• LIKE on Facebook • FOLLOW on x/Twitter • FOLLOW on Instagram

• SUBSCRIBE on YouTube • BUY ME A COFFEE on Ko-Fi

Stars: Hannah Deale, Jennifer Herzog, Robert Denzel Edwards
Director: Nate Hilgartner
Producer: Hilgartner Productions

“…abortion is illegal here.”

The third and final day of GASP! Horror Festival featured the scariest film I’ve seen all year: No Choice. Whilst utterly frightening, this is quite a realistic film, too – perhaps why it is so frightening. A film born in the post-Roe aftermath, No Choice, can go as far as being read as dystopian for those unaware or exempt from the issues surrounding reproductive rights and lack thereof. For those that are in receipt of suffering in post-Roe USA, No Choice is far from dystopian, but instead, borderline social realism.

No Choice follows the journey of Amy (Hannah Deale), whose life consists of working in the local chemist, saving for college, and living with her conservative Christian mother, whose opioid addiction is beyond a hindrance. Her shifts alongside Lucas (Robert Denzel Edwards) seem to provide the only happiness in her life alongside the want of getting out of her environment. However, after a one night stand on the evening of a 4th July firework display, Amy finds that she has accidentally become pregnant.

What ensues for Amy is a desperate race against time through additional, yet quite expensive methods of contraception, yet her limited resources prevent any easing the situation. Her mother’s addiction is worsening, her shift supervisor is a dick for the most part, and the pharmacies are limited in the help that they can prescribe. Amy’s mind and body have become, in parallel, a ticking time bomb.

The depiction of Amy’s journey in mental and physical desperation is truly frightening. However, the horrors that she is forced to engage with – much of that just being access to basic and essential healthcare – is a true-to-life experience for many women, and not just in the US. Plenty of the psychological anguish suffered by Amy comes in the form of surrealist horror for the viewpoint of No Choice’s audience. Amy’s life is now a nightmare whether she’s awake or asleep.

The difficulties of the situations endured respectively and collectively by Amy and her mother, Debra, are more often than not intensified by their work and class status. As well as its depiction over women’s choice and abortion rights, No Choice possesses an excellent portrayal of poverty, entailing that of opioid addiction and finance. Desperate situations are presented where life in poverty is a never ending cycle.

No Choice’s successes would have been limited had it not been for its crucial performances from Hannah Deale and Jennifer Herzog. The performances, so different, yet their characters are so similar – essentially, the mother and daughter characters represent the ends of the spectrum of succumbing to terror. Amy’s journey into potential darkness has just begun, whereas for Debra, her life has been taken over by addiction and is beyond saving in her environment.

Ultimately, No Choice could very easily be regarded as one of the most gripping and important films of modern times, especially in post-Roe America. To the great surprise that this story was taken on by a male filmmaker, writer-director Nate Hilgartner has produced an excellent piece of filmmaking that is tasked with telling a story that is both horrific as it is realistic.