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 Burton, a professional woman, discovers she is pregnant. While this is happy news for her and her husband Craig - an emergency room surgeon - both begin having strange memories from the night of conception, where Sherry is abducted by strange, grey extraterrestrials. In addition, Craig begins experiencing incidents of missing time and Sherry suffers chronic pain and unusual side effects from her pregnancy. Uneasiness then becomes terror when both are convinced that she is carrying something alien inside her body.

Craig and Sherry both consult their therapist, Dr. Susan Lamarche, for advice, but Lamarche is unable to give them a satisfactory explanation. Craig asks his colleague, gynecologist Dr. David Wetherly, to examine Sherry and perform an ultrasound. Though Wetherly's ultrasound proves the baby has an abnormal and inhuman appearance, he suffers a massive heart attack that leaves him hospitalized. Wetherly later dies of cardiac arrest before he can corroborate this. Craig becomes convinced it is the work of aliens.

Sherry's behavior becomes more erratic as she falls under the influence of the aliens, and she is hospitalized for pneumonia after submerging herself in an ice bath for hours. Craig consults UFOlogist Dr. Bert Clavell. Clavell explains that for centuries, aliens have been abducting humans to experiment on them, and their artificial insemination of Sherry is one of their most recurring tactics. Clavell likens this to what animal testing is from the perspective of the animals.

Craig and Clavell enter Sherry's hospital room, and Craig injects her with sodium pentathol to help hypnotize her to recall her abduction. They succeed - but Lamarche interrupts and has them both removed. Still determined, Craig breaks back into the hospital to surgically remove the alien fetus. He and Clavell discretely take Sherry to the operating room, where Craig reveals he plans to temporarily flatline her so the aliens will believe she is dead and remove the fetus, giving himself a four-minute window to revive her. A horrified Clavell declines to help and leaves.

Craig performs the surgery. However, when he attempts to revive her, he realizes he's thirty minutes too late. The aliens used their ability to induce missing time to stop him from successfully resuscitating her. Craig is arrested for her murder.

An unspecified period of time later, Craig has been imprisoned for Sherry's murder. The aliens once again return, and abduct Craig from his prison cell to parts unknown.

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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 ' "Progeny (1998)". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on December 23, 2014. 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 Video 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.
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