My quick rating - 5.2/10. Goody Goody starts with the Shudder logo. Let’s see which way this goes tonight.
“In a dark, dark world, there was a dark, dark house…" a woman tells us during the credits. And in that dark house, some woman named Goody (Samantha Robinson) is giving birth.
This is a home birth in the middle of nowhere, during what appears to be the exact sort of blizzard that should have every sensible person screaming, “WE HAVE A 4WD, RIGHT?” The midwife, Sarah (Colleen Foy), quickly gets a bad feeling about the situation and tries to talk some sense into Dad Jayson (Colby Hollman).
He responds in the manner that I would NEVER respond when both my wife and newborn's lives are potentially at stake. Questioning the professional who is telling me something is wrong.
That leads us into a flashback explaining how Sarah got roped into being their midwife for a birth in the middle of nowhere in the first place. Because the universe looked at this situation and thought, “You know what this needs? More complications.”
Click here to check out the trailer -> https://mubi.com/en/films/goody-goody/trailer
The only other character is Candace (Zoe Renee), an obnoxious and occasionally slightly profound kid who wanders around adding another layer of weirdness to an already increasingly uncomfortable situation.
There is some genuinely nice camerawork here. The power goes out, the title finally pops up around 23 minutes in, and things start getting considerably more unpleasant. The birthing scenes also feature some practical effects that definitely earn a nod. This isn't exactly the sort of movie that makes you think, “Maybe I should have had kids.”
The dialogue can be a little rough at times, mostly because everyone occasionally sounds like they're auditioning for the dramatic monologue portion of a horror movie. But despite that, Goody Goody managed to keep me interested. I genuinely wanted to see where the hell this was going, and that's important for a slow-burn movie like this.
Credit where it's due. Writer/director Raymond Creamer uses the pacing well, gradually tightening the screws without constantly throwing something ridiculous at the screen. Cinematographer Tristan Noelle also deserves a shout-out, because some of those camera angles really grab ya.
It's a slow build toward an almost body-horror-style ending, and while it didn't completely blow me away, it certainly went somewhere I wasn't expecting.
There probably aren't too many mommies out there who have home-birthed or are planning to. But if that's you, congratulations. Goody Goody has just given you some premium nightmare fuel for the next nine months.
No comments:
Post a Comment