After Samantha Robinson decides a forest cabin in deep winter is the perfect spot to bear her child, it’s going to be a very bad shift for the doula and midwife
Conception, pregnancy and childbirth are defining human experiences, and so remain perennial themes for horror, from Rosemary’s Baby to the Alien franchise to Prevenge. Occupying a no-woman’s-land between life and death, they’re innately anxiety-inducing, perhaps making it harder for film-makers to supply a truly individual take. Debut director Raymond Creamer comes close by initially digging into the interpersonal dynamics around the home-birthing pool of a headstrong mother-to-be, before he defaults into a schlocky creature feature.
Goody (Samantha Robinson) is in the pool, ready for battle, soaking in good vibes beamed at her by husband Jayson (Colby Hollman), his doula sister Candace (Zoe Renee) and their rock, midwife Sarah (Colleen Foy). But shaken by weirdly spaced contractions, Sarah takes Jason aside and admits that she has a bad feeling. It’s not purely premonition: a flashback reveals, in contrast to the new-age love-in around the tub, Goody’s insistence against Sarah’s advice that she give birth in winter at their forest cabin. The midwife fears it will make going to hospital too difficult should anything go wrong – and only agrees to supervise because Goody will probably go ahead solo if she pulls out.
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