Anti-ageing, and the lengths people will go to to sate their vanity, take centre stage in Jens Dahl’s horrific thriller, Breeder. Dr Isabel Ruben (Signe Egholm Olsen) is a brilliant mind in the genetics industry. She has cracked the secret to ageing and is hard at work on a top secret procedure that will revolutionise the world of those that idolise youth. Her desired results are not easy to obtain however, and her work requires the gruesome “bio-hacking” of young women whom she has been routinely abducting. Suspicious of her husband’s whereabouts, Mia (Sara Hjort Ditlevsen), the wife of Ruben’s biggest financier, unwittingly stumbles upon these experiments and soon finds herself trapped, branded, and tortured alongside the others. Can Mia escape her capture, and if she does, on whose side does her husband’s allegiances lie?
The plot of Breeder is a variation on a tried and tested narrative that we’ve seen before. Writer Sissel Dalsgaard Thomsen and director Jens Dahl do try to add their own spin onto proceedings though, and offer enough originality for Breeder to remain relevant. One of the main highlights is that they opt to cast men as the characters that are insecure about their looks. Society has forever dictated that it is women who are obsessed about their appearance and keeping a youthful look forever. It’s an ideology perpetuated by the media; you only have to look at all the beauty adverts aimed squarely at women to find proof. But it’s an outdated mentality. More and more, men have taken to maintaining their beauty, and within Breeder it makes perfect sense that the men Ruben is targeting for money would have no care for how the “cure” is created.
That causal turning the shoulder poses an interesting commentary in itself, one that lends itself to more than just the world of cosmetics and beauty. On the whole, the human race is incredibly dismissive about understanding how things come to be made, with many ignorant of the processes involved in meat production, or animal testing for products etc. This lack of interest is called into focus within the fictional world of the film and challenges the viewer to think a little on where and how things have been manufactured before putting them blindly into, or onto, our bodies.
Dahl also explores the dynamics of marriage. Mia and her husband Thomas (Anders Heinrichsen) seemingly have the perfect relationship, but there’s a complete disconnect between them. Mia is desperate to have a baby, but Thomas wants anything but. It’s such a big life decision, you have to wonder how they ended up in a marriage together, but it’s a common issue that affects many couples as viewpoints and feelings often change across the years. Thomas is excessively distant and Mia has to resort to extreme lengths to get his attention. Having the audience aware of all these facts before Mia ends up in the facility offers up plenty of information to keep them guessing which way things will go when Thomas realises where his wife is.
Breeders too examines the male-female divide, and flips things around. Within Breeders, it is very much the females who are dominant and in control. This begins with Ruben who is a master manipulator of the men around her, bending them to her nefarious ways without them even being aware. She also is in complete control of her two male jailers. Were this another film, these two would run amok, doing as they please with the women in their charge, but here any such behaviour is met with severe punishment. Ruben may also be one of the best movie villainesses since Hellraiser’s Julia.
Mia is a strong-willed woman, one who will not bow to the men that have her detained. Not a woman to easily rely on a man, she quickly comes to terms with the fact that if she wants to escape, her best shot is relying on herself. Even her fellow captives have a quiet strength to them, the tortures that they have endured are endless, and yet almost all have survived with steely determination. Countering these strong ferocious women you have a collection of meek men. The prime offender being Thomas who is so infuriatingly insipid that it’s hard not to scream at the screen.
Tackling all of these themes and issues within the setting of a horror film is one heck of a challenge, but Dahl brings everything together in a well thought through manner. As important and engaging as the issues dealt with are, Dahl never forgets that at its core, Breeder is a genre film and includes more than enough gore to satisfy those with that kind of appetite. It’s grimy and truly gruesome at times and is powered by bloody brutality that induces more than a few grimaces. Not bad for a first whirl directing within the genre.
Breeder feels its length on occasion however. At just shy of two hours, it falls into the category of being a longer than average genre film. Most tend to stick around the tried and tested ninety minute mark, mainly due to the fact that it’s hard to fully sustain an audience for longer than that. That’s not to say that Breeder drags, there’s plenty to keep the viewer entertained, you’re just aware every now and then that it has been playing for a while.
A well written and thought out narrative that raises and throws spotlights onto a variety of topical issues, Breeder is a strong first step for Jens Dahl into the genre world.
Breeder was reviewed at Arrow Video Frightfest Halloween.
Breeder
Summary
With an abundance of ideas, Breeders has plenty of substance for the thinkers, whilst at the same time keeping grisly enough for the bloodthirsty.
