PLOT: An eccentric poodle breeder lures a broke college student to her remote ranch with a promise of research funding. But, as he soon learns, there’s a catch.
REVIEW: As a big proponent of Shudder, it’s always very exciting to see when the streaming service decides to put a film out in theaters. Whether it’s Late Night With The Devil, When Evil Lurks, or even Infested, their theatrical releases tend to be amongst the best of their catalog. And I’m happy to report that this remains true, with Shudder’s latest, Breeder, proving it deserves its place among the service’s upper echelon.
Breeder follows Russell (Doheny), a college dropout who is trying to pursue his own research project about Bees. When he gets an offer for full funding to his project, the catch is something that he may not be willing to sacrifice, as the financier (Jones) has taken her love of dog breeding into the realm of humans, and sees Russell as the perfect candidate. Admittedly, Russell is a bit quick to agree to the circumstances, especially since it doesn’t really feel like his back is against the wall. His biggest issue is that his girlfriend is thinking about a family and is looking into adoption, but there’s no imminent eviction or anything putting this on a time crunch. If anything, he just seems ignorant of what could even go wrong, which is par for the course for most horror.
Daniel Doheny is able to make Russell very submissive, which makes a lot of his decision-making work. Had he been more assertive, the character wouldn’t have been believable. The real star of Breeder is Dot Marie Jones as Patti, the titular breeder. Jones has been a prolific character actor for over 30 years, and you’ve no doubt seen her in many bit roles. Her interactions with Doheny come across like she’s trying to train him, with a stern voice and direct commands. It’s fascinating to see how she interacts with the others. I was so impressed by her performance, and I really hope she gets more roles that are able to utilize her talents. Gen V‘s Maddie Phillips also impresses as one of Patti’s daughters who doesn’t entirely agree with her methods.
The topic of Eugenics is always going to stir up some controversy. For those unfamiliar with the term, it’s a philosophy regarding selective breeding and social control to have the best genetics possible. Obviously, you can see where a dog breeder would come into play with all of this. But what I liked the most is that Patti is a tragic figure. She’s clearly doing something wrong, but like any good villain, she doesn’t view it that way. In pursuit of her mother’s approval, the line has completely blurred, and Patti is unable to see the issue with her actions. She thinks she’s providing an essential service and that delusion is what makes her so intriguing.
With the darker tone, it’s surprising how funny Breeder ends up being. It’s always situational humor and never feels like it’s pandering to the audience. Lillian Doucet-Roche’s more stoic Yara easily gets the most laughs as her delivery is perfectly deadpan. Sometimes I’m not a fan of levity in a serious horror film, but it really works here.
Writer/director Alex Goyette has a very clear vision and goes for a slow-burning style. He opts for slow, deliberate camera movement and heavy shadows, which really ramps up the tension. I saw this as part of a “Mystery Movie” showing, and it really lends itself to knowing as little as possible going in. Which, I suppose, if you’re reading this, that’s already out the window. But I’m also weird and tend to go into most small films with as little knowledge as possible, and tend not to even see their trailers. Breeder certainly benefited from that approach.
With such a strong premise, I will admit that the end is a little bit rocky, as it feels like it’s in a rush to try and wrap everything up. With a 98-minute runtime, a little bit of breathing room would have made the pieces fit together a little better. It’s nothing that ruins the experience, it just all feels very abbreviated after the very slow burn of the story itself. I also didn’t love the switch in aspect ratios partway through, as it feels more like following a trend than something that the narrative actually needed to tell a more impactful story.
Breeder is a spotlight for Dot-Marie Jones, who manages to make Patti intimidating, but also pitiful in how she seeks validation. Like many great horror stories, it wouldn’t surprise me if something like this is going on in the real world, as it’s just grounded enough, and never goes supernatural. Make sure to support this one in theaters so that we can continue to get quality Shudder releases on the big screen.
Breeder is playing In Theaters staring on October 30th, 2026.
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