The Reel Review
Devastated by the sudden death of her young daughter, a nurse is mortified to learn a morgue technician has used an experimental procedure to reanimate her child. The two quickly make an uneasy pact to keep the young girl alive by all means necessary. Marin Ireland (The Dark and the Wicked) and Judy Reyes (Scrubs) star in this psychological body horror.
An unsettling score and a lot of dim lighting helps set a spooky, sinister mood in this modern-day spin on the classic Frankenstein from co-writer/director Laura Moss (Fry Day). Her two adult leads are convincing as the increasingly mad scientist and the increasingly desperate mother who will do anything to keep her not-quite-right, reanimated child alive.
The visuals and score are so reminiscent of David Cronenberg’s body horror films that some might call Birth/Rebirth a ripoff, but even so, body horror fans will find it interesting. And it has an ending that packs quite a revolting, gory punch.
REEL FACTS
• Birth/Rebirth is a loose retelling of the 1974 Ecuadorian film The Swamp of the Ravens.
• Birth/Rebirth won the Audience Award at the 2023 Independent Film Festival of Boston.
• Since her stint from 2001-2009 as nurse Carla Espinosa on the comedy series Scrubs, Judy Reyes has starred in the Lifetime dramedy series Devious Maids and the TNT dramedy Claws, and most recently, the 2022 film Smile.
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