Pregnancy is often a sweet, exciting time. But since these 9 months are full of thoughts about the future and worries about sleep training and diaper changes and how much life will be altered, it's no wonder that this topic has become a favorite one for the horror genre. There are many horror movies that explore the subject of pregnancy, whether a woman is pregnant with a demon, doctors are working on something sinister behind the scenes that she isn't privy to, or she's seeing ghosts in her house.
There's nothing scarier than bringing a baby into the world and knowing that something horrifying is happening. These horror movies turn pregnancy into an incredibly creepy experience and they're worth checking out.
False Positive (2021)
Co-written by Ilana Glazer and John Lee, False Positive stars Glazer as an excited young woman named Lucy who is finally pregnant after trying for a long time. She seems to have an idyllic life with her husband Adrian (Justin Theroux) and she has a great career as a copywriter. But before too long, Lucy wonders if this pregnancy is peaceful, and she begins to suspect the brilliant fertility doctor John Hindle (Pierce Brosnan) who helped her conceive. This definitely counts as a feminist horror movie as Lucy's male co-workers and boss take a great case away from her while she's expecting.
False Positive has all of the paranoia and worry of Rosemary's Baby. Sophia Bush shines in the role of Corgan, another pregnant woman who befriends Lucy but who might know more about what's going on than Lucy does. The movie is scary and unsettling while also having something meaningful to say about the lengths that people will go to in order to maintain power and control.
American Horror Stories: Ba'al (2021)
While this is an episode of an anthology series, it feels like a movie as it's a tight, self-contained story. When comparing every episode of American Horror Stories, "Ba'al" stands out as a brilliant look at pregnancy. Liv Whitley (Billie Lourd) wants to have a baby more than anything, and when the receptionist at her fertility clinic gives her a mysterious figure that is supposed to help with conception, Liv is game.
The entire episode has a creepy tone and with muted white, grey, and beige colors throughout, it's hard not to be afraid as Liv walks through her giant house and keeps seeing a demon above her baby's crib. This episode has everything that horror fans could want: a smart main character who looks into the truth, a clever jump scare or two that feels well-earned, and a great twist.
The Gift (2015)
The Gift tells the story of Robyn (Rebecca Hall) and Simon Callem (Jason Bateman) moving to Los Angeles and getting caught up with Gordo (Joel Edgerton), a creepy guy who Simon used to know.
The movie gets more terrifying when Robyn is pregnant and Gordo becomes even more entwined in their lives. This is the kind of horror movie where evil wins out, although audiences learn that Simon isn't so innocent and that he was responsible for a terrible incident that changed Gordo's life forever. In this horrifying film, Robyn's pregnancy is sinister and anything but peaceful as it turns out that there's more to the story.
Prevenge (2016)
In the tradition of horror-comedy movies, the 2016 British movie Prevenge is about pregnant Ruth (Alice Lowe) who is dealing with the loss of her husband. She soon realizes that her baby is making her commit murder. The movie includes a lot of doctor's appointments and details about having a baby, as Ruth talks to midwives and has a C-section.
In Prevenge, having a baby is terrifying as after Ruth delivers her little one, she isn't sure if her baby is evil or not, and she has to come to terms and cope with her grief along with the murders that she has committed this entire time. The movie is definitely dark and disturbing but tells a new story about pregnancy that isn't seen in other horror movies.
Isabelle (2018)
Chances are that this 2018 horror film has flown under the radar but it offers up a commentary on how painful miscarriage is. In Isabelle, Larissa (Amanda Crew) and Matt Kane (Adam Brody) move into a new house while feeling excited about their pregnancy. After Larissa loses the baby, she begins seeing a vision of a woman in the window next door, and her days become a mix of grief and worry.
While the movie is predictable and not very well-done, it's definitely creepy and has some good atmosphere, as the couple's new street in Saratoga Springs is peaceful yet unnerving in its own way.