“Clock”

Movie Review

Based on her 2020 short film of the same name, Clock is a 2023 American science fiction horror film written and directed by Alexis Jacknow. Dianna Agron plays the lead role in the April 2023 release of the movie.

Despite pressure from her friends and family, 37-year-old Ella is not interested in starting a family. Her father, a grandson of Holocaust survivors, implores her to think it over again. Aiden, her husband, proposes that she have a breast cancer screening from Dr. Webber.

Ella discusses her fears of motherhood and her desire for her biological clock to begin ticking at the doctor's office. Ella's clock may be malfunctioning, Dr. Webber speculates before recommending an experimental cure.

Under the pretense of working on a crucial business assignment, Ella departs to enroll in the study, which she later cancels over the phone. She meets Dr. Elizabeth Simmons, who asserts that an implant and hormones may correct Ella's clock. Ella starts taking the medication as directed.

Ella experiences hallucinations of a towering woman, a family of dead bugs, and a grandfather clock while taking a Rorschach test. Dr. Simmons says that Ella is prepared to go on to the next stage of treatment and that the clock symbolizes her anxiety of severing her family's lineage. Ella experiences terrible visions of delivery in a sensory deprivation chamber intended to force her to confront her worries. She also sees herself with a baby hanging from between her knees like a pendulum. Screaming for to be allowed outside. She flees, stumbles, and bangs her head as the room opens and she sees the tall woman standing at her tank. She collapses.

Dr. Simmons informs Ella that a strong response to the medication is a positive indication when she awakens. Ella observes the security tape and recognizes the attendant as the person standing outside the tank. Ella consents to the final step, the implant placement, and departs for her house.

At her pregnant friend Shauna's house, Ella and Aiden attend a party. Ella sees a spider again and tries to hit Shauna in the stomach with a large book, but Aiden stops her. Despite being uneasy, Shauna still wants her to plan her nursery.

Ella continues to experience negative affects, including losing her ability to perceive color, hearing a grandfather clock tick, and mistaking regular individuals for the towering lady. She hides this from Dr. Simmons so that she won't be kicked out of the research. Shauna enters Ella's nursery where she is having an episode and finds that she has been "decorating" the space with horrors by painting the tall woman and other items from her nightmares and pinning jagged pieces of wood to the wall. As the pals fight, Shauna's water bottle leaks. Ella spills amniotic fluid over her own face, and Shauna's wife kicks her out of the house.

Ella is asked to go to her father's since he fractured his arm after falling. The grandfather clock behind him is ticking louder as he says. Despite her father's objections, Ella pulls some tools from the cabinets and starts attacking the clock. Piece by piece, she disassembles it, relishing in its demise.

Ella is discovered by Aiden sitting in shock at home with wounds on her hands. He comforts her as she tells what transpired. She tells him she's ready for a kid while he tends to her wounds. When Aiden's genitalia are sliced by the implant, their sexual encounter is abruptly ended. She is asked to take some gauze out of his suitcase. When Ella noticed the insignia of the rehab center on the bag, she confronted him. Aiden acknowledges that he planned to have Dr. Webber recommend the research to Ella when he and Dr. Simmons connected at a trade conference. Ella aggravates his wound in a fit of wrath before leaving.

Before the other participants arrive, Ella drives to the institution and confronts Dr. Simmons. Ella requests that the implant be taken out after their argument. Doctor Simmons declines. The tall lady prevents Ella from continuing her attempt to remove it with pliers. The towering lady transforms into Dr. Simmons after Ella knocks her to the ground. Ella removes the implant from herself and is once more able to perceive color. Ella escapes in a vehicle as several police cars arrive.

Ella responds to a call from Aiden as she is stopped close to a precipice. He informs her that after seeing what she had done to her father, he had phoned the police. After some confusion, Ella realizes that the clock she destroyed was really her father. She gets handcuffed by the police as she exits the vehicle in despair. She rushes to the cliff's brink and leaps out of it.

Ella is unharmed as she lays at the base of the cliff, close to the river. She observes a bizarre fish-like thing emerge from the water and make its way towards her.

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