Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant, 2026.
Directed by Thunderlips.
Starring Hannah Lynch, Yvette Parsons, Arlo Green, Jackie van Beek, Jonny Brugh, Karen O’Leary, Ariadne Baltazar, Angella Dravid, Renee Lyons, Ian Mune, Donogh Rees, Brenda Kendall, Fasitua Amosa, Rashmi Pilapitiya, and Barry Te Hira.
SYNOPSIS:
When a messy millennial underachiever accidentally gets alien-pregnant she must overcome sceptical doctors, a useless baby-daddy, and her oversharing mum in order to survive and reclaim her life.
The various pains, bodily fluids, and overall messiness of pregnancy don’t look fun. Writers/directors Sean Wallace and Jordan Mark Windsor (known collectively as Thunderlips) have cleverly translated that unpleasantness to the extraterrestrial, with the appropriately, if clunkily, titled Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant. It’s a feature-length version of their short film, and oftentimes that shows even at only 94 minutes, but there is enough inventiveness regarding both thematic material and body horror/amusing New Zealand dialogue zingers to scoot by passably.
Mary (Hannah Lynch) is a perpetually horny millennial-aged shut-in living with her overbearing, no-boundaries mom Cynthia (a funny Yvette Parsons in a performance that mostly comes down to saying the damnedest things at the damnedest times) who does everything from intrude into her space when trying to masturbate to sexualized anime, walking around half-robed, and push the neighbor Ann (Jackie van Beek) if she could set her daughter up with similarly aged zero confidence introvert son Boo (Arlo Green). Ann is protective, insisting that this is a bad idea as her son has a deformity that has burdened him with so much social anxiety that interaction is nearly impossible.
It’s not long before Mary and Boo cross paths, meeting in a laundry room where the former is humping the washing machine. It also turns out that Boo’s deformity is on his penis in the form of tentacles (his mom was abducted by aliens who impregnated her) and a core that sucks electricity, causing power outages when opened, which makes Mary greatly curious (this should be no surprise given what we know about her). What follows is one of the more imaginative and memorable sex scenes in quite some time (if it can even be called that), which inadvertently impregnates Mary. It is equally hilarious and disgusting, which is clearly the entire point of this film, as it grafts all of this onto regular sex and pregnancies with a winking, playful extraterrestrial touch as if to say, no matter the circumstances, this is always gross.
Despite Cynthia’s enthusiasm, alien pregnancy be damned (it is a bit too cheeky at times how normalized her and other characters behave given the circumstances and unfolding grossness, even if that is part of the point the film is getting at about how bodies transform throughout each stage and what comes out of them, all ramped up to heightened outrageousness), Mary understandably does not want to keep the baby. Rightfully, she pushes back at the notion that this could provide some direction in life.
Following a riotous trip to a doctor that culminates in, well, more body horror and fluids shooting from all over the place, including unexpected private parts, part of the narrative shifts to Boo, who is also clearly forever horny, and him receiving some tough love from his mother to stand up and be there for Mary during this. This is equally his mess. The filmmakers also smartly avoid turning this into a cutesy romance, even though there are cute elements.
Mary attempts everything from birth control pills to an abortion and more (all scenes equipped with humorous social commentary on what’s expected of women), with Boo awkwardly trying to help in any way he can while also rendered nervous that he will be held hostage and experimented on if the police get a look at his penis. That doesn’t make much sense, considering that alien fluids from the pregnancy end up all over the place in public, whether he is present or not.
Thunderlips never quite manages to blend these wild tones into something cohesive. Still, when Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant is inspired, it’s a hoot with a brilliant body-horror/comedy metaphor and some endearing practical effects.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
