So they forgot "the Beast Within" on the title screen there. But it makes sense in the context of the film - the first act is essentially a pilot for a reality show called Delivery, one that would center on a couple who going through their first pregnancy after trying to get pregnant for a long time. The couple in this case is Rachel (Laurel Vail) and Kyle (Danny Barclay), and we meet them in your typical reality show format... interviews about how they are doing in the early stages of their pregnancy, following them around to doctor's appointments, and filming them as they announce the big news to their friends and family... and it's really well done. Honestly, I think you could show this part of the film to someone and tell them it's a TLC reality show, and no one would bat an eye. (Although the eagle-eyed viewer might notice a surprising lack of sex offenders, which seems to be a requirement for them nowadays - good work, The Learning Channel!)
Anyways, towards the end of the pilot, something goes wrong with the pregnancy, and it seems like they have lost the baby. But through some miracle, the next morning they find a heartbeat once again... and things are back on track. Or are they?
As you could probably guess, there might be a little devil baby living in Rachel now. And the rest of the film is presented in more of a documentary/found footage style. From the get go, you know that Rachel doesn't make it (one of the opening scenes of her says "this was shot six months before her death") - so obviously the rest of the Delivery reality show never makes it to air. But there is still a ton of footage that was shot as they got closer and closer to the due date. This footage has been edited together for the purpose of this film. You get candid interviews with the show's producer Rick - he ended up becoming friends with Kyle and Rachel and thinks their story ought to be told. Hence, Delivery: The Beast Within.
Often times, pregnancy in a horror movie is used as just a cheap and exploitative way to up the stakes in a film (i.e. a pregnant woman in danger is more tense than a non-pregnant woman in danger). But the good pregnancy horror films (not sure if that's a genre proper) use it not as the defining characteristic of a character, but instead as a device to help tell the story. I mean, most of them (Delivery included) could probably have most of the same scares and whatnot if it was just your standard possession tale. But the pregnancy angle helps highlight the emotional toll of starting a family. It also creates a kind of mystery - is something really going on with this pregnancy? Or is it just part of the hormonal shift that happens to a pregnant woman? It's fertile ground for drama and exploring issues of family and trust.
Delivery: The Beast Within isn't really prone to using shock/scare tactics by putting Rachel in danger. There aren't really any jump scares or loud musical stings or anything like that. Rather, the tension and scares come from seeing the psychological torment she's going through, and the knowledge that *something* bad is going to happen - it's just a matter of how and when.
The film is well-paced and the tension builds nicely. As we get closer to the due date, more and more strange things start to happen - equipment starts to go haywire, the cameras pick up creepy sounding EVPs, the family dog starts to inexplicably get anxious around Rachel, and so on. After the introductory first act, there is a slow and steady build where things just kind of get worse and worse until it's all capped off in the rather startling final moments of the film.
From a technical standpoint, Delivery is well put together. Yeah, it could be filed under "found footage," but really you have three distinct aesthetics - the well-produced reality show, the raw documentary footage (behind the scenes stuff and direct interviews), and the more traditional found footage stuff from Kyle and Rachel's house (they have personal cameras as well as cameras mounted around the house). And the three styles are blended together quite well. While there aren't any ingenious uses of these different filming techniques, they are mixed up in such a way that you never really get sick of one or the other. It's really a job well done by director Brian Netto - shooting a movie like this would require three times the work (and apparently post-production was rather arduous), but what ends up onscreen works very well.
The acting is really pretty good too. Laurel Vail is great as Rachel - the film flat out wouldn't work if her performance wasn't up to snuff, but you really buy the way she swings from happy expecting mother to something much more sinister. Danny Barclay is not quite as good as Kyle, but still holds up his part of the bargain. They have decent chemistry and Barclay sells Kyle's frustration well. It's hard to say how much of the film is scripted (I gather there was a good deal of improv going on), but Kyle's character comes off as kind of a jerk. And probably my biggest issue with the film is how Kyle doesn't insist on getting Rachel proper medical care after what is very obviously an abnormal pregnancy (they have decided to go with a home birth and are sticking to their guns, I guess).
But that's my only qualm. Horror-wise, Delivery is much more of the slow-burn/tension building kind of film. There is hardly any gore to speak of, and honestly things are never really that violent. I still think this film would be exceptionally upsetting to some people though. The concepts behind it are more disturbing than anything you actually see. I guess I would *not* recommend it to anyone who is expecting a child.
But there is a dog!
Name: Maddie (I think)
Breed: Golden Retriever
Function: To provide extra tension between Kyle and Rachel (it's Kyle's dog) and to provide the first sign that something is wrong with Rachel (he barks at her once she's back from the hospital).
Fate: Sadly, is stabbed and killed by Rachel when she's all crazy. Nothing too gory though - the poor thing is just laying down and there's some blood next to her.
Overall, I really dug Delivery: The Beast Within. I thought the jumps between different styles (reality show to mockumentary to found footage) were very well handled, and the slow-burn tension built nicely to a really satisfying pay off. I mean, I think pregnancy horror is always kind of iffy - it needs to be done right, or not at all. Luckily, Delivery is done right.
I would definitely recommend this film.
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