A pregnant realtor tries to survive the night in the standard but tense home invasion flick Push, now on Shudder.
It’s been a few months since Natalie lost her partner in a car accident. It’s tough enough to get through that, but they were in the process of moving to the United States, and she’s very pregnant. On her own, trying to make it as a realtor, she’s left to try to sell a giant, secluded home. Only one client shows up, and terror begins as he returns after dark, setting up a good-enough cat-and-mouse in David Charbonier & Justin Douglas Powell’s Push.
Across their three films, the writer-director pair of Charbonier & Powell have done well in tight, minimalist, nearly single-location horrors. The Boy Behind the Door from 20202 was a solid feature career start with a twist on a kidnapping-survival story. The follow-up, 2021’s The Djinn was a truly scary revelation. How much they got out of the confines of a small apartment. It’s a little of a letdown in how standard Push turns out to be. She’s creepily watched by someone in the shadows or background (who is gone when the camera cuts, of course). Danger looms, attack, pull back, attack, pull back to keep it going.
Don’t get me wrong, Push is well made and tense. That’s mostly based on the look. Charbonier & Douglas, along with cinematographer Daniel Katz, craft an eerie setting, filled with dark shadows and claustrophobic room setups. An early long-take follows the protagonist around the house during set up, and it’s marvelous in setting the tone (although it sets up rooms and situations that don’t play). Katz uses the darkness well, kudos for shooting scenes that take place in darkness without the audience straining to see what’s happening. There’s a nice gothic feel to much of the film; for much of the film, she’s dressed in a white dress, holding a candle, and surrounded by darkness. With a great setting and look, it’s a shame Push doesn’t stick the action.
It’s lacking the bigger element to drive it home, the push, if you will. She mostly only reacts and runs, after spending half the film unaware she’s in any danger, wandering about the house. Outside of the pregnancy, there isn’t a solid hook.. In a movie like this, the cat-and-mouse, build-and-release, table-turning (both ways) is the draw. Inside (original version, less of the remake, the better) also used a pregnant woman battling an invader to a better read. You’re Next had an unexpected badass take control. Push just hums along at a shrug, leaning on the great lighting to create the tension over action. Until the third act just gets unbelievably dumb, pushing past movie credibility to a long sigh.
Alicia Sanz is a solid lead, spending the movie alone and in various states. She sells the terror and her issues as well as the weary soon-to-be-mom. On the flip side, Raul Castillo took me out as the villain. He was a void of charisma, offering nothing to grasp onto, as he presented a blank face, and his lines seemed to be read by someone struggling to recall them. I felt annoyed by him rather than scared. Not a credible villain.
I wish I liked Push more. The elements are there. A film can be a collection of tropes if they are served well. After all, there are only so many ways to do a home invasion; it works on the hook. Being pregnant was not enough; it’s even more odd when there are set-ups for more or different hooks. An uneven set of leads also keeps Push from latching. Push is currently playing on Shudder.