EAT FOLLOWS
- 17 minutes ago
- 4 min read
SACCHARINE (15)
Director: Natalie Ericka James
Screenplay: Natalie Ericka James
Starring: Minori Francis, Danielle Macdonald, Madeleine Madden
Running time: 113 minutes
Shudder
Review: RJ Bland
Food. What a complex and often personal subject it is. You'd think that as we live in a time where information is so readily accessible, that it'd be easier to make informed and healthy decisions right? Unfortunately, that's not the case. Adult obesity levels have doubled in the last fifty years - and childhood rates have quadrupled. And in the last 25 years, rates of eating disorders have more than doubled too. The reasons for this? Well, that's a bit of a minefield. Our relationship with food is shaped by a complex mix of personal experiences, psychological associations, cultural influences and learned behaviours, making it difficult to untangle the root causes. That said, the growing dominance and affordability of ultra-processed foods, the spread of online misinformation, and relentless societal pressure to look a certain way have all undoubtedly played a significant role. And the horror genre is no stranger to any of this. Body Horror may not always involve food or eating or body image but as a theme, there are more than enough examples to see that it's still there. Stephen King's Thinner (1996), Raw (2016), Swallow (2019), Drag Me to Hell (2009) and of course, The Substance (2024). You can now add Natalie Ericka James' latest feature, Saccharine, to the list.
The film opens with Hana (Midori Francis), a medical student, throwing away a box of doughnuts before pouring washing-up liquid over them to ensure she doesn't go back on her decision. She keeps a weight journal and regularly visits the gym (although the latter may be partly due to her crush on a personal trainer), but it's clear she has an unhealthy relationship with food and her weight, and it's having a noticeable impact on her personal life. She's considerably more confident when it comes to her studies, however, and remains relatively unfazed while dissecting the remains of an obese woman her med school classmates have insensitively nicknamed 'Big Bertha'. One evening, while at a bar with friends, she runs into an old schoolfriend who has lost a remarkable amount of weight since they last saw each other. She tells Hana that her transformation is thanks to a new supplement called The Gray – which allows you to eat to your heart's content while still shedding the pounds. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, that's because it is. Hana accepts a pill, examines it under a microscope, and discovers that its contents are human ash. Yep. Human ash. Rather than being understandably horrified and alerting the authorities, she decides to create her own version at a fraction of the cost by cremating parts of Big Bertha and producing her own pills. Amazingly, it works, and Hana begins to lose weight while continuing to indulge in a diet of junk food. But there may be a price to pay for such reckless folly...
This is director Natalie Erika James' third genre offering – which is pretty impressive considering she's only 36! Her debut, Relic (2020), was a dread-inducing study of inherited mental illness and rightly received widespread critical acclaim. Her follow-up was the highly anticipated Rosemary's Baby prequel, Apartment 7A, which, despite less favourable reviews, was still a solid (if familiar) addition to that canon. Unfortunately, Saccharine marks another drop in quality of output. There's no doubting that James is a talented filmmaker, because for all Saccharine's issues, the direction isn't one of them. The film has a cold, oppressive ugliness, almost reminiscent of J-Horror, and despite thematic comparisons to The Substance, it lacks that film's grotesque, hyper-saturated colour palette. Saccharine is intentionally muted, yet remains visually compelling. The horror is handled well too; grisly montages of people stuffing food into their gobs are effectively stomach-churning. The way the supernatural elements are realised, with apparitions visible only through reflective surfaces, is also particularly effective.
Where things falls apart a bit however is within the script itself. At 113 minutes, it's too bloated and becomes rather repetitive in the middle act, where Hana tries to reckon with her poor choices. Secondary characters are never really fleshed out either, meaning most of the heavy lifting falls to Midori Francis. Francis is excellent as the deeply flawed lead but even though she's in virtually every scene, James' script doesn't successfully flesh her out enough (no pun intended). Hints are given to why she has a bad relationship with food and body image (her parents cop most of the flak) but by the end you still don't really know what drives any of it. And herein lies the real issue with Saccharine. It's simply not clear what the film has to say about the themes it's exploring. Midori Francis spends the first half of the film wearing prosthetics to make her appear 'bigger', while the antagonist is an obese corpse who grows larger and larger as the story progresses. At one point, Hana sits doom-scrolling through diet and body-related social media posts. The film is also almost entirely devoid of men. That's an odd decision, given that eating disorders and body dysmorphia affect both sexes. They're not uniquely female issues. It's never clear what James is trying to say about any of this. Is this a pro- or anti-diet film? What point is it making about body positivity? It's all rather muddled.
The final scene of Saccharine only adds another level of confusion. Once again, it's artfully shot but makes little sense in the context of everything that came before. The intention is to shock whilst being a bit clever at the same time. It certainly achieves the former, but not so much the latter.
