Progeny (film)

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Progeny
Progeny (film).jpg
Directed by Brian Yuzna
Written byAubrey Solomon
Stuart Gordon
Produced byJack F. Murphy
Henry Seggerman
Starring Arnold Vosloo
Jillian McWhirter
Brad Dourif
Susanne Wright
Distributed byProgeny Films Inc.
Release date
  • March 30, 1999 (1999-03-30)
[1]
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6,000,000 [2]

Progeny is a 1998 American science fiction film. [3] It was directed by Brian Yuzna and written by Aubrey Solomon and Stuart Gordon. The film stars Arnold Vosloo as Dr. Craig Burton, Jillian McWhirter as Sherry Burton, Brad Dourif as Dr. Bert Clavell and Lindsay Crouse as Dr. Susan Lamarche.

Contents

Plot

Sherry Craig, a professional woman, happily discovers she is pregnant. While this is happy news for her and her husband Craig who is a doctor, both begin having strange memories from the night of conception. Uneasiness then becomes terror when both are convinced that she is carrying something alien inside her body. Sherry's therapist Dr. Susan Lamarche believes that Sherry has a psychological problem, for which Craig is to blame.

The couple contact a UFO/Paranormal college professor, who takes Sherry back to the night she conceived through hypnosis. They discover that she was abducted by aliens and artificially impregnated. The viewer is shown this sequence several times, with each time showing that Sherry blocked or distorted certain parts of the event in an attempt to accept and understand what was being done to her.

Cast

Production

Progeny was officially announced in June 1997 at Fantafestival in Rome, Italy with director-producer Brian Yuzna describing the film as "an alien version of Rosemary's Baby ". [4]

The scene in which Sherry is probed by a little tube coming out of the wall and penetrating her vagina was a Jillian McWhirter's idea. [5] Production on the film took place in Los Angeles, California throughout October of 1997 and completed at the end of the month. [1] [2]

Release

Progeny was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May of 1998 before it was given a straight-to-video release on March 30, 1999. [1]

Reception

In her review for Variety , Deborah Young wrote "unfolds as predictably as a TV movie with a giant f/x budget. At the same time, Yuzna's taste for disturbing psychological implications gives pic an intriguing edge. " [6]

Nominations

Brian Yuzna nominated at the 1998 International Fantasy Film Award, Porto, Portugal.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 ' "Progeny (1998)". tcm.com. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  2. 1 2 "Yuzna helming 'Progeny'". Variety. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  3. The Staff and Friends of Scarecrow Video (2004). The Scarecrow Movie Guide. Seattle: Sasquatch Books. pp. 630–723. ISBN   1-57061-415-6.
  4. "'Tromeo' triumphs in Rome". Variety. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  5. "Interview with Brian Yuzna and Jillian McWhirter". offscreen.com. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  6. "Progeny". Variety. Retrieved October 17, 2024.