If ever there was a case for safe and legal abortions The Suckling (1990) is it. The film is set on April Fool’s day, 1973, and concerns a young couple (Tim Crouse and Lisa Petruno) who go too Big Momma’s (Janet Sovey) brothel to get an abortion. When the aborted fetus is flushed down the toilet it comes into contact with toxic waste and transforms into a terrible creature played by Fangoria‘s Michael Gingold.
The Suckling is a low budget, regional horror-comedy that takes its cues from similar horror films such as Night Of The Living Dead (1968) in its use of a single location. Much of the budget went to creating the creature so the rest of the production design is an exercise in ill fated resourcefulness. While the budget limitations show throughout they do have the added bonus of being just as comical and far fetched as some of the more bizarre acting choices.
What makes The Suckling something special is the conviction that everyone involved brings to the gory affair. Janet Sovey is especially fun as the no nonsense Big Momma whose every very serious assertion comes across as high camp. Sovey and her performance belongs in the world of John Waters as she swaggers about bossing everyone around. Frank Rivera, who plays Big Momma’s psychotic son Axel, is just as good as he commits to an over the top performance worthy of Jim Carey.
Gerald Preger’s performance as Sherman is, by comparison, subdued and naturalistic. When Preger is on screen an awkward dose of reality enters the mix that makes the premise feel all the more fantastic and otherworldly. Preger gives a good performance that is worthy of a more serious or nuanced film than The Suckling. But without Preger it is doubtful that The Suckling would be at all suspenseful.
The Suckling is fun. It has everything one expects and desires from low budget horror filmmaking. The fact that the monster fetus is killing people as it makes its way back to the womb is a hilarious conceit out of left field. There are hundreds of these types of regional horror films but few of them are as committed to their zaniness or as resourceful as The Suckling.
