False Positive review: A head-spinning pregnancy thriller

Following in the footsteps of other comedians-turned-horror stars like Jordan Peele and John Krasinski, Ilana Glazer’s first major solo project since her hit series Broad City is about the furthest thing you could get from a cringe comedy web series – a drastic shift in Glazer’s choice of projects, but one that pays off tenfold. Though at times inaccessible and a little uneventful, False Positive is a paranoid pregnancy horror story anchored by Glazer’s revelatory lead performance and a magnetic supporting turn from Pierce Brosnan.

Starring Ilana Glazer, Justin Theroux, and Pierce Brosnan, False Positive follows a young, wealthy couple named Lucy (Glazer) and Adrian (Theroux) trying to have a baby. After several tries, disappointments, and dead ends, they turn to the elusive miracle-working Dr. Hindle (Brosnan) who helps ensure a near-instant successful pregnancy for the couple.

Though at first Lucy is elated that she’ll finally have the baby she’s always dreamed about. But when complications begin to arise, Lucy begins to doubt the intentions of Dr. Hindle, and Adrian – and is willing to do anything in her power to ensure the safety of her unborn daughter Wendy.

False Positive follows in the footsteps of many indie horror/thrillers (perhaps most closely resembling an earlier A24 horror release from this year, Saint Maud) in that, despite its brief runtime, it’s something of a slow burn. Thankfully, the hour and a half runtime ensures the somewhat uneventful film never overstays its welcome, but with such a magnetic premise that immediately had us on board from the jump, we found ourselves waiting for the film to kick into high gear and really start. It turns out that things don’t truly move into motion until the final few minutes, which will likely leave some viewers feeling robbed of the full potential of the premise – but even so, the bones of False Positive are strong enough to forgive the pacing issues.

What the film does get right almost immediately is the tone and aesthetic sense of self – almost reminiscent of Twin Peaks: The Return in its surreal yet mundane set design, complete with perky blonde nurses in matching 1950s-style uniforms. At the center of it all, of course, is Brosnan’s Dr. Hindle – the walking embodiment of shady who exemplifies the eerie, uneasy tone of the film that lies underneath the straightforward, almost friendly exterior.

Bronsnan himself is a definite highlight. As Dr. Hindle, he walks the perfect line between friendly, paternal caretaker and the suspicious, invasive figure that haunts Lucy’s life. Though anyone paying even half the required attention will likely be able to spot the film’s ‘twist’ ending from a mile away and sniff out the reveal surrounding Hindle’s character, we don’t entirely mind, because Brosnan is just that good at playing creepy.

It’s certainly a change of pace for such a debonair actor, but he’s the perfect man for the job – our only complaint is that we didn’t see more of him. Hindle is built up in the first act as such an elusive figure that when he fizzles out and meets his end in the last act, it feels almost anticlimactic, and underserving the hypnotic performance Brosnan turns in.

As wonderful as Brosnan is, though, it’s undoubtedly Glazer who drives False Positive to success – the literal and figurative beating heart of the film. Lucy is the type of level-headed everyman protagonist that make her just easy enough to relate to that you may not question her reliability as a narrator upon first viewings – and much of that successful mirage is thanks to Glazer’s staggering performance.

Glazer’s turn is reminiscent of Florence Pugh in Midsommar – though the character herself isn’t particularly outspoken or remarkable, her tiny facial ticks and ability to freeze in a singular, haunted expression makes her a magnetic force and the perfect lead for such a dizzying film.

At times, though, False Positive doesn’t feel entirely worthy of two such wonderful performances – the script is unremarkable, and the story itself often gets bogged down by what kind of film it’s trying to be, or at least what it wants the audience to think it is. Even with the final ‘reveal’ in the last act, virtually nothing is explained or made clear.

It’s not that a film has to explain itself, but in False Positive‘s case, when the entire film revolves around Lucy attempting to uncover Hindle’s secret, and then not actually cluing the audience in as to what’s going on, the end result feels muddled and watered down – even with its truly haunting final moments.

False Positive explores some incredibly interesting ideas and challenges conventional genre tropes, opting to both lean into and away from the way women are frequently pigeonholed despite their prevalence as protagonists in the horror genre. Some attempts are more successful than others – while Adrian falls relatively flat, Lucy’s midwife Grace (Zainab Jah) is a clever and refreshing subversion of expectations surrounding her character archetype.

At the center of the film, though, underneath all the wishy-washy depictions of what’s actually happening to Lucy and her baby, is an incredibly impactful and devastating tale of a woman and her unbreakable bond with her daughter.

Even in the film’s weaker moments, that unyielding focus on the strength of motherhood, combined with Glazer’s performance, propels False Positive to one of the more memorable horror/thrillers in recent history. Though False Positive may be too muddled and caught up in its own imagery to truly stand as one of the great products of modern horror, leading turns from Ilana Glazer and Pierce Brosnan make it a devastating thriller with an unflinching core.