Hulu’s Clock shakes up familiar ground in the fertile subgenre of pregnancy horror by examining the ticking biological clock through a woman uninterested in giving birth. Perhaps even scared of it. Writer/Director Alexis Jacknow’s feature debut mines psychological horror from the concept as it explores the pitfalls of baby fever. Despite the fascinating intersection of societal pressures and personal guilt, Clock struggles to decide on its horror approach.
Ella Patel (Dianna Agron) enjoys a child-free life with her husband, Aiden (Jay Ali). She’s a renowned interior decorator by trade and a doting daughter to Joseph (Saul Rubinek), with plenty of free time for leisure and volunteer work. The only hitch is that the almost 38-year-old Ella faces constant pressure to have what she’s fine without: giving birth and starting a family. Her friends frequently question her lack of desire to have a baby, and the peer pressure gets compounded dramatically by her dad and husband. Even a routine doctor’s visit echoes what everyone in Ella’s life seems to agree with: her biological clock is broken. So, Ella attempts to fix it by subjecting herself to an intense clinical trial with Dr. Elizabeth Simmons (Melora Hardin).
The extreme measures to awaken Ella’s baby fever come with catastrophic side effects.
Credit: 20th Digital Studio/Hulu
Jacknow introduces Ella as a secure woman comfortable with her life. As her friends inquire about her disinterest in getting pregnant, a montage through Ella’s daily routine establishes a confident woman satisfied with her lack of maternal instincts. That slowly erodes over the first act, and Jacknow layers in familial obligations and deep-seated anxieties and fears through her family’s religion. Ella’s revealing conversations with her father, and separately with Dr. Simmons, introduce a relatable crossroads of how family and personal guilt can exacerbate feelings of abnormality. It’s no wonder that the otherwise secure Ella would run into the soothing arms of Dr. Simmons and subject herself to a nightmarish, experimental therapy enhanced by medications.
Ella’s journey to course correcting her biological clock comes rife with jump scares, hallucinations, and lapses in time. The symbolism behind the imagery haunting Ella is personal, presenting a solid foundation for the horror, yet the techniques executing them feel scattered and familiar. The explanation for the tall thin woman terrorizing Ella when alone proves far more engaging than how she’s utilized as a shrieking jump scare machine. The psychological element of Ella’s story works well because the character and her plight are relatable. Adding conventional scares and imagery to the fold undermines it. Worse, it gets repetitive; Ella’s obsession with eggs gets a bit too on the nose as her baby fever sets in, and Clock leans on this recurring motif too long.
Photo Credit: 20th Digital Studio/Hulu
Dianna Agron brings infectious pathos and complexity to Ella, and it’s matched in a touching turn by Saul Rubinek as Ella’s flawed dad. The occasionally fraught yet tender bond between daughter and father carries the first half far. Still, a late-game reveal highlights how the same care in characterization doesn’t extend to crucial supporting players. It robs the back half of its emotional impact as it builds toward a quiet melancholy sigh that instills the realization of just how little control Ella has over her own story.
Clock introduces an underexplored angle in pregnancy horror by eschewing pregnancy altogether in favor of a psychological unraveling over baby fever. Jacknow’s debut raises thought-provoking questions through Ella and uses symbolic imagery and a desaturated color palette to underscore the oppressive nature of societal pressures. But Jacknow struggles to marry Ella’s journey with scattered conventional horror tropes and a fizzled thematic conclusion.
Hulu debuts Clock on April 28, 2023.
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