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Prevenge
Prevenge
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alice Lowe
Written by	Alice Lowe
Produced by	Alice Lowe; Vaughn Sivell; Jennifer Handorf; Will Kane;
Starring	Alice Lowe; Kate Dickie; Kayvan Novak; Jo Hartley; Gemma Whelan; Tom Davis; Dan Renton Skinner; Mike Wozniak; Tom Meeten;
Cinematography	Ryan Eddleston
Edited by	Matteo Bini
Music by	Toydrum
Production; companies	Western Edge Pictures; Gennaker Group; Ffilm Cymru Wales;
Distributed by	Kaleidoscope Entertainment
Release dates	15 May 2016 (Cannes); 10 February 2017 (United Kingdom);
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£80,000
Box office	$94,100

Prevenge is a 2016 British comedy slasher film written by, directed by and starring Alice Lowe in her directorial debut. The film also stars Kate Dickie, Kayvan Novak, Jo Hartley, Mike Wozniak, Gemma Whelan and Tom Davis. The plot follows a pregnant widow who is convinced her foetus is compelling her to embark on a killing spree as revenge for the death of her husband.

Principal photography mainly took place in Cardiff in under two weeks, whilst Lowe was herself pregnant.^[3]^[4] The film was released in cinemas in February 2017.^[5] Before the film was released, Lowe gave birth to a baby girl, Della, who was able to portray Ruth’s newborn in the film, at 10 days old.

Plot

After her husband dies in a climbing accident when he was cut loose by the rest of his group, Ruth, now heavily pregnant, becomes convinced that her foetus is compelling her to murder and she tracks down the other people who were involved in the climbing accident for revenge. Her first victim is the owner of a reptile shop, whom she kills by slitting his throat. When her midwife tells her that the baby will let her know what’s good for her, Ruth reveals that she thinks that her baby is already telling her what to do. Between several midwife appointments, Ruth kills people. On one of her last attempts to murder, Ruth suffers a life-threatening emergency regarding her baby. Her baby thus is delivered quickly via emergency caesarean section. Several days after the surgery, Ruth is quite depressed but soon realises that her baby is just a normal baby girl, not a psychopathic baby. The midwife tried to reassure Ruth that everything is going to be okay, and goes off to get the health assistant to help Ruth with her feelings. Ruth takes this time to kiss her baby goodbye and go off to the cliffs to kill one last time.

Cast

Alice Lowe as Ruth
Jo Hartley as the Midwife
Gemma Whelan as Len
Kate Dickie as Ella
Kayvan Novak as Tom
Tom Davis as DJ Dan
Dan Renton Skinner as Mr Zabek
Mike Wozniak as Josh
Tom Meeten as Zac
Eileen Davies as Jill
Della Moon Synnott as Baby

Reception

Prevenge received positive reviews for its blend of black comedy and horror. It holds a rating of 91% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.^[6] The site's consensus reads, "As ambitious as it is daringly transgressive, Prevenge should thrill fans of pitch black horror comedy - and open untold opportunities for writer/director/star Alice Lowe."

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film four out of five, calling it "gruesomely successful".^[7] Mark Kermode, also for The Guardian, gave the film four out five and called it an "impressively peculiar film".^[8]

Jeanette Catsoulis of The New York Times calling the film "a brilliantly conceived meditation on prepartum anxiety and extreme grief".^[9] Guy Lodge of Variety called the film "a scrappy but excitingly singular directorial debut".^[10] David Ehrlich of IndieWire who gave the film a B− but felt the film could have used more time "in utero".^[11]

Less effusive was Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com gave the film one and a half, saying that it is "a gonzo idea in search of better execution".^[12]

Accolades

Award	Date	Category	Recipients and nominees	Result
British Independent Film Awards	4 December 2016	The Douglas Hickox Award	Alice Lowe	Nominated
Monster Fest	29 November 2016	Monster Innovation Award	Alice Lowe	Won^[13]