One highlight of covering a horror festival like Screamfest is discovering emerging voices in the genre you hope will achieve great success. Director Brian Gottlieb, who co-directs and co-writes “Grow” with Aimee Scher, is one of those promising talents.
Traditionally, male pregnancy has been depicted for comedic effect. A classic example is the memorable “The Day the Spores Landed” episode of The Cosby Show, while the 1994 comedy Junior, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, attempted to expand the concept into a full-length film. GROW takes this familiar absurdity and transforms it into something much more unsettling.
Peter Vack stars as Hollis Reed, a grieving man who travels to rural Connecticut to meet his girlfriend Locasta Larkin’s (Annet Mahendru) family, only to discover that she has died. After a surreal encounter with Locasta, Hollis inexplicably finds himself pregnant. Her family views his condition not as a medical anomaly but as something they have long awaited, imprisoning him and preparing for the birth against his will.
This premise lets “Grow” explore dark humor, but Gottlieb and Scher wisely avoid making Hollis the butt of the joke. Instead, his changing body becomes a source of anxiety, violation, and ultimately horror. Vack fully commits to portraying the physical discomfort and emotional confusion, anchoring a story that could easily have veered into ridiculousness.
“Grow” also has a sensual quality, which is not a criticism. The film skillfully distinguishes between eroticism and exploitation. Desire is central to the entrapment. Intimacy, attraction, and seduction deepen Hollis’s connection to Locasta while blurring the lines between pleasure, grief, and manipulation. Mahendru infuses the material with an alluring unpredictability, and the film’s sexuality propels the story forward rather than serving as a mere distraction for cheap thrills.
Janis Dardaris and Philip Tabor contribute to the secluded household’s unsettling energy, creating a sense that everyone understands the rules except for Hollis. This uncertainty enhances the film as it shifts between folk horror, body horror, and surrealism.
Not every strange image lands perfectly, and viewers seeking straightforward explanations may find “Grow” frustrating. Nevertheless, I appreciate that Gottlieb rarely chooses the easy route.
What begins as a premise typically used for sitcom humor evolves into a provocative horror film about bodily autonomy, coercion, and control. “Grow” is bizarre, sensual, and discomforting in all the necessary ways. More importantly, it uncovers something disturbing within an old joke: pregnancy ceases to be funny when the person carrying the child has no choice.
Final Grade: B+
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