The Womb (2024) Movie Review!

The thriller The Womb opens with an ominous quote and it’s not long before we’re in a possible post-apocalyptic wasteland. We’re not sure where and when we are, but we know things don’t look right. Things look and feel off, but we can’t quite figure out why.

We meet Sami (Cami Varela). She’s a hearing-impaired woman navigating her way through this desolate hellscape (seemingly) alone.

Through a series of flashbacks, we learn little by little about how Sami got to where she is. We know enough about her to really start to worry about her. There’s a lot of things wrong with the outside environment, but we can piece together that something or maybe a lot of somethings are troubling Sami’s mind.

Sami’s been waiting for her family to come back home. Trouble is, it’s been months since they left and Sami is the only one who can’t seem to accept that they’re gone. Whether they’re dead or not is a mystery but what is clear is that they are not coming back anytime soon if at all.

Oh, and there’s this mysterious “virus” that’s threatening the neighborhood, the city, the state. Sami claims to “hear” when it’s coming and it gives her a head start on how do deal with it better than most. At least that’s what she says.

The trouble is, the military is hellbent on destroying the virus before it gets loose. In a couple of days Sami’s house and entire neighborhood will be decimated just to keep it contained.

That’s okay, because in just a couple of days Sami’s family will return.

But probably not.

And to top it all off, a couple of intruders enter Sami’s home. It turns out they have plans for the virus as well.

But everything will be okay because Sami’s family is coming home. Soon.

• A wonderfully off-balance lead performance by Cami Varela. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn just enough about Sami to know what led her to her present circumstances, but Cami Varela’s performance always keeps us on our toes, always keeps us guessing (in a good way). Though Sami sometimes makes questionable choices throughout The Womb, we’re always on Sami’s side even when we think we shouldn’t be.
• An intricate screenplay by writer/director Frank A. Cappello keeps us in suspense and takes advantage of its budget limitations by keeping us focused on character. We feel for Sami and we know where all the other characters come from during this harrowing situation. You can see some things coming, but the ones you can’t really bite you.

• A minor quibble, but the flashback heavy narrative does take us out of the story a couple of times while we switch gears to learn something about Sami’s past. There are times when it stops narrative momentum, but not so much that you lose the story.

The Womb is a twisty thriller that rarely lets you get comfortable with the story. You’ve seen movies like this countless times, but you rarely care what happens to the main characters this much.