Generating terror on screen isn’t always easy in our current age of Trump headlines, but the British thriller “Kindred” succeeds the old fashion way: pulling from those headlines, seducing us into a clean, logical nightmare about a woman who wants an abortion.
When we first meet Charlotte (Tamara Lawrance), she is living with her boyfriend, Ben (Edward Holcroft), and suffers from cruel judgments about her decision to abort. Ben also struggles with the decision. “I’m on the pill for a reason,” says Charlotte when Ben suggests they keep the baby.
“No you’re not. You are going to make a great mother,” he replies.
The pain in Charlotte’s face will be felt by any woman who has been gaslit by their significant other. The film follows Charlotte and Ben as they plan to move to Australia, where they can distance themselves from Ben’s overbearing mother, Margaret (Fiona Shaw), who lives in the family’s Scottish manor with Thomas (Jack Lowden), her creepily devoted step-son. Margaret opposes the move, reminding Ben of his duties as a member of the Clayton family. Those include: cleaning, cooking, living nearby and having children, not aborting them. Ben doesn’t listen, then winds up dead.
The plot thickens after Charlotte wakes in the Clayton estate, which is followed by a shot of her gasping for air. Now pale and distraught, she seems to be a stray, though it’s initially unclear why she is at the house. She learns her own house has been foreclosed, leaving her nowhere else to go. Soon, she discovers locks on the gate, poison in her food, and that she can’t leave “for the good of the child.” Being forced to have a child is scary. Being forced to have a child in your dead fiancee’s mansion, while kidnapped, is a whole other story.
Director Joe Marcantonio sets his film in distant England, placing these pro-life pressures against a backdrop of rolling hills and empty roads. But the realities of the film are all too relevant, especially considering the current push to pass anti-abortion laws in the United States. TRAP (Targeted Restrictions on Abortion Providers) laws are laws that “shut down abortion providers” and have been passed in 23 states.
While thematically and stylistically reminiscent of Roman Polanksi’s 1960s output, most notably, “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Repulsion” with echoes of “Knife in the Water,” Marcantonio proves to be more than capable of modernizing the classic narrative. There are no jump scares or shocks, just a queasy feeling that gets under your skin–the kind you get when no one listens to what you have to say.
The use of music, framing, and long takes make the proceedings feel atmospheric. The bird symbolism works well enough. As Charlotte tries to escape, racing through a maze of cramped rooms, wooden stairways, and suffocating hallways, she finds the house to be like a birdcage, with no room to soar or escape, adding another layer of distress to the timely allegory.
While “Kindred” is more terrifyingly timely than truly scary, Lawrance, in the leading role, sells it, while Marcantonio creates space to discuss the ways in which women are gaslit for their right to choose, using the horror genre as an effective tool to deliver that message. [B-]
“Kindred” will be released in select theaters and VOD on November 6.