Rating: 3.5/5
Hooptober 2.0 | 28/31 | Monster 3/5
Orla arrives at a rural Irish farm. Dan, the farm owner, greets her as she grabs her gear. He takes Orla to a pregnant cow. Orla gloves up and lubricates it to check on the unborn calf. A chomping sound drives her to pull her hand out. She removes the glove to reveal a bleeding puncture wound. It seems like the unborn calf bit her.
Just outside of Dan’s farm is a parked caravan. Dan goes out to it to tell the inhabitants, Jamie and Mary, to leave by morning. When Dan leaves, they formulate a plan. They appear to be hiding from someone. Jamie has done something, but he isn’t sorry for it.
John from Bovine Genetics Technology stops by the farm to perform an ultrasound on the pregnant cow. John reminds Dan that John’s company is paying for secrecy and that the caravan jeopardizes that. Orla shows John the hand wound, but he dismisses it as an accident. Still, Orla knows what happened and suggests terminating the pregnancy. But John is too invested.
That night, the cow goes into labor. Dan needs help but can’t get through to anyone. So, he calls on Jamie and Mary for help. Jamie and Daniel work a pulley to help the calf breach. When it comes out, it isn’t breathing, so Dan has to swing it over his head. The calf opens its eyes, but its mouth remains shut. Dan tries to pry it open, and the calf chomps down and mangles his hand.
What have they brought into the world? This calf is unusual. Through the movie, we’ll learn just how extraordinary it is.
The Ireland Tourism Board had no hand in this movie. This movie’s Ireland is wet, gray, and bleak. We feel trapped with these people on this farm. No one wants to be here.
The effects are all practical and quite grotesque. We get explicit cow labor and all sorts of surprise little nasties. The film is willing to go places I’ve seen similar movies avoid. If I described it, you might laugh because it sounds ridiculous, but the movie pulls it off.
The script has some melodrama between Dan and Orla. John Lynch plays it broad, but Essie Davis keeps it grounded and motivated.
It’s a contagion episode of X-Files, but no one has hero armor. What a nightmare!