One has to hand it to Alice Lowe. Instead of taking some time off acting after becoming pregnant, she decided to write and direct an entire film around her maternity. In it, she plays a homicidal mother-to-be, out to kill everyone involved in a climbing accident that claimed the life of her child’s father. Except, it’s not really her that’s directing the killing… it’s actually the baby, bitter as all hell that she’s fatherless, who’s doing the bidding from within the womb, prodding Mother Dearest on as she stalks her victims, knife in hand. Childbearing can be such a drag sometimes.
Prevenge isn’t very original if we’re being honest here, nor does it reach levels of sheer insanity and bloodcurdling horror. It’s sort of a Ben Wheatley and Simon Pegg mixture, in which some bang-on comedy cradles a darker outer core. Lowe makes the most of it, though, and it’s hard not to enjoy being swept up in her character’s arc. There’s also some catharsis to be had in seeing a woman in power take charge and show some truly terrible men who the real boss is.
The Lonely Film Critic 