Attack of the Adult Babies review: Emmerdale’s Dominic Brunt steps behind the camera for film number three, but how does it fair?
Attack of the Adult Babies review by Luke Ryan Baldock, October 2017.
Attack of the Adult Babies Review
Dominic Brunt’s third feature as a director furthers him into a bizarre brand of horror all of its own. After the wonderfully simplistic and emotional Before Dawn, and the brutal and powerful Bait, he brings us Attack of the Adult Babies. You may think the title says it all, but you’d be way off. A simple premise is extended into social commentary before juggling bizarre animated sequences and visual odes to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Clearly presented as a satirical comedy, nothing comes close to the cleverness of the tagline “It’s time for a change.” But then again, perhaps the vile grossness that is so well employed, just covers up some of the more nuanced layers.
The plot is immature and anarchic; purposefully. We are introduced to a manor house where rich men in positions of power like to resort. While there they are indulged in their fantasy of acting like babies, with each assigned their own nurse to change them, hug them, and read them stories. Meanwhile a family sits around in their home playing a board game, before being interrupted by two (supposedly) Russian gangsters. The gangsters force the family to visit the manor and retrieve something, keeping father, George (Andrew Dunn), as a hostage. From there it transcends into vicious gore, vile humour, and just plain disgust.
Attack of the Adult Babies Review
Brunt keeps the whole film together somehow, and it never feels offensive. His targets are clear, attacking the Tories, and showing them as greedy, selfish, out of touch monsters, who also act like children. This least subtle of metaphors relishes in its openness, as the elite start to hunt the intruders donning red hunting jackets, yet still rocking their nappies. As explanations for why all this is going on, the film delights in its own absurdity, trying to offer reasoning with a character responding to why this has to be done this way with “Tradition?” Even the use of pig imagery harkens heavily towards Animal Farm, and perhaps a rumoured tradition that a political figure may or may not have been involved in.
As the film reaches its finale, it really does just chuck everything towards the screen and hope something sticks, and unlike the faeces related humour, not all of it does. There’s a harsh cheapness to the effects, but applause to Brunt for not flinching away even when the props, prosthetic’s, and wobbly mannequins don’t quite hit realism levels. It adds to the 80s slasher vibe that is enhanced by the music.
Attack of the Adult Babies Review
Attack of the Adult Babies review by Luke Ryan Baldock, October 2017.
Attack of the Adult Babies is currently playing as part of the Grimmfest programme.
