Appendage

Appendage is first and foremost a lot of fun, and Zlokovic clearly delights in employing older horror movies as a palette through which she can tell her own story of the nightmare many women face as they struggle to live up to impossible expectations

A comically freaky look at the inner voices we must learn to live with.

while this feature debut is certainly body horror, it is also a psychological allegory, dramatising Hannah’s therapeutic path to both emotional balance and accommodation of her worst qualities alongside the best.

Despite the grotesque premise, its attack is a little too blunt to make much impact, whether taken as thinly-veiled satire or straight fantasy thriller.

The film jumps across the spectrum between intentional horror camp and failed attempts at legitimate drama.

an entertaining riff of how crippling anxiety can be, causing people to self-destruct and sabotage themselves from within.

The special effects team dropped the ball on this one, and the appendage's physical presence is more distracting than anything. Its concept and its aura, though, go a long way.

Rennard does a particularly good job in scenes where Hannah has to battle with her mother over a past mistake to see there’s always time to make a change. However, Appendage doesn’t feel like it can juggle its major themes once they are placed together.

Appendage tries to add some lighter moments to balance out the horror, but these feel more forced than funny, more hokey than campy.

Instead of focusing on a memorable terrorizer, Zlokovic prioritizes the movie’s theme, makes the subtext obvious, and puts Appendage’s horror in second position behind commentary.