Alice Lowe is an often overlooked comic genius, and Prevenge isn’t always held up in high regard in the horror genre. Possibly it’s because it doesn’t have the usual tropes audiences expect. Written, directed by and starring Lowe, it’s kind of bonkers, with her character Ruth believing her unborn baby is telling her to go on a killing spree after losing her husband in a climbing accident.
It’s like an inversion of “the last girl standing” cliche, as Lowe, heavily pregnant while filming, stalks the streets, notably in a red maternity smock, and in Mexican ‘Day of the Dead’ make-up.
It’s genuinely unsettling, funny and gory, and this reclaiming of obvious horror paths is a welcome bloody slice of genre defiance. Lowe always excels at playing odd, neurotic or unhinged women, as with ‘Sightseers’, ‘Black Mountain Poets’ and forgotten sketch show ‘Beehive’, but this is next level stuff. There’s brilliant support from Kate Dickie, Kayvan Novak and Tom Davis. You may want to check everything is locked in the house after watching it.
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