Appendage

3 outta 5

Appendage is an interesting body horror film that diverts a bit into human relationship melodrama and angsty moments between a daughter and mother, but there’s an icky monster movie at its core. The description on the DisneyPlus app calls it a “horror comedy” but there really isn’t a lot of comedy here, there’s some wry gross out moments and sort of a bizarrely amusing final scene, but the tone is more dark than comedy. If the scene in Army of Darkness when Bad Ash splits off from Good Ash is comedic horror insanity, think of Appendage as more of a serious version of a spit personality body horror. Still, there’s a crazy ending for this film that makes it worth the wait.

Hannah (Hadley Robinson) is a fashion designer working in the big city under an intimidating boss, Cristean (Desmin Borges) with her friend, Ester (Kausar Mohammed). She is in a relationship with the loving Kaelin (Brandon Mychal Smith) but Hannah still has unresolved tension with her mother, Stacy (Deborah Rennard). One day at dinner with her parents, she feels a physical pain in her side that eventually becomes something growing under her skin. Her birthmark becomes bigger until it grows a face, pops off her, and starts saying nasty things. A doctor tells her that a birthmark could be a sign of her absorbing a twin in utero and Hannah finds a support group of people who have “appendages” that have grown out of them. Claudia (Emily Hampshire) tells Hannah that if they listen to the appendage, it knows secrets about the future. But Hannah talking to her gross monster twin locked up in the basement is going to have a bad result.

A significant chunk of the film is Hannah talking to her appendage, and that is done with makeup and prosthetic puppet effects. It looks remarkably similar to Kuato, the big fetus looking thing growing out of the guy in Total Recall. But Kuato is one of the best makeup effects in sci-fi horror so stealing from the best isn’t a bad idea. There is a lot of creepy body horror stuff in the first act, like Hannah worrying about the growth and deflecting questions from her friends and family as blood seeps from her birthmark. The initial scene when the appendage bursts out of Hannah is dark horror comedy as the little head popping out of her side is amusingly gross. But the more the appendage becomes its own person, the creepier it gets as Hannah chats with it. Naturally, as it is going to happen in a horror movie, the appendage starts to change and becomes more like Hannah. Robinson eventually performs both versions of Hannah and while her human one is sympathetic, she really shines as the nasty version of Hannah that emerges.

There is a bit of human melodrama which works with the idea that the appendage is saying horrible truths about people. But some of the relationship melodrama is overwrought, particularly a bit between Hannah and her mother where the mother is almost comically uncaring about her daughter’s psychological problems. The bit when Hannah stands up to her mother is supposed to be a cathartic moment of release, but it comes off clunky. Rennard as the mother Stacy is basically a caricature of an oblivious parental figure but she sells it with gusto. Mohammed as Ester is basically the best friend cliché with a few one-liners. Ester and Kaelin show concern for Hannah but she assumes they are cheating on her, something the horrible appendage version of Hannah says is true. Smith as the boyfriend Kaelin gets put into jeopardy in the film’s final act. Borges plays Hannah’s overbearing boss which seems a bit like Meryl Streep’s character from Devil Wears Prada who is threatening to fire anyone at any moment.

One of the movie’s standouts is Hampshire as Claudia, a friend Hanna meets in her appendage group therapy. Claudia has a creeping sense of unease, at first seeming friendly but soon she starts to say some harrowing things about listening to the appendage. Hannah is so desperate to find out what is happening with her friends that she falls for it. It is a symptom of people acting dumb in horror movies to progress the plot, but there are some nifty plot twists that allow for bad things to happen. Claudia becomes more unhinged and crazier throughout, and her best scenes are when Claudia is cackling about her evil plans. There are some good body horror monster scenes as the appendage gains more independence, and where it is shown how the appendage “feeds” on a trapped victim is a good monster bit.

Things get progressively more twisted as Appendage goes on, leading to an insanely weird ending. This is a neat entry in the body horror genre with a few extra twists along the way that elevate it beyond a standard fight flick. And the creature looks really gross, so that makes it work.