Alex Goyette’s new psychological horror film Breeder, opening in U.S. theaters Wednesday, Oct. 28, explores the terrifying ambitions of Patti (Dot-Marie Jones), a poodle breeder who lures young…
Alex Goyette’s new psychological horror film Breeder, opening in U.S. theaters Wednesday, Oct. 28, explores the terrifying ambitions of Patti (Dot-Marie Jones), a poodle breeder who lures young men to her remote ranch with promises of research funding. Russell (Daniel Doheny), a cash-strapped researcher working to save endangered bees, however, finds that Patti is keeping men trapped as breeding stock as part of her own eugenics-style program.
“I’m actually moving on from dog breeding,” Patti says in the trailer, “Now, I’m doing something more important: I’m breeding people.” Patti will force Russell to breed with her daughter, and warns that if he fails, he will face a fate like all of the other studs who failed: He will be put down.
Contemporary filmmakers and artists who grew up under the Reagan, Bush and Trump administrations are confronting Americans' reproductive anxieties through stories about reproductive coercion, bodily autonomy and the consequences of treating human beings as instruments of reproduction. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, P.D. James’ Children of Men and Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby represent the earliest examples of the subgenre. Breeder (2026) will likely be another powerful example.
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