The Fetus

Early into the film and Alessa (Lauren LaVera) is making love with her boyfriend Chris (Julian Curtis). A flash of a demonic woman astride him, a broken condom later and Alessa is pregnant.

Getting a check-up it soon becomes obvious that what is quickly developing in Alessa is not human. The sharp pains, blood but above all the tendrils coming out of her body are ample evidence of that.

Asking her father Maddox (Bill Moseley) for help goes some way towards enlightening them (and us) as to the reasons for all the problems. The scene in question has to be one of the comically worst effects I’ve seen for a while. From there the film descends into various bloody scenes of violence and demonic possession.

Written and directed by Joe Lam, this is his feature debut. It’s an enthusiastic start to his career and clearly he has the cast with him. The whole thing is utterly preposterous even for a comedy horror. The effects are poor either down to budget or for comedic effect, maybe both.

However where the film does have very real issues is with the sound design. For the most part its shrill and whiney. If the intention was to create dramatic intensity, it just becomes intensely annoying and at times the film is difficult to concentrate on.

It’s billed as a black comedy and while there are scenes of incredible bad taste, it’s not actually that funny.

It is very silly and Lam does have any eye for the absurd but horror comedy is one of the most difficult sub-genres to master. Nevertheless it’s a solid debit and maybe some comfort can be taken from the fact that one long running series arguably still hasn’t got it right.

The Fetus will be available on UK digital platforms from 6 July 2026 from Miracle Media.