- Applicability: While unlikely to have been intended as that, the movie is sometimes seen as an allegory about keeping pet primates. An incredibly intelligent animal that becomes frustrated into becoming a psychotic mess definitely is the same sad story as many captive chimps not raised by qualified experts. The fact that Dren has wings and bird-like legs is also evocative of pet parrots, which are also intelligent creatures that regularly turn self-destructive and bitter if neglected and denied mental stimulation.
- Crosses the Line Twice: At the press conference, everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. Such as when Fred and Ginger kill each other (after Elsa talked them up as soul mates), followed by their blood and guts spill from the stage onto most of the attendants in the front row. It's so over-the-top that it almost plays like a very Black Comedy. The icing on the cake is their boss summing up the whole evening rather succinctly:Joan: That was a fucking disaster!
- Harsher in Hindsight: The scene where Male Dren rapes Elsa, while already difficult to watch, becomes even worse when one learns that Sarah Polley was against the idea of doing the scene and that the experience of filming it caused her to permanently quit acting.
- Most Wonderful Sound: The trilling noises baby Dren makes when she's happy.
- Signature Scene: Any time the film is mentioned, expect either the scene where male Dren rapes Elsa, or the one where Clive has sex with female Dren to be brought up, due to the... um, extremely uncomfortable circumstances of these scenes, which tends to overshadow the rest of the movie.
- Squick:
- What else do you call Male Dren raping Elsa?
- Many recent reviews also find the sex scene between Clive and Dren to be this, given the creepy implications of the situation, due to Dren's nature, the blatant age difference due to Dren's rapid aging, and the fact that Clive helped raise her from infancy, all bring the matter of consent into question.
- Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Everyone's evil, with only Elsa and Dren having any semblance of humanity due to the cycle of abuse, which is quickly extinguished thanks to the former's child abuse and the latter's rape. The distinct lack of any likeable characters may have contributed to the film's underperformance at the box office.
- Ugly Cute: Dren's first ambulatory form looks like human features stretched over a kangaroo rat. Or possibly the cutest Silent Hill monster ever.
- Visual Effects of Awesome: Uncanny Valley aside, the special effects that bring Dren to life are this for the most part.
