FRESH (Hulu) sure as hell is. For those who dig horror/sicko true crime/psychological thrillers/Cosmopolitan bad date tips/dark comedy with a feminist bent — you’re covered here.
Okay, I’m not a spoiler guy. I avoid trailers like the plague. Movie reviews? I skip past the synopsis. Concerts? When I buy a ticket, I don’t check the set list from another city to assure I know exactly to expect. Don’t wanna know!
In the case of FRESH, the premise is such a whiplash shock, and delivered with such ingenuity and wit I won’t ruin it even with a logline of haiku length. What starts as a truly funny, lived-in rant on the embarrassing perils of online dating takes a hairpin turn a half hour in (before the credits!) and gets scary smart right quick.
Only a woman could have written and directed FRESH since it deals with female body horror in a truly up-to-the-minute vein. Lauryn Kahn’s airtight script thinks through multiple angles on its nasty premise while offering myriad twists and hilarious dialogue. Director Mimi Cave makes potent visual jokes (even riffing methinks on an infamous Hustler magazine cover that I doubt she appreciates). The whole cast excels especially Daisy Edgar-Jones (the murdered Mormon in Hulu’s limited series Under the Banner of Heaven) as a resourceful prisoner willing to take Stockholm Syndrome to wild lengths and Sebastian Stan (Tommy Lee in the Pam and Tommy mini-series) as a McDreamy entrepreneurial psycho with a smart aleck streak. Dare you to see it and will be stunned if you don’t go for it. (If you lack Hulu it should turn up as cheapie rental on Amazon soon). – Eric Lindbom
Eric Lindbom is a hardcore horror buff with a strong stomach, weened on the Universal classics from the ’30s and ’40s. He’s written film and/or music reviews for City Pages, Twin Cities Reader, LA WEEKLY, Request magazine and Netflix. He co-edits triggerwarningshortfiction.com, a site specializing in horror, fantasy and crime short stories with illustrations by co-editor John Skewes. He lives in Los Angeles.
Fresh is a 2022 American comedy thriller film directed by Mimi Cave, in her directorial debut.
Dircetd by Mimi Cave
Written by Lauryn Kahn Produced by Adam McKay Kevin Messick
Cinematography Pawel Pogorzelski, Edited by Martin Pensa, Music by Alex Somers, Production companies Legendary Picturesek, Hyperobject Industries, Distributed by Searchlight Pictures, Release dates January 20, 2022 (Sundance) March 4, 2022 (United States)
