let myself in for as the banter was banal and atrociously unrealistic. It was when she dispatched the owner that I began to wonder about her motives.

Unfortunately, the banality and atrocious discourse continued and it wasn't until Ruth puts DJ Dann's mother to bed that I began to warm to the film; it's a touching and humorous scene with melancholy overtones. It's her first big venture so some leeway can be given, especially when from that pivotal moment in the movie the direction and acting got so much better.

Lowe does a great job of a being an expectant mother and is pretty good at being creepy and threatening, not something you'd expect of a mum-to- be.

Kayvan Novak is brilliant as Tom the climbing instructor. He's an actor who has a wide range of talents including vocal as he's done a lot of voice-overs. In SunTrap (TV Series) and Cuban Fury he shows he's adapt to comedy, here he shows that seriousness is easily in his wheelhouse too, Hope we see more of him.

As the story progresses the audience is imparted to Ruth's and her unborn's reason for their killing spree.

There is some really outstanding mood setting sequences that either get the audience to think, like the very beginning where she's sat alone in the rain; or to feel uneasy as with Ruth's walk entrance to the Halloween party. Alice Lowe is a Writer, Director, and Actress to watch for in the future.

If the opening sequences were better I would've scored it more. I would recommend this to all lovers of black humour and psychological thrillers. You just have to get through the opening fifteen to twenty minutes - it's well worth the slog. Though if your other half is pregnant... maybe you shouldn't... we don't want her getting any ideas...

Ruth is a pregnant woman on a killing spree dictated by her unborn child, seemingly holding society responsible for the absence of a father.

It surely earns points on originality, this is a really unusual and transgressive movie. Unfortunately loses points because of an unlikeable protagonist and continuosly creepy images and situations, all this leaving a really bad taste in your mouth while watching it making you feel uncomfortable and not in a "good" way (this anyway may ultimately be the end goal of the filmaker and may appeal to a specific audience). You may be tempted/intrigued to see it or even like it if you like deep transgression and you are bored by traditional movies.

Watched this late on a Friday night to kill some time before I could sleep knowing nothing about it other than 'I enjoyed Sightseers' and was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

Alice Lowe has done a fantastic job with this project as it is very well written, well directed and well cast. All the acting is very good and it doesn't come across as being a low budget film, despite only having a modest £100000. The concept (pregnant woman goes on killing spree under the command of her unborn child) sounds very corny, but is actually extremely well done and doesn't come across as cringeworthy at any point. The writing is funny and quite suspenseful and the characters are interesting, realistic and I found myself sympathising with the more likeable ones.

Overall I would recommend watching this film if you enjoy traditional black British humour. You shouldn't be disappointed.

This very dark comedy is centred on Ruth, a heavily pregnant woman who is on a killing spree. For reasons that aren't immediately obvious she has a list of people to kill... and believes it is her unborn daughter that is directing her actions. The deaths are quite gory with throats cut, heads battered and in one case a man is castrated and bleeds out!

The success of this film is down to Alice Lowe who not only plays Ruth but also wrote and directed. Her portrayal of Ruth is great; too often in such films the killer is either obviously bad or excessively glamourous but Ruth is an outwardly ordinary woman; the sort people hardly notice which makes her easier to believe. It is important that she isn't too hard to sympathise with and there are scenes where she shows a caring side... most amusingly when she cares for a man's mistreated mother shortly after dispatching him. There are hints at why she is doing what she is doing early on but it isn't made totally clear too soon which provides a degree of mystery. The humour of the film certainly won't be for everybody but if you enjoy pitch black comedy in your films then I'd certainly recommend checking this out.

This isn't much of anything. Any jokes are unsophisticated and fall flat. The comedy horror-gore is pointless, and the plot has no twists, no turns, no reason to follow it.

I read that this was written in 3 days, and it shows. Edit, polish, rewrite, wait, reread, edit, polish, rewrite. That's how it's meant to be, to ensure that you're putting out something good.

The acting was pretty good.

Could have been a lot more, but ultimately, devoid of art, devoid of humour.

After having enjoyed Alice Lowe's performance in Sightseers from 2012, I looked forward to see her directional debut in Prevenge. And I was not disappointed as the movie continues the tone with dark humor and explicit crime scenes. Lowe was heavily pregnant during the making of the movie. She plays the puzzled pregnant Ruth having lost the baby's father and facing birth on her own. Just like in Sightseers she is living on the edge of society in her own illusory world and feels that her unborn child is increasingly dictating her thoughts and actions. The movie depicts a depressing perspective of a pregnant women facing denials in all aspects of society. Nurses, flirting men, job interviewers, landlords, everyone is letting Ruth down because of her "circumstance". But the movie is more than a moral statement. It's a story of how a person can lose grip after a blow of fate. As in the prior movie, heavy violence is shown as a result of the main character's deep obsession. So I recommend this movie only to those who can stand explicit and bloody scenes. Many cynical and funny elements within the conversations make Prevenge an entertaining movie to reflect on with a shaking ending.

