What if the Dude from The Big Lebowski somehow ended up in David Cronenberg’s The Brood? Well, that’s not exactly what the oddball Sundance midnight film Antibirth is like, but that’s what my summary would be if I was ripping epic bong hits on my scuzzy couch and describing this “epically fucked-up thing” I just saw.

Believe me, this is hardly my usual state of affairs. However, Danny Perez’ first feature goes out of its way to be atypical. Natasha Lyonne, bringing richness to an extremely difficult role, is Lou; a grouchy, swearing, pill-gobbling boozer who still manages, somehow, to be adorable. Antibirth is not set in the LA party scene, but in nowheresville Michigan, cold and ugly, where you need to bum a lift to an unadorned shopping centre. The pinnacle of nightlife is a bowling alley that doubles for kiddie parties. After a blackout evening Lou starts feeling all the symptoms of pregnancy, but she’s pretty sure she remained chaste. (Lou doesn’t quite put it in those words.) Her best pal Sadie (Chloë Sevigny, a million miles from her other Sundance film, Love & Friendship) advises her to get checked out.

After a day at her motel cleaning gig (which involves snorting cocaine and eating pizza from the garbage) she meets a spaced-out older woman Lorna (Meg Tilly) who starts describing alien encounters. Or wait – is this after she starts finding gross, pus-filled blisters on her feet? The timeline, like the whole movie, is hazy, and Perez does a great job of mixing blasts of colour, unexplained slow motion and weird sound design to reflect his protagonist’s state of mind.

Eventually, a conspiracy emerges. Lou’s womb is being used by dark forces to a nefarious end, and it’s going to conclude in a gross, weird way. The stream-of-consciousness plotting mixed with Lyonne’s deadpan delivery will make for a constant ripple of chuckles, even if it’s unclear if anyone involved in this film actually knows what’s going on. Perez’ style is like a less-serious David Lynch, which is a nice comparison for a first-timer. Not all of his scenes nail that eerie surrealism, but he’s got a knack for a well-placed prop and the right timing for a dopey gag to come in and pop the balloon of suspense.

Antibirth is extremely unlikely to make it out of the festival circuit and to a theatre near you, but since it starts with the letter A it may be one to give a whirl on VOD. More importantly, if Perez should ever make another feature, his is a name to trust for delivering something fresh.