Official synopsis: A couple (Lauren LaVera as Alessa and Julian Curtis as Chris) struggle to learn the truth about the origins of their unborn child — a demonic entity that emerges from the body.
If you crave practical monster effects and anything-goes loopiness in your scare fare, writer/director Joe Lam has what you’re looking for with The Fetus (U.S., 2025). Combining pregnancy horror, creature feature, and demonic elements, the film delivers mind-boggling wackiness in spades.
Alessa (Lauren LaVera in the film’s best performance) became pregnant when her significant other Chris (Julian Curtis) found that his condom broke during intercourse — but chose not to tell her about it. She tested positive for pregnancy the next day, and the couple drive to meet her often rude father Maddox (Bill Moseley). This being a horror comedy, things don’t go swimmingly when they break the baby news to him, but that is the least of the couple’s worries, as the fetus inside Alessa needs to feed on humans, slithering out of her — you can see know the territory in which The Fetus treads — to grab a meal before crawling back inside.
With LaVera’s performance, the practical effects, and the audacity and absurdity on display being the stronger points of The Fetus, not everything works. Lam seems to want to address pro-choice/pro-life issues but elements in this regard seem unclear. And as fun and impressive as the practical effects are, the CGI doesn’t always work to impress.
Overall, The Fetus is an entertaining slice of independent horror comedy that serves up enough ick-factor — in more ways than one — and go-for-it chutzpah to be worth checking out. It has its awkward social commentary moments but delivers as a creature-feature comedy.
The Fetus, from Emagine Entertainment, MJR Theatres, Malco Theatres, and Santikos Entertainment, opened in theaters on March 7, 2025.
