With Scout Taylor-Compton, Robert LaSardo, Bill Moseley, and the late, great Sid Haig in the cast, how could Cynthia be anything but fan-fucking-tastic? 

In the Shady Grove suburbs, anxious Robin (played with winning energy by scream queen Scout Taylor-Compton) and her emotionally detached husband, Michael (portrayed by Kyle Jones with precise vanilla-bland restraint) have spent nearly three years trying to conceive through intensive in-vitro fertilization. Each cheap package from China arrives with more than twenty-five syringes, pills, and…renewed hope.

Although Michael is ready to put their family plans on hold, Robin remains committed to a strict routine of injections, daily vitamins, and scheduled morning “unsexy” sex in hopes of conceiving. After an overly long montage that could have been cut in half without losing the point of frustration, Robin finally gets the result she has been waiting for: a positive pregnancy test.  

Robin’s fixation on conceiving shifts to delivering a healthy bundle of joy and becoming a devoted, doting mother.  

During the second trimester, the doctor initially believes Robin is carrying twins. Her excitement contrasts sharply with Michael’s terrified expression, but they soon learn that the supposed second baby is a relatively common tumor found in the womb. Still, her anxiety fuels horrific nightmares of giving birth to a grotesquely deformed alien with an appetite for destruction. Obviously, first-time mommy jitters, right?  

Entering the third trimester, Robin and her sister Jane meet up for a ladies’ lunch aka: female bitch session. The pregnancy has caused marital problems for Robin and Michael, causing her to wonder about possible infidelity due to her unattractiveness while carrying their baby. The outspoken and spunky Jane (a wonderfully sarcastic performance by Rebecca Marshall) keeps the conversation moving along with her negative perception of a disloyal husband when unexpectedly, her sister goes into labor.  

What follows is thoroughly revolting and downright nasty. After baby Samantha is born, the removed fibroid cyst proves to have a disturbing connection to its identical counterpart—and it is not pretty. Cynthia offers a strange, darkly comic, and often grotesque take on the joys and hardships of motherhood. As the oozing little monster runs amok, trying to bond with its beautiful twin, Samantha, it leaves behind a foul odor, snorty pug grunts, and a trail of sticky goo. Ewww! As off-the-wall and outrageous as Cynthia sounds, its witty script and clever riff on Basket Case give it surprising warmth and endearment.  

Freakishly funny and equally icky, Cynthia finds an oddly tender side to the creepy mutant’s murderous quest to reunite with “her” family. Apparently, even bloody blobs have feelings.