In the past few years, there has been a push by female directors to occupy more of the horror space- and I can’t say I’ve been disappointed by the results. In fact, two of my favourite horror films of 2023, Huesera: The Bone Woman and, now, Birth/ Rebirth, are both written (or co-written in the latter film’s case) and directed by women.

What is interesting about both these films are that they both present a subverted female perspective on birth and motherhood. They are films made by women that are about mothers who are far from perfect living in a world where expectations are suppressed by harsh realities. 

And that’s about where the similarities end.

Huesera: The Bone Woman uses its supernatural elements as a metaphor for severe postpartum depression. In contrast, Birth/ Rebirth weaves a powerful tale that shifts its focus between the feelings of loss and regret that come from suddenly losing a child and the pain that comes from not being able to bring a living baby into the world in the first place. And to do this, director Laura Moss takes inspiration from one of gothic literature’s best known sources: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Of course, I personally find this repurposing of Shelley’s story to be all very fitting. I already knew that Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, died shortly after giving birth to her. And Shelley’s mom wasn’t just anybody: she was one of the most prominent philosophers and feminists of her day. Her 1792 essay, A Vindication of the Right of Woman, is still studied in post-secondary classes on Enlightenment period literature and European history.

Sure, none of this has really anything to do with Birth/ Rebirth directly, except for me to say that of all the interpretations and reinterpretations of her classic novel on film, I like to think Shelley would had approved the most of Birth/ Rebirth– not that the bar was set particularly high. Why do I say this? Because when I first read Frankenstein, I couldn’t help but wonder if that eighteen-year-old girl who started penning one of the most popular horror stories of all time was not just a little bit guilt-stricken about being the cause of her own mother’s death… and if this remorse influenced her work. And, in a weird way, Moss’s tale conjures up thoughts raised by my own morbid speculation about Shelley’s possible guilt better than any other Frankenstein adaptation ever has.

Birth/ Rebirth revolves around two women, both in the medical field. The first, Celie (Judy Reyes), is a maternity nurse and single mother who works long hours and gets little sleep. Her busy, stressful life is already spun nearly to the breaking point, so when her five-year old daughter, Lila, gets terribly sick with bacterial meningitis, Celie underestimates the severity of her illness until it turns fatal.

Meanwhile, Rose (Marin Ireland) works as a pathologist with a secret. She uses her off hours to conduct experiments aimed at reanimating the dead. When Lila’s corpse comes her way, she fudges the paperwork and steals the body- only to learn that a pesky Celie is persistent about wanting to see her daughter’s body one last time. In her quest for answers, she tracks Rose to her home, and to her bewilderment, Lila is inside…alive…sort of. The film certainly questions how much this reanimated Lila really is still Celie’s child. 

But the horror of Birth/ Rebirth is less about what Lila has become and more about the lengths both women are willing to go through to keep her breathing.

Birth/ Rebirth is an incredibly well-written film that gets two tremendous performances out of its lead actresses, but it is Marlin Ireland that really gets the chance to shine, not necessarily because she is the better actress, but because her character is just so much more compelling. She gets to play an updated, female incarnation of a modern Victor Frankenstein, though one that doesn’t turn and run right after successfully playing God. Ireland plays Rose as cold and detached, but also surprisingly layered- something uncommon of this character-type in film. And the most beautiful trick this movie pulls off is that it provides Rose with increasing humanity while removing it from Celie.

And the script, co-written by Moss, is excellent at exhuming themes related to medical ethics, motherhood, childbirth and infertility. What are Rose’s motives for bringing back the dead? Who is the real mother of this reanimated creature? These are questions that get raised that get left up to the viewer to answer. 

There is even subtle, but significant subtext about just how scary and complicated modern childbirth actually is, with doctors calling for a C-section too quickly and mothers dealing with multiple complications or miscarriages. You know, the stuff my wife and I wish we knew before having our own son.

And even though Birth/ Rebirth doesn’t have much interest in being scary, horror fans will concede that its gore has a disturbing clinical realism to it that blends well with the story being told. 

If Birth/ Rebirth has a flaw, it is in its abrupt ending. I understand that it stops at a wonderfully nuanced moment that, like Mary Shelley’s novel, shows the full horror of the protagonists’ realized obsession- but this is one of those times I’d like to see a sequel. (Yeah, I know that’s not happening, but one can wish.) There is still enough story to easily fill another feature. I am invested…and I kind of want to see more of Ireland’s Rose.