THE FETUS (2025)

Available On Demand from Shining Light Pictures!
Directed/Written by Joe Lam.
Check out the trailer here!!

When Alessa (TERRIFIER 2 and 3’s Lauren LaVera) becomes pregnant, she brings her baby daddy Chris (Julian Curtis) to tell her real daddy Maddox (Bill Moseley) about it. But Maddox has always warned Alessa not to get pregnant as giving birth is what killed her mother. Turns out Maddox wasn’t just being over-protective as it seems Alessa’s baby is developing at an alarming rate and has a thirst for blood while still in the womb.

I think I appreciate many aspects of THE FETUS more than I liked the film. It’s awesome seeing Bill Moseley in anything and he seems like he has a lot of fun in this role. THE FETUS has a scene where Moseley literally fucks a hole in the ground, so it’s apparent the guy is fearless and willing to do some ridiculous things to make his characters stand out. THE FETUS is underwritten, but Moseley does his best to save his role and the film itself.

I also love Lauren LaVera. She’s gorgeous and this film begins with a sex scene, which, I have to say I appreciate that very much too. LaVera also isn’t afraid to go to some pretty dark places and I appreciate it that she is sticking to the horror genre.

But aside from these two good performances, I just can’t recommend THE FETUS. As I just said, this film feels extremely underwritten, as if it needed a couple more passes to make the dialog stronger and the story tighter. Things really fall apart towards the end where motivations of Maddox and the demon he serves gets downright convoluted. I don’t know if Maddox loves the demon or if he loves his daughter. First, Maddox warns Alessa not to get pregnant, but it seems that the demon Maddox serves wants her to be pregnant. It just feels that everything wasn’t thought all the way through. Much of the film feels like filler for a story that would have been a much better short film or segment in an anthology.

The effects are hit and miss as well. There is a sort of tendril that shoots out of Alessa’s vagina that sucks blood and feeds the fetus in her belly. Yeah, you heard me right. This effect is not badly done, as grody as it sounds. But then later in the movie, when a demon shows up, it looks like a costume bought at a drug store from last Halloween. The gore is gnarly in spots, laughable in others.

THE FETUS is just an uneven movie. I think if they had leaned into the ridiculousness of the premise, it might have worked. But THE FETUS tries to do it all straight-faced and it just misses the mark. I think LaVera and Moseley elevate the movie quite a bit. See it for that. But I just can’t get behind THE FETUS though, despite the strong cast.