Hulu’s Clock is a new horror feature that has been called “timely,” and I’d say that’s an appropriate description given much of the political discourse going on in the United States at the moment. While it certainly is a horror flick, I would sooner give it the description of a psychological thriller. There’s nothing particularly scary about the film, rather just some creepy and very strange moments.
Dianna Agron stars as Ella, a 37 year old who never really wanted to have a child, but continues to feel pressure to become pregnant from everyone in her life. Thanks to a tip from her doctor, she decides to enroll in experimental treatment that is supposed to make her want babies. Put simply, it works, but the side-effects are not ideal. Ella begins to hallucinate, and even commits some very strange acts. There’s one scene that I found particularly creepy, when she goes to the fridge, picks up an egg, and just starts to rub it over her face. There’s a lot of stuff like that in Clock, so if you’re easily disturbed, this may not be one for you.
While the performances were pretty great (particularly the lead, Dianna Agron), one thing I think Clock could have used some more work on was the script. Some of the dialogue, particularly in the opening scenes where Ella is berated by friends and family on when she’s going to start a family, felt like it could have been written by an AI. It was all rather bland, and didn’t feel at all how anyone would actually communicate about the topic. The plot overall is also a little hard to follow, and it’s hard to really understand anyone’s motivations in the film.
The film does a good job of tying this fanciful story into the modern day, with the story no doubt being somewhat inspired by the discussion around abortion in the country today. There's also a particularly good scene between Ella and her doctor (Melora Hardin), where Ella, a Jewish woman, gets really critical about the view of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany compared to other genocides.
Clock definitely has a good premise going for it, but I think a little more time and better dialogue could have led to a better telling of that premise. Clock gets 2.5 out of 5 stars from me.
Clock is available to stream now exclusively on Hulu.