Sundance Film Festival 2026 – Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant is a the latest creation and first feature film from New Zealand comedy duo, THUNDERLIPS. It’s an awesome name, I know. The movie is a whacko, gross-out comedy about Mary, (Hannah Lynch), a 30-something layabout, who accidentally gets pregnant from an alien Boo (Arlo Green). Well, he’s not REALLY an alien, but half alien. It’s mainly his penis. The hilarious pregnancy happens, the expected chaos ensues, and copious fluids spew at the most awkward moments. Yet as charming and silly as this movie is, it can’t overcome a sudden shift in the stakes and a third act that loses its steam.
We first meet Mary as she is dipping potato chips into ice cream and lounging in the sun. She lives with her intrusive mother Cynthia (Yvette Parsons) in a small apartment and has, literally no plans for her life aside from watching sexy anime. Cynthia is a well-meaning if doting mother that wants nothing more than for her daughter to experience the joys of motherhood. So when a new neighbor Ann (Jackie van Beek) moves into the complex with her reclusive son Boo, Cynthia starts to work on getting to know the newcomers. Ann explains that she and her son keep to themselves and he has a particular deformity. With a bit of needling, Ann spills it that it’s Boo’s “area” that is deformed.
Late one night, Mary is in the community laundry and the reclusive Boo catches her riding the spin cycle. Yeah, Mary is that type of gal. In fact she coaxes poor Boo into showing his “deformity” to her and well, yeah. Something happens. I won’t tell you what, but the audience I saw it with was roaring with shock and laughter. This leads to an alien pregnancy that progresses at an alarming rate. Mary and Cynthia break it to Ann and she explains that Boo’s dad was an Alien. They have kept a low profile for years to evade the authorities. This is a key point here because at some point, the rules change.
Keeping Mary’s pregancy a secret is not easy. Acid shoots from her breasts, her abdomen churns and undulates, and occasionally electricity shoots from various parts of her body. She desperately wants to abort the growing creature in her but everyone from her mum to the doctors at the clinic blithely ignore her wishes. They are far too interested in the novelty of what’s happening. Directors Sean Wallace and Jordan Mark Windsor work from a script written by Windsor and it is admittedly wildly creative and completely batshit. Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant explores, through a loony lens, a woman’s right to agency. At one point in the film, Mary has a meltdown and asks why everyone around her has to make this whole process so humiliating. It’s a poignant moment in a bonkers movie that begs a question so desperately in need of an answer.
But then things change. At a certain point, the entire reason why Boo and his mother Ann have been hiding seems to vanish and suddenly, Mary growing a glowing tumor and getting absorbed by it in Ann’s living room is commonplace. The comedy starts coming from the deadpan reactions that everyone has to the process of childbirth and, well, the mischief is gone. There’s no more risk and we are just laughing, sometimes, at the grotesque imagery.
There is absolutely no question that everyone in the cast is stellar. There is some phenomenal comedy work here. Lynch is superb as Mary. She’s a loser, but one that we know will find direction one day. Green is oddly sweet and comically clueless as the sheltered baby daddy. van Beek‘s Ann is wonderful in both the moments of her fear and her flat acceptance of the crazy situation her son has created.She is utterly hilarious. However Parsons steals every second of the movie that she is in with her meandering chatter and intrusive commentary.
Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant is, at times, laugh-out-loud funny. Wallace and Windsor know comedy, not to mention absurdity. So it was a little jarring when the forgot what made the film so funny to begin with a third of the way through. Regardless, this is another Midnight Movie classic that is sure to find its devoted audience that loves that special Kiwi-flavored brand of comedy that is big on heart, gore, and lunacy.
