A 'Fresh' Horror Film that will Make you Squirm
Look out horror fans! There’s a new horror film – which is…fresh.
Debutant Mimi Cave has brought us her highly anticipated film which premiered at the Sundance Film festival and was brought to the UK on Disney+ in March 2022.
‘Fresh’ documents the uncertainty and potential horrors of modern dating – the situations in which you don’t truly know who you’re meeting. We follow Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) who’d established to have poor luck when it comes to men. By chance she meets Steve (Sebastian Stan) in a grocery store. From there things move very quickly with Steve “taking her away” for a holiday. However, this is no holiday as Noa soon finds herself chained to a wall waiting to be served up as fresh meat for something far more sinister.
The whole film is very attractive in tone, acting and cinematography, blending classics like ‘Hostel’, ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘American Psycho’ in ways we never thought possible for a beautiful cocktail of filmmaking.
There’s always a subversion of expectations when going into this film, which makes all the better viewing – you start to question yourself; you make assumptions on what’s to come but end up being completely wrong. Its this style which gives the film such a strong premise.
The acting is superb – Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Noa brilliantly. Both understandably terrified while, at the same time, making attempts to understand Steve’s motives and actions through a cleverly seductive performance – all for the sake of surviving her captor. Sebastian Stan, notable for playing Bucky in the Marvel franchise, brings us a fresh villain reminiscent of a young Mark Hamill. With hints of Hannibal Lecter’s insidious tastes to Patrick Bateman’s superficial nature, Stan excels in his role of being the (intentional) horror rendition of Christian Grey; handsome in appearance yet harbouring a far more sinister secret with revolting consequences.
The horror itself is rooted in its psychological elements with displays of in-your-face violence. Spoilers forbid, there are a lot of surgeries, some testicle biting, and eating involved that is bound to make you flinch away or gag. These scenes are done in a way to remind the viewer of some classic films, such as the ear cutting scene in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Reservoir Dogs’. Incidentally Tarantino also produced Eli Roth’s ‘Hostel’, which is a named influence for this film.
With a runtime of 112 minutes ‘Fresh’ is brilliantly paced, has excellent gory set pieces and is a wacky journey from start to finish in this weird, yet wonderful piece of horror cinema, including this final girls and feminist revenge that ends in a mighty bloodbath that will make you ask: “where the hell did that came from?”
Overall, ‘Fresh’ cuts deep into the flesh of modern-day society, peoples’ appetites, and their secrets. It’s fun, stylish and gives great nods to previous gory classics that is sure to delight fans. Let’s hope Sebastian Stan does more films like this to get him out of the Marvel rut that so many stars are stuck in. If Robert Downey Jr. can get out of it – you can do it too Sebastian!
Rating: ★★★☆☆