Horror Movie Review: The Suckling (1990)

The Suckling, also known by the far better name of Sewage Baby is a 1990 creature horror from director Francis Teri, starring Frank Reeves, Marie Michaels, and Michael Logan.

A young couple need an abortion, one that is cheap & discreet so they go to brothel that is known to do backroom terminations. Once the abortion is complete, the surprisingly large & gross looking foetus is flushed down the toilet where it enters the sewer.

There it ends up in side some toxic waste that transforms it into a huge hulking beast with razor sharp teeth & claws. It assaults the brothel wrapping it in an enormous placenta then starts killing the inhabitants one by one.

Yes, The Suckling is as mad as it sounds. A silly yet sometime entertaining watch that is harmed by poor performances & a really low budget. The poor quality makes it a difficult film to concentrate on & there are far too many lulls in action. However, when we do get action it can be a lot of the fun.

The monster is pretty decent looking, the costume really going for the mutant look. Its main attack is the use of its umbilical cord which makes for some fun moments. The film has plenty of gore but the low budget lets it down with most of the blood having a watery fake look.

The characters are mostly pointless, just there to be killed off. There are a few amusing moments between the madam of the brothel & some of the employees/patrons. You’re not really going to care about any of them though.

Thankfully the finale is so stupidly crazy that it redeems a lot of the earlier problems. Never going to be considered a classic, there is fun to be had watching The Suckling. The setup & the monster is interesting, the imagery somewhat imaginative & the ending fun. It doesn’t feel like a 90’s movie, it has the 80s style running all the way through it.

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