Bed Rest (2022) Movie Review - Fairly Dull Pregnancy Horror

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are continuing with our Horror on Tubi Feature as we review Bed Rest from 2022.

Now we all know there is a lot of fantastic horror on Tubi but that’s not what this feature is about. For the month of June, I will be solely sourcing my review movies from Tubi. And I don’t want you to get it twisted, I won’t be hitting up any of Tubi’s decent stuff, that wouldn’t be any fun.

I will only be watching movies that are obviously low budget, have terrible cover art, are lesser known or simply look pretty awful. We are taking a spoon and scraping the corn filled chunks from the bottom of Tubi’s barrel here. Let’s go!

Another By The Numbers Horror

Bed Rest is, honestly, the perfect example of “by the numbers” horror. It is a movie that takes no risks, never leaves the beaten track and brings nothing new to the genre. It feels like the expected result of years of Hollywood ghost story horror. Entirely familiar and completely unremarkable.

Focusing on the story of Julie (Melissa Barrera). Bed Rest sees our heavily pregnant heroine forced to spend the last stages of her pregnancy confined to a bed. Julie has suffered a partial placental abruption. The treatment for which revolves around staying chill and not getting too excited. The problem is, Julie’s house resembles something from a fairground. With spooks and bumps in the night being an almost guaranteed daily event. How will she stay calm and make it to the full term of her pregnancy? And what mysteries will she uncover about the house? 

A Somewhat Unique Theme

The only thing that is somewhat unique about Bed Rest is the central theme itself. Although many horror movies revolve around pregnant protagonists. A few of which you can check out in this list we put together. Few feature our pregnant character trapped in one location, forced to spend every moment of her day in bed. 

The way this is implemented, in all honesty, feels a bit silly. Bed Rest is a contentious issue in modern medical practice. It is thought that few conditions improve when remaining sedentary. The risks of blood clots, especially during pregnancy, make the prospect an even more dangerous one. The fact that Julie is instructed to never leave her bed and is only allowed a mere ten minutes to bathe feels rather far fetched. It is a shaky premise to build a horror movie on. 

This really impacts the tension as Julie repeatedly finds reasons to get out of bed. She does a very poor job of managing her condition. Leaving every scare or every moment of horror to feel manufactured and inorganic. Bed Rest traps itself in a pattern of predictability. Julie only gets out of bed when a scare is coming up. If she is in bed, very little of note happens. It quickly becomes repetitive and rather stale.

You’ve Seen It All Before

Everything else about Bed Rest is a paint by numbers copy of every haunted house horror movie you have ever seen. There are mysterious noises in the night, things seen from the corners of eyes, a strange spirit with a seeming link to the protagonist. The Deja-vu with this one is never ending. If it wasn’t for Julie being horizontal for much of the movie, I doubt anyone would be able to tell Bed Rest from any other similar paranormal horror film.

Scares are, generally, ineffective. A spirit child appears randomly throughout, reminding the viewer how overused the “ghost of dead child” plot elements is in horror nowadays. The people around Julie refuse to believe her. The situation grows more concerning, hinting at something more malevolent and a few red herrings are thrown our way to try and throw us off the scent. It’s all been done before but much better. 

Predictable Reactions and Immature Writing

Even Julie’s reactions to the events are predictable. She moves from fear to curiosity in exactly the manner you might expect. Before finally resolving to uncover the mystery. Seemingly absent of any trepidation or concern for her unborn child. The story does have some degree of depth to it. There are some revelations that offer a slight reason to invest but, overall, there is very little to sink your teeth into.

Julie’s relationship with her husband is fraught with trauma from something that happened in the past. Something which Julie takes out on everyone around her. Now, the topics at hand here are extremely serious. They absolutely need to be talked about and are significant but Julie constantly punishes her husband for his specific way of dealing with the issue. Something which presents a very one sided view of grief and loss.

The immature writing here doesn’t offer the subject the attention it deserves. The result is glib dialogue and awkward scenes filled with arguing and soap opera like tension. In the hands of a better writer, the subject could have been handled with more nuance.

Acting is Decent, Direction is Okay

Acting, throughout, is pretty decent. Melissa Barrera, as Julie, does a good enough job working with the rather milquetoast script. The plot doesn’t offer her much opportunity for nuanced performance but she does alright with what she has to work with. Managing to be convincing in both her fear and her mama bear resolve.

Guy Burnet, as her husband Daniel, is okay. Despite doing his best Ricky Gervais impression for most of the film. His character is somewhat underdeveloped. Serving, mainly, as comic relief and for story exposition. He does okay with what he has though, again, the script isn’t exactly fantastic. 

Some of the side characters offer some rather painful line delivery. Erik Athavale, as Dr. Meadows, is particularly guilty of this. This seems to be more as a result of the script, though. I really enjoyed Edie Inksetter’s performance as Julie’s carer Delmy. She is very likable and her character brings some extra intrigue to the plot. All in all, the cast of Bed Rest does a nice job.

Cinematography is really good. This is a genuinely nice looking movie. Lighting is great and scenes are nicely set up. The house really isn’t at all scary, though. This isn’t a large, spooky, haunted house. It is a fairly modern looking place that is bright and airy. A big misstep in my opinion as it majorly impacts the scare factor. Direction is okay. Taylor’s tendency to repeat the same setup for each scare is a big problem. Making the movie completely predictable. The movie overstays its welcome by about ten minutes as well. Feeling like it is spinning its wheels by the one hour mark.

Should You Watch Bed Rest?

Bed Rest is about as “by the numbers” a haunted house horror as you can possibly find. It is Deja-vu inducing for its familiarity. It plays to horror tropes repeatedly and offers nothing new. The potentially interesting premise of a bed bound protagonist provides some hope. But it is poorly developed and ends up being a non-factor pretty quickly. Julie constantly getting out of bed to investigate spooky goings on makes the movie predictable. An extremely cheesy ending serves as the proverbial cherry on the boring horror sundae. Worth a watch but don’t expect too much.