Push (2024) review – A pregnant pause in entertainment

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are going to be taking a look at the horror, thriller, movie Push (2024). This is a Shudder original so you know where you can find it.

A hilarious and rather stupid premise

The premise to this movie is absolutely hilarious. Basically, a real estate agent wants to close a deal on a supposedly cursed house to prove she is capable and self sufficient. The only problem is that a potential client decides to not purchase the house and, instead, pursue the woman around the grounds in a life or death game of cat and mouse.

Oh, and she is, like, 8 months pregnant. That’s where the title comes from; it’s sort of a play on words regarding the process of giving birth.

Before we start with the review I should do a little shameless self promotion. We have already explained the ending to this movie. So, if you have arrived here having watched Push and left feeling a bit confused, check out our Push Ending Explained article.

It’s not as interesting as it sounds

A heavily pregnant woman trying to escape a marauding killer. Sounds, at least, a little interesting, right? You can probably already picture the various nail biting scenarios our protagonist is going to find herself in. The problem is, Push is nowhere near as interesting as it sounds.

“To be perfectly honest, the fact that it took two directors… to decide that the action here should mostly consist of a woman slowly ambling around shutting doors is kind of remarkable.”

To be perfectly honest, the fact that it took two directors, David Charbonier and Justin Douglas Powell, to decide that the action here should mostly consist of a woman slowly ambling around shutting doors is kind of remarkable.

I’m really not exaggerating for the sake of writing something ridiculous, either. This is what the majority of the runtime consists of and this is what makes up the bulk of the action. When I saw the title Push I thought it related to the act of labour, not the act of pushing doors closed.

Nathalie (Alicia Sanz) spends the majority of her time walking from room to room, very slowly, and closing doors and windows. She even remarks on it at one point, exclaiming “How many doors does this place have?“. I am not sure you should be drawing attention to that. Push is, quite frankly, a very boring movie.

Sooo slow and very boring

The premise, itself, hamstrings the action rather spectacularly. Nathalie is, understandably, very slow and often prioritises stopping to groan in agony over actually engaging in exciting chase sequences. The crazy thing is, these moments actually end up providing some welcome relief from the plodding nature of the action.

The movie does try to warn you, to be honest, and I should have seen it coming. The first shot of the house itself is a long trailing sequence of Nathalie walking through the home opening blinds and windows. It truly starts as it means to go on. The chase scenes just repeat this formula but in the dark.

“Push might, actually, be one of the few thriller movies that is completely devoid of any thrilling sequences.”

What’s sort of crazy is that when we aren’t following Nathalie as she ambles around we are following the antagonist who does the exact same thing. I understand why she doesn’t go anywhere in a hurry but I don’t know what his excuse is?

Push might, actually, be one of the few thriller movies that is completely devoid of any thrilling sequences. Moments designed to feel tense really don’t amount to much. There’s only so many times you can wonder whether a person’s baby bump will fit through a tight space before it becomes repetitive.

The movie drags, and drags, and just when you think it is done it changes the location and drags some more. There’s a few big revelations here and there (that we go over in our ending explained article) but they feel inconsequential. This film is so slow paced and middling that it is very difficult to care.

The cinematography can be pretty great

On the plus side, I thought the cinematography had some high points. Some of the long trailing shots are actually pretty impressive. Push can be weirdly reminiscent of 60s and 70s horror, at times. That all evaporates during night time scenes, though. Check out the screenshots in this review. This movie is oppressively dark for the majority of its runtime. Like.. Squint at the screen, dark.

“This movie is oppressively dark for the majority of its runtime. Like.. Squint at the screen, dark.”

Alicia Sanz does a nice job; you really can’t argue with her commitment to the role. It can’t be much fun having to wear a prosthetic bump and crawl around on your hands and knees for an entire shoot. I wonder if she negotiated a “closed door” bonus like Tony Todd did with bee stings in Candyman? An extra grand for every door closed.

The location is pretty great. This is a very opulent and, frankly, very cool house. Too many doors, though! I didn’t feel as though the location was really used to its potential. For such a big estate, far too much time was spent in non-descript parts of the house and in exterior locations.

There is a little twist right at the end that opens the story up a little and takes it into horror, slasher, territory. It’s a bit too little, too late, though. The character decisions are, frankly, absolutely ridiculous. I know, it’s a thriller, what am I expecting? It feels beyond silly, at times, though.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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