'The Baby' review: Mostly creepy, crawly fun when it isn't trying too hard

'Think of this as Village of the Damned, only without school desks.' Photo: Handout

Well, that was certainly ... strange. I'm referring to The Baby, a new half-hour I-donno-what-to-call-it.

A macabre dramedy? A supernatural sitcom? An infantilised serial killer serial? It all applies, somehow.

This HBO/SKY co-production revolves around free-wheeling chef Natasha (Michelle de Swarte), pushing 40 and living life one day at a time.

While she's at a remote, picturesque and rather oddly situated seaside retreat to clear her head after annoying her best mates, Natasha sees her life take an abrupt turn when a baby literally falls into her arms.

But this is no ordinary rugrat. Bad things happen around him, and by bad we mean sudden, violent (or at the very least, highly uncomfortable) death befalling those who seemingly irritate the tyke. Or, perhaps more horrifyingly, who bore him.

So what's going on here?

Did he wander over from the Bramford, where a certain Rosemary once had her Baby?

Is he some kind of powerful mutant child like Charles "Prof" Xavier, lashing out unknowingly with great as-yet-uncontrolled psychic powers?

Or, shudder, is he the British equivalent of half the Ju-On mother-child combo? In which case you should have a handy sofa to hide behind if Mama ever shows up.

The initial episodes of this half-hour (or thereabouts) series are fascinating in a low-key, almost unfocused way as Natasha and those around her react to the baby and the disturbing events that accompany him.

As the focus of all this fuss, the baby (played by twins Albie and Arthur Hills) calmly coos, crawls and goo-goo-eyes his way through events in such perfect and perfectly timed innocence that perfectly suit the enigmatic nature of the "role" like a bespoke onesie.

I preferred the grim surprises and mystery of the initial episodes to the later bits where Natasha reconnects with her estranged sister Bobbi (Amber Grappy), who is desperate to be a parent; and their mother Barbara (Sinead Cusack), who apparently abandoned the girls when they were children to go live with a cult.

It's when Natasha deals with her familiar familial pain that the whole "baby horror" angle takes on a metaphorical slant, standing in for her aversion to Mother and the notion of motherhood.

And it almost convinces you that it's all some kind of allegory for the things that haunt her, until you remember the trail of broken, bloody bodies from earlier.

Even with a seeming "origin story" tossed in just past the halfway mark of the eight-episode season, The Baby still maintains a sense of mystery, that you figure creators Lucy Gaymer and Sian Robins-Grace are holding some twisted surprise back for much later.

Things do get obscured by what seems a wholly unnecessary interlude at Barbara's cult/commune, complete with its Village Of The Damned vibes (and creepy kids filled with repressed rage) that seem to belong in an entirely different production.

On the whole, The Baby is an intriguing and sometimes startling little oddity that could do with fewer detours and more focus on the adorable little monster. And I'm a little torn as to whether or not I mean that in a good way.

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New episodes of The Baby are available every Monday on HBO GO and HBO (Astro Ch 411).