This movie review is for readers who have seen Blood Born.
Here to watch BLOOD BORN.
Mantis Cannibal Mating
Don’t take the title literally, no female was munching her partner’s head during the mating in Blood Born. But, a mother, Makayla (Rosie Moss) brutally killed her beloved and supportive husband, Eric (Antoine Perry), and squeezed his heart’s blood on her newborn.
This reminds me of a mantis eating its partner while mating, and based on the study, the female mantis can produce more eggs compared to others that don’t eat their mates.
As Makayla frantically murders her husband, the memory of their love appears vividly in her head. But upon hearing the crying newborn, a fulfilling smile appears on her face, and she says to her baby,“You’re worth it.”
Despite the baby in arms having blood-red eyes and tiny gray claws, she is not frightened by its appearance, reflecting her strong desire to have a child (In the opening scene, Makayla mentioned, “I would wrap my stuffed animals in the blanket and pretend they were my kids when I was 16.”)
Written by a Soon-to-Be Father
I’m surprised this film was written by a soon-to-be husband instead of a pregnant woman. “I started development on Blood Born right when my wife and I had just decided to start having a baby,” Shusterman said.
The director/writer, Reed Shusterman told SNAP TASTE, “What really scared me into making this movie was how much a baby would change me. I’d no longer be the most important person in my wife’s life. Hell, I wouldn’t be the most important person in my own life. In a certain way, I’d be giving up myself, my being.”
His last sentence seems to indicate that even if Makayla didn’t kill Eric, he would kill himself to help her save the baby.
*Somehow, I expect the director will spoil the child unconsciously, especially if it’s a little girl.
GRAVIDA Foundation
GravitAs is a Latin word that means “weight or heaviness.” It came to mean a figurative weight after gravity acquired a primarily scientific meaning. It’s seen as one of the ancient Roman virtues.
There are no logics in English mythology, the Greek Gods, Goddesses, and the creation of the first human. I think it’s a genius name for a foundation that claims what they do is magic.
Like the mythology of Gods, we cannot justify their existence with scientific proof, but we worship and read their stories in undoubtful seriousness.
Truly Spell a Magic
If I watched Blood Born in my 20s, I would feel bewildered and ridiculous about the ‘Magic’ emphasized throughout the film. However, there’s no other word but ‘magic’ to describe what happens in the film.
Makayla said, “At some point, you have to accept that the wall that you keep banging your head against over and over isn’t going to break.” Thus, when an unreversible reality becomes changeable, she feels a life growing in her belly and relishes being able to have a baby.
She starts to fully trust and support the old lady, whom she initially berated as a witch, endures the excruciating pain and inadvertently ignores the unnatural lines of bloody scars and grotesque look of her belly.
It’s ironic to remember that it’s Eric who convinces Makayla to give it a try, and before they sign the contract, Makayla still refers to Ola (Melanie Haynes) as a witch.
However, as soon as Makayla had the first nausea, she told to terrified Eric, “I’m pregnant. I can feel it. How is that (the pregnancy is only a week) a bad thing?” She is thrilled to have a child in any way, miraculously.
Final Thoughts
I’ll say that the reason I love indie horror movies is how natural the actors and actresses behave in such a supernatural change in their lives, just as a modern couple will do.
They engage in chanting the mantras with weird pronunciation, mysterious rituals, and specific diets via humorous banters, and they all think what they do is crazy.
But by the end, I don’t see anyone become delusional. As outsiders, her husband and friend find out they’re dealing with an out-of-control nightmare; however, being a person who can feel the movement and kicking inside the body, Makayla is a courageous fighter to become a mother.
The gravitas of bringing a new life with her husband’s and her blood to the world echoes meticulously the film’s title, Blood Born.
