Dating can be incredibly complicated, frustrating, and, asFreshdemonstrates in its opening scene, tedious. It can also be nerve-wracking, especially for women. Mimi Cave’s first feature film dives right into the most unsettling aspects of being single from its opening minutes, using a particularly bad date as a jumping-off point, as if tempting the audience to ask, “what could be worse than this?”
The answer thatFreshprovides is “a whole lot,” as the horror-satire moves from something akin to a romantic indie comedy-drama into full-fledged horror. The fact that the title card and opening credits are held back until almost 30 minutes into the film almost seems to signal that intent: what the audience has been experiencing in the first act is not at all what this film is about, and things are about to get far more horrifying.
RELATED:Why So Many Comedians Are Making Horror Movies
The film is anchored by its two stars, whose chemistry is apparent right from their meet-cute in the produce section of a grocery store. Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Noa, a young woman who is stuck in a rut of online dating before meeting the (seemingly) perfect guy outside of the online realm. Steve, played by Sebastian Stan, is charming, easygoing, funny, and accomplished. All of those qualities are what help him get Noa to agree to a weekend away. This is where the trouble begins.
Fresh, like many otherelevated horror movies, derives its story and its terror from real-life anxieties. Noa is the kind of person who lets her best friend know where she is and who she is with before a date, who walks a little bit faster when she notices a man walking behind her. Yet with Steve, she is able to let her guard down, but this is ultimately what lands her shackled in a cell in Steve’s house, where he tells her exactly what he plans to do with her: “I’m going to sell your meat.”
OnceFreshbarrels into its second act, the horrific implications of Noa’s predicament are made clear. This is where the movie most clearly practices its tendency toward juxtaposition. The imagery of Steve butchering human body parts accompanied by 80s pop-rock is particularly disturbing, even if Stan’s performance is still very endearing (though he’s a long way from hisWinter Soldier heroics, it’s a solid reminder that his Marvel character started life as a charming soldier and eventually became a ruthless killer). Steve clearly enjoys what he does, and he is good at it, but the fact that his guy is the villain of the story never gets lost or bogged down in all of the fun he is having.
Though the subject matter ofFreshis squirm-inducing, it does handle its humor and tone fairly well. There are moments of intense violence, saved mostly for the end, but mostly the film sticks to showing the aftermath of Steve’s work, which is still brutal and horrific, but not quite as splattery as other horror movies witha similar inclination toward cannibalism. Despite being produced by none other than Adam McKay, the man behind movies likeAnchormanandStep Brothers,Freshis not what one might call joke-filled. The funnier moments tend to land pretty well, and they feel organic, even during some of the more grotesque moments.
Cave does an excellent job in balancing these two tones, which can often be hard to pull off. Though it is firmly in the horror genre,Freshis not loaded up with jump scaresor an overbearing sense of dread. Instead, its horror comes more from the situation that Noa (as well as the other women Steve has captured) find themselves in.Freshalso does an excellent job in skewering food movies and their elongated shots of cooking and elaborate dishes. A repeated motif of people eating, extreme closeups showing the food going into their mouths, just amplifies the unease, whether it’s a burger or pâté made from human liver.
Lauryn Kahn’s script is packed with sharp critiques about how cruel the world can be, and how women have to keep their personal safety and security at the forefront of their minds in so many situations. When Noa’s best friend Mollie decides to investigate her whereabouts, she makes sure to share her location with a former boyfriend, just in case. However, some of these metaphors and observations can sometimes feel somewhat obvious, and come across as just a bit too on-the-nose. This may not be that surprising considering there were similar problems inanother recent McKay project (Don’t Look Up), but it still keeps the script from being as cutting and incisive as it could be.
There are some aspects of the story, such as the discovery that Steve has a wife and kids, that don’t do much to add to the overall plot (except for a pretty funny moment in the final minutes).Freshalso repeats itself in the way it piles on another character searching for a missing person in its second half, though this also results in one of the movie’s funnier moments right before its climax.
These minor issues do not detract fromFreshtoo much, though, as this is a movie that is much more about its metaphors than its plot mechanics. These come through particularly well, and help to bolster the story and make what is happening to Noa and the other women that much more terrifying. Even though Steve has a whole network of buyers for his wares, this is never fully explained, and that actually works toFresh’s benefit. There doesn’t need to be an explanation as to how or why this circle of evil, rich, cannibalistic men came to be or how it continues to operate. It’s awful, gross, and disturbing, and that’s all it needs to be.
Freshis the kind of horror movie that is meant to make viewers feel uncomfortable more than frightened, though its subject matter is still the stuff of nightmares. It’s a stylish genre-blend that actuallymanages to do both horror and comedywell enough, even if it isn’t always served by the leanest script. The central performances from Edgar-Jones and Stan are fantastic, and are certainly enough of a draw. Fans of elevated horror that builds its terror on societal issues will find plenty to like aboutFresh, but may want to skip any snacks during viewing.
Freshwill stream on Disney+ and Hulu on March 4.
MORE:New Nope Poster Fuels Theory About The Jordan Peele Film’s Plot
Fresh
Fresh is a Hulu original film starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as a single woman named Noa who is searching for love on dating apps. But after meeting a man named Steve (Sebastian Stan), she agrees to take a romantic weekend trip with him. The only catch is that she discovers he is a cannibal that consumes and sells human flesh.
