Not everything in life happens for a reason; sometimes it's just bad luck, and that's basically the point of David Charbonier and Justin Douglas Powell's horror film, Push. A minute into the film, we already know that the protagonist, Natalie, had recently moved from Barcelona to the United States with her lover. But their love story was cut short when her boyfriend was in an accident. He was fatally injured, leaving Natalie alone in a new country. She had to rebuild her life, and she was determined to make it work. Being pregnant further complicated her situation. Natalie knew she had to earn extra commissions as a real estate agent.
Natalie was tasked with selling an old mansion built in the 1890s for the brokerage firm where she worked. Although there were many lurid stories about the house, Natalie decided to be brave. She not only had to prove something, but also make it work for her baby, and she firmly believed those stories were unfounded. She waited for hours for potential clients, but no one came. She was frustrated and had decided to call it a day when, suddenly, she heard a knock on the door. She opened it excitedly, but to her surprise, there was no one outside.
Directors: David Charbonier, Justin Douglas Powell
Writers: David Charbonier, Justin Douglas Powell
Stars: Alicia Sanz, Raúl Castillo, David Alexander Flinn
Disappointed, she closed the door, but to her surprise, there was a man waiting for her in the hallway. She didn't ask him how he got in without her knowledge; she was simply happy that at least someone was willing to buy the mansion. She showed him around and explained the history behind the walls, hoping to impress the Client. But he barely spoke and inspected the place carefully. Natalie felt a little uncomfortable with him, but she put her feelings aside and focused on closing the deal. When the Client asked her about the owners, she mentioned that they were murdered on the property.
She immediately added that she could already feel their presence in the mansion, as if they couldn't get out. Natalie felt a little uneasy about her statement and replied that she didn't believe in the supernatural. The Client firmly stated that perhaps Natalie should take the history into account; perhaps that was why no one showed up for the open house. Natalie was stunned; she wondered how he'd gotten that information. She decided it was time to end the meeting and mentioned she had to drive home.
After the client finally left, Natalie also got in her car and was ready to leave. But to her surprise, her car wasn't running. She looked up the number of a repair shop in the phone book. A mechanic showed up shortly after. He mentioned calling Natalie before arriving, but although she'd taken the call, she only heard labored breathing on the other end. The mechanic, Guy, asked Natalie if she'd tried to fix the car and was a little surprised when she said no. Perhaps because of the stripped bolt, he'd concluded someone had damaged it, and possibly on purpose. Natalie felt nauseous and ran to the bathroom. While she was inside the house, the client appeared. The power soon went out, and by the time Natalie went outside to check on Guy, he was gone. She found his body in one of the house's rooms. He'd been murdered. It was obvious someone else was in the house with her, and she soon discovered it was the rogue client.
Natalie didn't even have time to understand why she was being chased and threatened. She felt no personal animosity toward the Client, but he was determined to rip the baby from her womb. She didn't understand why she had been put in such a horrible situation, and all she knew was that she had to protect her unborn child. She tried to deceive the Client, but he was right when he said he knew the place like the back of his hand and that Natalie had no way to escape. While she was trying to flee the psychopath, her water broke. Now she had to keep the baby alive and find a safe place to give birth. Her car wasn't working, so she decided to try her luck with the attacker's car. She found an ID and a stack of open house signs he had gathered to keep anyone from showing up. She opened the car trunk and found a dead baby girl inside. She panicked and went back to the house.
Since the phone wasn't working, Natalie went down to the basement and found an underground passageway leading to the switch. The Client followed her, but she managed to reconnect it, returned to the house, and called 911. But waiting was impossible, so she decided to attack the Client at just the right moment. She lured him into a room and attacked him from behind. They both fell to the ground through the window, but, amazingly, survived. Natalie twisted her ankle but refused to slow down until she gave birth. She stepped on a piece of glass and had to have it removed. Natalie collapsed on the street; the pain and bleeding caused her to lose consciousness. Fortunately, two police officers appeared and assured her that everything was under control. She told them about the Client, and they discovered he was no longer where Natalie had last seen him.
He had survived and returned to the mansion. They asked Natalie to wait in the patrol car while they dealt with the threat. She soon heard gunshots and assumed the madman had killed them. He managed to escape from the car and carried a gun with him for safety. The client's obsession with the house and Natalie is reflected in the way he continued to repeatedly hit the dead police officer long after killing him. Natalie settled into a storage room in the backyard while going into labor. She eventually gave birth to her son, tore off the umbilical cord with her teeth, and delivered the placenta. The client followed the baby's cries and reached the backyard. He was disturbed by the sight of the mansion's owners' tombstone. He spat on their graves and continued his search for Natalie. By the time he opened the storage room doors, Natalie was gone. Suddenly, he heard her talking from behind him. Natalie had a shotgun in her hand and pulled the trigger. The recoil of the shot knocked her to the ground.
When Natalie opened her eyes, she found herself in the hospital. She was relieved to learn that her son was alive, albeit in intensive care. The police asked her to identify his attacker. It turned out that The Client was still alive, but wounded. He confirmed that he was the one who had attacked her. The lead officer explained that The Client had escaped from a high-security psychiatric ward 72 hours earlier. He had burned his fingertips, likely to keep his identity a secret. The fact that he was still alive was practically a miracle, according to the doctor. The officer added that he was an unidentified stranger, but the man claimed to be Gabriel Márquez, the owners' son, born in the mansion in 1929. He had always been obsessed with the house, and even after DNA testing, nothing was found. A few days before the open house, The Client had begun experiencing a manic episode and claimed the house was calling to him. He assumed that as long as the house was still standing, he would be alive.
Deep down, Natalie knew that she and the baby would never be safe as long as the man was alive. Although not visually shown in the film, it's likely that she pressed the emergency button that unleashed absolute chaos in the hospital. She was determined to kill him once and for all. She carried a scalpel and stole the Client's room key from the doctor's coat. But upon entering the room, she discovered that all the police officers guarding him had died. This didn't surprise Natalie, as she had already realized that the Client had an incomprehensible power and seemed almost impossible to contain. She ran to save her baby, and the Client followed her. He grabbed her from behind and tried to strangle her.
In the ending of Push, Natalie managed to grab the scalpel and stabbed him in the abdomen. As soon as she let go, she took control. She stabbed him repeatedly with it; madness overcame her, as if convinced that nothing she did would be enough to ward off the danger. While the Client was delirious or dominated by supernatural forces, Natalie was driven by maternal instinct. She refused to allow a stranger to destroy the only glimmer of hope she had left in life: her child. She fought every obstacle that came her way, and her determination to save her baby helped her survive that impossible situation.
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