Uncork’d Entertainment will deliver Womb, a new gripping female-directed horror thriller inspired by true events this February, exploring the terrifying world of fetal abduction, also known as womb raiding. The film also delves into this disturbing crime’s horrifying motivations and chilling consequences.
The film follows Hailey, a 22-year-old pregnant woman recovering from addiction who travels to visit her soon-to-be sister-in-law. What begins as a peaceful weekend quickly descends into a terror when Hailey becomes the prey of a deranged individual obsessed with abducting her unborn child.
Directed by Bridget Smith (The Retaliators) and written and produced by Mike Walsh of Philly Born Films, Womb features a powerful performance by Taylor Hanks (The Giant) alongside Myles Clohessy (“FBI: Most Wanted”) and Ellen Adair (“Law & Order”).
“The first documented case of fetal abduction happened in my hometown of Philadelphia in 1974. The terror of it has been in my mind ever since I heard that story,” says filmmaker Bridget Smith. “When Mike Walsh shared the script with me, I knew it would make a disturbing movie. Although you rarely hear about it on the news, fetal abduction has happened continually over the years with alarming regularity.”
The case mentioned by Smith involved 26-year-old mother-of-three Margaret Sweeney. At eight months pregnant, she had her belly ripped open and her baby stolen by Winifred Ransom. She was then shot and buried in a shallow grave. By some miracle, the baby survived and was located by police in Ransom’s home. The woman’s excuse for the crime was that she wanted a baby but could not have kids of her own. The way the police discovered the crime, Ransom’s own husband called the police after she told him she had given birth to the baby herself. The Sweeney family was denied justice. Ransom only served 20 months in a mental hospital before being released.
Womb is a chilling and unsettling film that explores human obsession at its darkest depths. It is a must-see for true crime fans and will be available on digital and on-demand on February 11.
