Sundance 2026 Review: MUM, I’M ALIEN PREGNANT is a Gooey Little Sci-Fi Miracle

From the "image-crazed" Auckland filmmaking duo THUNDERLIPS comes an out-of-this-world pregnancy curio in Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant. Directors Sean Wallace and Jordan Mark Windsor (said thunder-lipers) bring this vivacious energy to a baby-making dark comedy with an extraterrestrial twist. In the vein of Australian body horror royalty like 1993's Body Melt or 2019's desperately underrated Snatchers is a spunky, silly, and approvably graphic take on the physical and societal challenges women face when pregnant. It's scrappy—both a testament to its ingenuity and, at times, a comment about what the effects cannot achieve—but even more importantly, it's a goofy and gag-worthy midnighter worth your time.

Hannah Lynch stars as the "alien pregnant" Mary, who is described as a messy millennial underachiever. She spends her days rotting under blankets, trying to watch cartoon smut in peace, lest her helicopter-mamma-with-no-boundaries, Cynthia (Yvette Parsons), interfere. Mary is as directionless as she is horny, but all that's about to change. After meeting a neighbor boy with a "deformed" penis, Boo (Arlo Green), she unintentionally discovers he's got martian junk, and his seed is pungent. Yup, Mary's now incubating an inhuman offspring that's growing at superhuman speed—whether she wants to be a mother or not.

THUNDERLIPS doesn't fear the combination of horror and comedy. Mary's slacker antics inform her reaction to the unbelievable scenario, especially her frequent attempts to terminate her intergalactic spawn. Where something like Alice Lowe's Prevenge has more to say about prenatal mindsets, Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant has more fun with ooey-gooey bodily horrors. Mary's figure is a morphing sack of flesh that stretches, squirts, and leaks all sorts of substances, much to the girl's frustration. That disinterest in motherhood drives abortion attempts that involve a gonzo array of methods—from vacuums to electro bursts—but even better are her verbal takedowns of the selfish and narrow-minded Boo.

There's an awkward charm to Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant that matches how unpredictable Addison Heimann's Touch Me feels (complimentary). Few movies can successfully implement Chekhov's Animated Hentai Video, nor can they find the humor in a Peter Jackson-like approach to special effects. Lynch’s impressive protagonist role holds it all together, whether slathered in sticky ejaculate or letting Mary's freakiness inform her relationship with Boo. The absurdity of Mary and Boo's sexual companionship is delivered in stammers and strange genitalia that you're supposed to laugh at, but the actors don't make the scene a joke itself. From there, Boo is exploited as the hapless baby-daddy, and there’s ample commentary about outside intervention in both parties' lives (the pregnant girl and the half-alien boy). On and on, the actors meet the material with infectious enthusiasm that helps the obscurity endure.

That all said, Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant is a bit more conversational than the subject matter withstands. Yvette Parsons adds kookiness as Mary's mother, overstepping boundaries in a hippie-dippy way, while Jackie van Beek anchors scenes as Boo's straight-laced and far more skittish mother, but the banter between them all can be … a lot. THUNDERLIPS shoots for a millennial-coded vibe like Joseph Kahn's Detention, but the frequent veers into comedy undersell Mary's body-horror leanings. Like, don't get me wrong, that's what makes Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant enjoyable for long durations—yet it's pushed beyond certain thresholds now and again.

As far as practical effects devotion goes, THUNDERLIPS knows what the people want. When Boo drops his trousers, you'll see every detail of his dangly downstairs situation. When Mary's in the hospital, her baby bump writhes while the doctor swears her nipple is following him like the Mona Lisa's eyes. Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant puts its modest budget toward as many cosmic oddities as the production can pull off, even if that's fewer than some might hope. What exists is mucusy, monstrous, and goes for broke with a chaotic sense of originality that puts THUNDERLIPS on the map.

Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant is a visually stimulating indie that takes the saucier and slapstickier route to intergalactic insemination (for the best). THUNDERLIPS empowers its cast to have a blast with the material, which capitalizes on daffy scripting about an otherwise traumatizing experience. It's not saying anything prophetic with its stance on exploitation, but that's alright because THUNDERLIPS make their intentions clear from the start. Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant is a colorfully catastrophic and hyper-unique addition to the unwanted pregnancy canon of horror cinema.

Movie Score: 3/5