Delivery: The Beast Within (2013) Review – A Reality TV Spin on Maternal Dread

Welcome back to Knockout Horror. We are checking out pregnancy themed horror Delivery: The Beast Within, from 2013.

Pregnancy themed found footage horror

Delivery follows the story of couple Rachel and Kyle Massy. The pair have been wanting to start a family for a while. After a number of unsuccessful attempts, they finally succeed. The pair agree to a TV crew filming the entire process for a new reality show. They want to document every step from the initial scans to the family being told, all the way through to the birth. When Rachel seemingly suffers a miscarriage, the pair are relieved when, days after the event, a heartbeat is found suggesting the baby is still alive. It’s at this point, however, that the TV crew begin noticing strange occurrences.

Delivery is something of a mash up of found footage styles. It starts off with a reality show like presentation, before switching to a more typical found footage. The pilot episode of the show has already been filmed. Everything we see after a certain point is, supposedly, unedited footage. This makes for a rather fresh feeling approach to the slightly tired sub-genre.

A refreshing format

The initial scenes absolutely nail the reality show style presentation. Cheesy cuts, tons of random B-roll, old photos and interviews with the characters. It all feels perfectly fitting and offers a real sense of authenticity.

“The initial scenes absolutely nail the reality show style presentation. Cheesy cuts, tons of random B-roll, old photos and interviews with the characters feel perfectly fitting.”

These scenes play out between a documentary style interview with the show’s producer. Much like the excellent Aussie documentary style found footage Lake Mungo, these interviews take place throughout Delivery‘s length and further expand on the, as yet, unknown backstory. We learn about the timeline of events and we are offered insight into what the camera crew saw and audio recordings of strange voices.

It’s engaging stuff and feels like a nice spin on the usual found footage formula. It’s worth remembering that this style of presentation was getting a bit stale back in 2013. People were attempting to keep it fresh and mix things up a little. The documentary style was just one of the ways filmmakers did things.

A missed opportunity

The unedited footage provides the bulk of Delivery‘s content and the documentary style interviews offer interesting exposition. But it is the initial reality TV style that actually manages to hook you and draw you in. There is an underlying feeling that the movie would have benefited from focusing primarily on this style. It feels unique when considering the horror genre, as a whole. Instead, the movie abandons it and quickly begins to play to type.

The reality TV stuff seems a distant memory and the camera crew being there feels awkward. The once promising setup of Delivery suddenly feels like a bit of a hindrance. Cameras are placed in every room, even the bedroom. Cameramen film every single interaction, no matter how late in the night. The characters attempt to act oblivious to the crew’s presence and it all just feels a little bit strange.

Boring for much of its length

Understandably, the nature of a reality TV show would mean lots of unedited footage. We can assume that much of this would be fairly tedious. The problem with Delivery, however, is that this tedious footage comprises most of the movie.

“The unedited footage provides the bulk of the content, but it is the reality TV style that manages to hook you. The movie would have benefited from focusing primarily on this style.”

There are very few interesting scenes here. The first half an hour or so is very engaging but the movie then begins to drag its feet. Monotony takes centre stage and there is a distinct sense of repetition. Scares are mostly absent, feeling very secondary to the bubbling domestic tension. It’s pretty mundane stuff.

I, personally, don’t watch horror movies to see a couple arguing. Especially not when it makes up the bulk of the movie’s length. The only real moments of tension come from an anxious pet dog. Sightings of random shadows and allusions to satanism feel half baked. It’s all been done before.

Delivery also has a tendency to engage in horror tropes that lack in impact. Questions of mental health, medication and a frayed relationship feel overdone. As the story plays out, it also has a tendency to fall foul of plot holes and illogical character decisions. It’s the same old same old, just in a different wrapper.

Well acted and worth a watch

The movie peaks early into its runtime; for the next 30 minutes or so, it spins its wheels. The interactions between Rachel and Kyle begin to annoy. Despite being well acted, there isn’t much to like about these two protagonists. Kyle, played by Danny Barclay, is particularly guilty of this.

“Monotony takes centre stage and there is a distinct sense of repetition. Scares are mostly absent, feeling very secondary to the bubbling domestic tension.”

His aggression and anger would incite concern from anyone spending any length of time around the pair. Rachel, played by Laurel Vail, is, simply, a rather boring character. These two are unlikely to drag you into the story. It’s the moments of exposition from producer Rick (Rob Cobuzio) that will keep you engaged.

With that being said, this movie is still worth a watch. It’s nice to see the pregnancy horror trope presented in this format. Acting is decent throughout, the reality TV style presentation is spot on and very novel for this type of horror. The story is, initially, very engaging and the ending is one that will definitely shock. Though lacking in scares the pacing is decent. The interesting start to the movie can help you get through the second half slog. It’s not a particularly demanding movie and makes for an easy watch. Found footage is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. This is one of the better ones in both style and execution.

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