Mother's Milk 2012 - REVIEW

Fetish is defined as a course of action to which one has an excessive and irrational commitment. Usually when someone talks about a fetish, people immediately jump to some kind of sick, twisted sexual thing when in fact, there are a lot of non sexual fetishes. For example, someone (me) may have a shoe fetish in which they feel compelled to buy all kinds of super awesome shoes. Oh c'mon, like you guys don't have an irrational commitment for something. Doesn't really matter because most of time when we're talking horror films and fetishes it generally always leads to some kind of sexual thing. Such is the case here.

Claude (Casey Chapman), is a statistics professor with a bit of a dark side. You see when he was very young, his mother died in a house fire leaving him not only traumatized but with a dysfunctional craving for breast milk. When internet videos no longer get the job done, he decides to satisfy his depraved hunger by kidnapping new mother (or so he thinks), Kim (Mackenzie Wiglesworth). After discovering that she in fact isn't a new mother, he decides to induce lactation through chemical means. When that doesn't work, he presents her with a turkey baster full of his semen in the hope that she'll become pregnant. What follows is several months (I think) of captivity in which the audience gets to know a little more about the abductor and the abductee. The longer Kim is with Claude, the more attached to her he becomes leading him closer and closer to an imminent psychological break down.

Mother's Milk unfortunately fails to live up to it's original synopsis or even the movie poster for that matter. Advertised as a "psychological thriller" and with little blood or action, the film plays more like a late night Lifetime movie. However, if you took out all the unnecessary scenes and put a little polish on it, Mother's Milk could've been quite a successful short film. As it stands, the film just doesn't have substance to sustain the 94 minute run time. For example, there is almost ten full minutes of Claude serving and eating home cooked gourmet meals in front of his defiant captive who had previously refused to eat something he cooked. 

The concept for the film, while different than the norm, falls flat in execution. Writer/Director Edward Pionke wants viewers to believe that someone as sadistic as Claude has such an overwhelming need for breast milk that he is willing to kidnap someone for it; but at the same time has the patience to wait months on end for his victim to begin lactation. While not an impossible notion, it does come off as a little far fetched. There is also little in the way of confrontation from Kim. No fighting, kicking or screaming whatsoever. A woman yanked off the streets while running with a baby you'd think would put up more of a fight leading to more conflict and less complacency. 

Another major distraction was the sound recording. The music while creepy in essence, was sometimes so loud that it played over important parts of dialogue which is never a good thing. Chapman, while incredibly talented, is very soft spoken through out the majority of the film and it's unfortunate that production quality masked parts of his performance. 

I wouldn't recommend Mother's Milk to hard core horror fans. Definitely don't go into it expecting to see a lot of blood, gore or nudity because aside from one or two boob shots and some smeared blood, there is none. If you're looking for a character piece or glimpse into the psyche of a fetish freak, I'm afraid you won't find much of that either. 

The film is available for purchase on Amazon but I would be remiss if I didn't suggest waiting for it to stream for free somewhere.