The Suckling

Digging into this hobby has it's merits, and becoming desensitized to certain things as a toll really starts to show after awhile. You wouldn't think a film like The Suckling would really even touch the inner fibers that would make a collector and connoisseur like myself wonder what dark corner of the earth I had accidentally stumbled into. Much in the similar vein of the It's Alive trilogy, The Suckling features a killer fetus that wants nothing more than some solid revenge and some killer time with it's mama. But what disturbed me more than anything about this flick is how drenched in grindhouse filth this thing actually is, and could actually physically feel myself wanting to check out. There's a serious depth of "this is a horrible place that I shouldn't be in" that truly reveals how selfish and disgusting we as human beings really can be if we just don't give a shit about anything after a certain point. Aesthetically, these terrible things take place in the upstairs area of a brothel where young people can pay a nominal fee to have a coat hanger abortion (no, seriously) and every single character in this piece is on sickening display just to show how wrong this type of underground practice may or may not actually unfold. I really didn't like anything about this film and I came very close to taking a full-on shower when the credits started rolling. What's visually disturbing though is really how nonchalant the people in this house act towards killing a pretty much full term baby, and then flushing it down the toilet. Only to have radioactive waste drip onto said seed, force it to grow into the monstrosity that you see on the box art, cover the doors and windows in placenta's so no one can go in or out, and then proceed to give everyone what they deserve. So I guess the message of The Suckling is that pro-life is the answer to all of our abortion needs, but hey... it's not my ultimate choice.

    Another text crawl.

Hey, it's raining where I live too.

Sexy nurse with an axe.

This editing is almost as choppy as The Last Slumber Party.

She's right-this house doesn't even look legal.

Quiet in the corner over there you damn doper.

I'm pretty sure that the guy isn't pregnant.

Baby killers-you're all a bunch of fucking baby killers.

Rubber Johnny?

That's one mean baby.

"I'm not like you-I have things to live for." That's funny coming from a guy that's getting his rocks off in a dirty ass brothel.

Family portraits are going to be real difficult from now on.

   Zits and zombies, this is a complete purgatory film. I already know that I will never watch this again mainly because I don't really see any reason for this to exist. As I stated earlier, the people involved probably wanted to make a statement about pro-life versus pro-choice, but in all honesty the grimy, grungy tone of The Suckling just makes it just to damn dark in terms of subject matter for it to even be enjoyable. At the very least, It's Alive III has some sort of a sub-plot happening in the background along with spots of Michael Moriarty's comedically dry antics to keep you entertained throughout, but here it's just a sickeningly selfish ride from beginning to end. Probably the best parts are in the third act after the baby fully mutates and starts killing everyone in the house with plenty of hate, vigor and gore so at least everyone gets what was coming to them. So there is a corner of positivity to try to lean towards, but the journey to get there just suffocates the viewer with an inebriating amount of slime that I'd rather have you not wade through. Just watch only once for the curious, otherwise... use your coat hangers for your hoodies and jackets instead.