Sundance 2026 Review: Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant Is Absurd, Uncomfortable, and Surprisingly Human

A late-night genre entry that blends body horror, comedy, and family tension into a deliberately messy experience.

Sundance 2026 Review: Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant

Midnighters

There is no shortage of body-horror films built around shock value, but Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant arrives at Sundance with a very specific sense of purpose. The New Zealand sci-fi comedy marks the feature debut of filmmaking duo Thunderlips — Sean Wallace and Jordan Mark Windsor — and premieres in the festival’s Midnighters section, where its blend of absurdity, gross-out humor and unexpected emotional grounding feels right at home.

On the surface, the film leans hard into outrageous genre territory: accelerated pregnancy, alien biology and practical-effects spectacle. But beneath the chaos is a character-driven story about arrested development, isolation and what happens when accountability can no longer be avoided. The film centers on Mary (Hannah Lynch), a deeply unmotivated, disconnected millennial drifting through adulthood with little interest in responsibility or consequence. When her carefully insulated routine is disrupted by a bizarre and escalating situation, Mary is forced to confront realities she has spent years ignoring.

Thunderlips approach the material with a sharp eye for modern anxieties. The script pokes at contemporary individualism — not as a political statement, but as a lived condition — where personal comfort, self-definition and avoidance of discomfort often outweigh connection, compromise or growth. Mary is not written to be aspirational, nor is she treated as a punchline. Instead, she is presented as someone stuck, enabled by circumstance and habit, until those structures collapse.

Where the film truly finds its footing is in its depiction of parental dynamics. Yvette Parsons delivers the film’s most grounded and emotionally resonant performance, anchoring the story with warmth, pragmatism and hard-earned empathy. Her presence provides a counterbalance to the heightened genre elements, reminding the audience that even in the most extreme situations, survival often depends on support systems rather than self-reliance alone. Jackie Van Beek offers a contrasting parental energy, adding tension and nervous humor that further sharpens the film’s interpersonal conflicts.

Visually, Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant embraces tactile, old-school effects, favoring practical body horror over digital excess. Genre fans will appreciate the commitment to texture and physicality, even when the imagery veers into deliberately uncomfortable territory. The absurdity is intentional and frequently effective, particularly in late-night festival settings where audience reactions become part of the experience.

That said, the film’s alien mythology is less compelling than its human drama. While the sci-fi elements provide momentum and spectacle, they often feel secondary to the emotional and relational stakes. The strongest moments occur when the story slows down just enough to explore dependence, generational knowledge and the uneasy transition from avoidance to responsibility.

Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant does not always land every idea cleanly, and its tonal swings may test some viewers’ patience. Still, it is an assured debut that understands its audience and its environment. For fans of midnight programming, practical effects and body horror with something on its mind, this is a conversation starter — messy, provocative and oddly sincere.

Rating: 3 out of 5