When talking about horror one of the things that makes the genre so accessible to everyone is that the genre is so broad that even non-horror fans can find a film they can enjoy. Horror doesn’t have tp be about craze people killing off teenagers or about the supernatural, sometimes it can simply delve into the fear of heights like Fall, or about being buried alive like in Buried. Lately a trend I’ve been eeing is about the fear of pregnancy or being a mother, Nightborn immediately comes to mind and now we have the film Goody Goody that’s now playing on Shudder. The sub-genre is nothing new, after all Rosemary’s Baby is a classic and that came out in 1968. I understand why there will always be an audience for this kind of horror and I can see how it can be effective when targeting the female demographic I think all audiences really hope for out of a movie despite the genre is to be entertained, I don’t feel that’s much to ask for, I don’t need A-list actors or huge FX, all I want is a good story and if the filmmakers can execute that then great…Alas Goody Goody breaks one of the cardinal sins of cinema, this film is a chore to sit through and even at 80 minutes this film tested my patience.
The film set up is simple, Goody (Samantha Robinson) and her husband, Jayson (Colby Hollman) seek out Sarah (Colleen Foy) to be their mid-wife for their pregnancy. Goody wishes to have the birth at home and Sarah is reluctant because Samantha and her husband live in the middle of nowhere without a hospital nearby, reluctantly Sarah agrees to help. A good portion of this film is just about the delivery of the baby and we get some flashbacks to help catch the audience up on the story and that’s fine, but this is supposed to be a horror movie and I got to say the horror elements are weak and feel more so as though they were tacked on to just pad the films runtime. Sure as the pregnancy is happening we see things that seem a bit odd but to call it creepy or horrific is a bit of a stretch. There’s even a bit where a character randomly goes missing and the power goes out…perfect opportunities to build some tension and dread but it basically gets shrugged off. The film is barely 80 minutes long, they easily could have spent some time building some tension but no they decided to just keep pressing on as if this is just a minor incontinence.
My other major gripe with the film is that we can figure out that there is something supernatural at play going on but it is so ambiguous it is frustrating to sit through. Is thisa possession film? Is there something in the woods that wants the baby or the family? Rather than spend any time really attempting to explore what can be going on the film is more concerned about Goody and her contractions. I’m not hating on the film because it’s ambiguous, it’s more about how unnecessary it is. Then when the film builds to climax and the baby is delivered we just get more nonsense that just isn’t explained. I don’t need film spelled out for me but this one I can’t help but want to know “WTF are you trying to do here?”
Not everything is bad here, what saves this film is that the performances are actually really good. Zoe Renee lays Jayson’s sister and she does a good job keeping her performance grounded and is mostly the voice for the audience at times questioning what is going on. Colleen Foy also does a good job and does have to carry this film, she seems just as baffled as I was by some of the supernatural choices in the film, though how she manages to maintain a calm yet stressed out presence through the film is impressive. The other saving grace is that the film does look good, despite being a single location on a modest budget the film looks great even in the low light scenes. They definitely capture the isolation of the cabin and how it is surrounded by the ominous forest.
Maybe this film is just not for me and I’m just a dunderhead that didn’t get the film, I can own that…but I seriously did not enjoy this film. I’m a fan of Shudder but this ilm just was a huge miss for me. This year for Shudder I can’t help but feel they’ve let me down, so far the only film I had a blast with was Forbidden Fruits. Hopefully as we roll closer to Halloween they’ll be releasing some better films.
Goody Goody is now streaming on Shudder.
