Intense, dark, Freudian sci-fi/horror feature with an
unavoidable Xtro feel. When three-months-pregnant Amy is rescued from an
attempted rape, she unwisely invites her saviour home – but we know from an
effective prologue that he’s actually a humanoid alien. Amy is drugged and
raped by this being, but police, doctors and cheating boyfriend only believe
she was assaulted once. By the end of the film four people are dead and Amy has
given birth to a slug which is eaten by a spider-monster under her bed.
Excellent acting by the whole cast combines with well-crafted, naturalistic
dialogue plus tight, shallow camerawork and very gooey effects to create a
powerful, disturbing, serious drama with few answers. Frustratingly, like too
many titles in my books, The Spawning is a lost film. Shot in 2016
around Cheshire and Merseyside, it premiered in New York in 2017 and was released VOD in March 2018. But by 2020
Riley had moved abroad and his only feature had disappeared from Vimeo,
becoming no more available to watch than London After Midnight…
