Saccharine is a body-horror film directed by Natalie Erika James. It follows Hana (Midori Francis, Grey’s Anatomy, The Sex Lives of College Girls), an insecure medical student who struggles with binge eating and body image. After discovering that an expensive miracle diet pill is made from human ash, she harvests tissue from a cadaver to cook her own, unleashing a terrifying, spectral presence
Through my mid-twenties, my weight gain had gotten so out of control that I was medically classified as morbidly obese. Through diligent effort, exercise, and changes through my diet I managed to lose half my weight. I won’t bore you with the gory details but as a result this movie deeply resonated with me, to the point that writing this review will be a bit of a struggle as I try not to give too much away.
The movie tells the story of Hanna (Midori Francis), who is struggling with her weight-loss journey and tries a suspicious drug called Grey that delivers truly impressive results. As she finds out early into the movie, Grey is made from human cremains and as she studies in a cadaver lab for medical school, she makes an opportunistic choice.
The movie is filled with absolutely superb metaphors, ranging from being haunted by morbid obesity to what motivations there might be for losing weight drastically. As you can imagine there is a poignant nod to GLP-1s and drugs like Ozempic and how what may seem like a blessing and can certainly be helpful don’t target the actual issue. The dialogue is brilliant as an amazing vehicle to make the visual metaphors in the movie more apparent. One scene in particular that struck a chord with me was toward the end between Hanna and her friend Josie (Danelle Macdonald). I also particularly loved Madeleine Madden’s performance as Alanya. I found the character to be surprisingly deep, and how the plot developed, as well as acting as a major motivation for Hanna.
The pacing is also incredibly satisfactory, with the plot getting better as we move from act to act. We are constantly fed tidbits of information that expand on the plot and our understanding of the film; pieces of a puzzle always falling into place, making the bigger picture clearer. This incredible pacing is also accompanied by a hauntingly beautiful score that needs mentioning. The film has few, if any, technical faults.
“Saccharine” is full of cringeworthy horror with body dissections and scenes involving eating and that are frankly disgusting and might forever change how you look at food. Which is, in my opinion, a huge point in its favour. This is a horror movie after all, and for all its poetic allegory, it still has to unsettle and disturb you, which I feel it does an incredible job of.
Reader, I didn’t just like this movie; I LOVED this movie. I will fully admit to being biased, but anything as allegory-heavy as this, with something I can resonate with deeply and tense horror, has more than my attention; it has my affection.
Another great film in a year of really enjoyable horror movies. This is one that you need to give your attention to, especially if you’ve ever dealt with weight issues, eating disorders, or GLP-1s. The film will be available to screen on Shudder and AMC+ from this Friday, the 24th of July. The artwork and trailer are below for your convenience.
