Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant review – slime and silliness in amusing New Zealand comedy horror

Key points

• Mary, a thirtysomething underachiever in New Zealand, becomes pregnant after a laundry-room encounter with neighbour Boo.
• The comedy horror relies on deadpan reactions to mucus, alien gristle and a tentacle-bearing penis.
• Supporting players Yvette Parsons and Jackie van Beek play the single mothers Cynthia and Ann.

Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant is a New Zealand comedy horror in which thirtysomething underachiever Mary, played by Hannah Lynch, becomes unexpectedly pregnant after her shy neighbour Boo, played by Arlo Green, ejaculates on her in the communal laundry room with his tentacle-bearing alien penis.

The Guardian's review describes it as an amusingly silly mix of gross-out body horror and bathos, noting that the film never explains why Boo has such unusual anatomy.

Deadpan reactions to bizarre events

The review says the film is built around moments where the New Zealand cast respond to the strangest situations with deadpan calmness or mild annoyance, as if it were just another Tuesday on South Island.

Supporting players Yvette Parsons and Jackie van Beek, as Mary's and Boo's single mothers Cynthia and Ann, are singled out as especially well suited to this underplayed style.

nothing here should be overthought

— The Guardian

Mucus, mess and meaning

Towards the end, Cynthia becomes a little het up about Mary farting too much after a nest of mucus, tissue and alien gristle shoots out of Mary's nether regions, while Ann worries about the mess in her immaculate flat and apologises to everyone who arrives, including paramedics Sofia and Sophie.

The review says the film could be read as a parable about the anxieties of single motherhood and pregnancy's changes to the female body, but that slow burns and slime matter more than subtext, and that directness makes the result rather winning.