GRACE

Somewhere between Roman Polanski's masterpiece of urban horror, ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968) and the over-the-top insanity of Larry Cohen's monster baby epic IT'S ALIVE (1974) lies GRACE (2009). This low budget, independent Canadian horror film borrows a great deal from the body horror oeuvre of fellow Canadian David Cronenberg in it's depiction of motherhood gone horribly wrong. 

Madeline (Jordan Ladd),  is a pregnant young woman whose husband, Michael (Stephen Park), dies in a car accident before the baby is born. The accident also leave the baby dead but Madeline decides to let the corpse go full term and be delivered anyway, telling everyone that the infant died at birth. But somehow, the baby girl named Grace, comes alive after delivery. Is it a miracle? Or something far more sinister. 

It's the sinister option, of course, with young Grace refusing to accept breast milk in lieu of something else: blood. And not just any blood as Madeline finds out when she tries to feed Grace blood drained from fresh cuts of meat. No, little Grace demands human blood and she ravenously takes it from her anemic mother. Madeline is soon forced to find a supply of human blood that doesn't involve the ravaging her nipples and breasts. She finds that source in the form of a meddling Dr. Sohn (Malcolm Stewart) and Vivian (Gabrielle Rose), her grief stricken mother-in-law. But by then it's too late as Madeline herself has succumbed to the curse of needing human blood herself. And things ratchet up another notch in the last scene of the film when young Grace starts teething, implying a need for both blood and flesh. 

GRACE is a very well made little shocker which touches on some extremely disturbing themes and many "really-wish-I-hadn't-seen-that" scenes of shockingly intimate blood and gore. Not for the faint of heart, GRACE is a slowly building exercise in maternal terror and dread with no explanation given for why this living dead baby has come to be. She simply is and Madeline will do anything to protect and provide for her. 

This film is certainly not every one's cup of tea but for fans of modern, independent horror films, GRACE is definitely worth seeing.