Good film here, good soundtrack, atmospheric, lots of blood and creepy scenes. It could have worked a bit more about the past (but the past stays in the past!), but what a great perfomance by Alice Lowe (who also directed)!

I must admit that I was expecting more from the 2016 crime comedy "Prevenge" from writer and director Alice Lowe after I read the movie's synopsis. Sure, when I picked up this movie I hadn't even heard about it, so I didn't know what I was in for. But the synopsis sounded okay, so I sat down to watch "Prevenge".

This movie was a swing and a miss for me. Sure, the concept of the storyline was good and definitely had interesting aspects to it and lots of potential. But the execution of the movie and the transition from script to screen just didn't bring much of any enjoyment or entertainment to me. Why? Well, because the movie was so horribly scripted and forced, and there was no natural flow to the storyline. And it didn't really help much that the characters in the movie had the appeal of drying wall paint.

The acting performances in "Prevenge" were adequate, but they performers had little material to work with, and it was restricting them.

I found "Prevenge" to be somewhat boring and pointless actually, especially since the characters were bland.

My rating of "Prevenge" lands on a more than generous three out of ten stars.

Pity because I like Alice Lowe as a comedian a lot. History of cinema has shown that it is not a good idea to be writer, star and director of a film at the same time, especially when it was shot in just two weeks. Unfortunately, this film does not know what it wants to be: a drama, a parody, a black comedy or a horror. Camera work is a bit poor, and there is some bad acting, even by Lowe. This movie is not terrible. It is just not as good as it could have been, given that Lowe is very talented.

How can critics call this a comedy? Insane pregnant woman goes on a murderous rampage killing all the people who she imagines her unborn baby wants dead. Oh, and every victim never fights back to save their own lives. Unpleasant unbelievable experience all around. Still can't believe this got 95% on rottentomatoes.

My spoiler free review for The Bloody Asylum that can be found at WordPress, Mr Geeky blog:

This is the superb debut feature film from first time director Alice Lowe, co-writer and star of Ben Wheatley's Sightseers. Most will recognize her from her most recent role in the Netflix interactive feature film "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch". Not only did she write and direct Prevenge but she also played the lead character when, believe it or not, she was 8 months pregnant.

This is without a doubt a film that most women who have been through pregnancy and child birth will relate to, although hopefully not the killing aspect!

A multi-layered film that feels different on a second viewing, far more sad and melancholic than the black comedy it felt first time around. Knowing what is to unfold Alice Lowe's beautifully nuanced performance can be appreciated far more, adding to the depth. An actor who can say more with a look or expression than with long monologues.

A film that can be viewed several different ways depending on what the individual wants to take from it. There is a perfect balance of the serious and comedic aspects with some genuinely disturbing moments. Fans of the slasher genre, which in some aspects this is, will definitely not be disappointed with the very inventive set pieces and kills, with one bringing to mind Dario Argento.

Alice Lowe is supported by a brilliant cast of some of the best actors in the UK including Kate Dickie (Red Road, Prometheus) Jo Hartley (This is England, Inbred), Kayvan Novak (Four Lions), and Dan Renton Skinner (The Ghoul), to name but a few. However it is without a doubt her film, the focus of the film being entirely from her character's point of view. An almost character study that at times brings to mind Taxi Driver, with Alice Lowe in some aspects of her performance bringing an almost Robert DeNiro like intensity to her portrayal of a woman who is being told to kill by her unborn baby's voice in her head. There is a perfect melding together of sound music and visuals (recalling at times Bladerunner) that brilliantly puts the audience in the mind of the character and perfectly reflects her psyche. One standout sequence involved Alice Lowe and the crew filming and interacting with the people on the streets on Halloween night, with among one of the bests shots in the entire film being totally improvised.

A revenge film unlike any other that beautifully and very realistically deals with loss and trying to come to terms with it, but most of all how pregnancy psychologically affects a woman.

For those looking for something different within the horror genre, with more depth than it may appear to have, it is very highly recommended.

One of my partner's strangest pregnancy cravings was to consume this dark slasher film before she popped - hastily written and filmed in the weeks before Alice Lowe herself did likewise. The fact that this authentic angle is there gives this otherwise unfocused narrative a strange gravity. It ultimately amounts to just one improbable murder after the next but Lowe's glowering sarcasm gives each interaction (with a succession of brilliantly cast folk) a nice edge. It does feel a bit first-drafty and there are some holes in it that make Prevenge unravel before the finale but the nature of how it was filmed and why I watched it will likely leave this particular film as an uncanny experience. A dark night of horrors before a totally new day.