Mimi Cave
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Filmography
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American Psycho (2000)
Directed by Mary Harron
influenced Fresh (2022)
Characters Themes Visuals Plot
And Stan gets to give his charm a demented spin that harks back to Christian Bale in “American Psycho.”
Imagine the meat-centric horror of Raw (2016) combined with the extremities of American Psycho (2000) and you get near to what the production is trying to do here.
The movies that obviously inspired Fresh range from the likes of American Psycho , Silence of the Lambs , and the dark disturbing prom night horror in The Loved Ones .
If it wasn’t already obvious, there’s a definite Patrick Bateman ( American Psycho ’s anti-hero) vibe about Stan’s “Steve”.
There’s a scene where he’s dancing as he “works” (terrific soundtrack) that harks back to the Huey Lewis one in American Psycho.
Fresh is the latest of many recent cultural products to involve cannibalism, while long scenes draw inspiration from American Psycho (a serial killer loves 1980s pop music), Westworld (dramatic monologues set to instrumental covers of Radiohead), and the endless villain confessions that Roger Ebert used to call ‘The Fallacy of the Talking Killer’.
To nutshell Fresh , think of David Lynch & David Cronenberg co-directing a cautionary tale about online dating as written by early Eli Roth, whose Hostel films are echoed herein.
Know that the irresistibility of “Fresh” lies in the fact that it doesn’t take itself too seriously—all things considered, the film manages to stay light on its feet with its “Hostel” meets “Ex Machina” concept, mostly avoiding overt, self-righteous preachiness in its moderately-feminist tale where women’s bodies are perishable commodity.
A gory allegory for our dangerously impersonal consumption-oriented dating culture, “Fresh” has more than a little in common with past torture-porn movies: Think “Hostel,” with a wicked glow up and a lot more likes.
It shares more in common with Eli Roth’s Hostel than almost any other film we can think of, though there are elements of Get Out, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs throughout.
There’s also a fair bit of Hostel in Fresh, at least in terms of where body horror stands on the scale of sociocultural expression.
As far as midnight movie antics go, Fresh delivers macabre mutilations the likes of which they never attempted in Saw or Hostel.
The obvious reference in all this is Get Out, and Cave and screenwriter Lauryn Kahn are obviously conscious of the parallels, even leaning into them once or twice.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: I’m pretty sure we’d be inflicted with about 50% more horror ennui if Jordan Peele had never made Get Out , which continues to have a ripple effect on the genre, be it thematically (racial reckoning) or tonally (serious, with a veneer of dark comedy).
It's at this point that the film switches from meet-cute romcom to Get Out -style horror, but the twist (which we won't reveal here) isn't quite as jaw-dropping or original as it thinks it is, and characters persist in doing stupid things right up to the final, bloody act.
The rest of the film plays like a cross between “Get Out” and Kevin Smith’s very wrong but even funnier “Tusk” (the movie where a sicko tries to turn Justin Long into a human walrus).
Cave and Kahn mix in some spooky shades of “Ex Machina” (2014) and “Get Out” (2017) in their devouring, hold-on-tight horror film.
It’s arguably his best work in a movie yet, where his performance as Steve is cold, emotionless like a Victor Frankenstein of cooking flesh, and able to disassociate himself from his inhumane acts, similar to what we see out of the parents in Get Out .
The movies that obviously inspired Fresh range from the likes of American Psycho , Silence of the Lambs , and the dark disturbing prom night horror in The Loved Ones .
Sequences of dance are also a repeated motif here, as is an ‘80s-heavy power ballad soundtrack, lending the film a dissonant texture that, while different in the particulars, reminds of something like the unhinged lunacy of Sean Byrne’s The Loved Ones.
Stan even goes as far as channel Oscar Isaac in Ex Machina in a dance sequence that might make for a fun out-of-context GIF—but, with the context, is a lot more sinister.
Know that the irresistibility of “Fresh” lies in the fact that it doesn’t take itself too seriously—all things considered, the film manages to stay light on its feet with its “Hostel” meets “Ex Machina” concept, mostly avoiding overt, self-righteous preachiness in its moderately-feminist tale where women’s bodies are perishable commodity.
Cave and Kahn mix in some spooky shades of “Ex Machina” (2014) and “Get Out” (2017) in their devouring, hold-on-tight horror film.
Stan (while mostly good at his Patrick Date-man during the rest of the film) is charmingly strange in the musical moments, dancing with enough candid verve that you almost don’t mind that these scenes can feel like watered-down versions of Oscar Isaac’s narcissistic Ex Machina jam sesh.
Certain plot elements call to mind Jennifer (daughter of David) Lynch’s controversial 1993 feature, Boxing Helena, in which a surgeon amputated first the legs then the arms of the title character (played by a post-Twin Peaks Sherilyn Fenn).
It’s like a romantic comedy turned “Hannibal” by way of “American Psycho” and “Boxing Helena” with a lot of sick puns and slick production.
Loading Like Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman , Fresh is a feminist satire about the callous exploitation of women’s bodies, but writer Lauryn Kahn and director Mimi Cave pitch their theme at such a visceral level that satire veers uncomfortably into torture porn.
The movie to which Fresh is likely to draw comparisons is Promising Young Woman , writer/director Emerald Fennell’s audacious, wildly divisive feminist satire, from a couple of years ago, starring Carey Mulligan as a revenge-minded survivor.
The film’s commentary about modern dating and toxic masculinity makes it a sort of cousin to 2020’s Promising Young Woman , although it pushes even more buttons than that film did, which is saying something.
There’s a reason why the 1984 television movie “The Burning Bed”, starring Farrah Fawcett, was seen by millions of American women and discussed for years (and decades) later.
And Stan's character feels like an amalgamation of all the handsome, dead-eyed charmers who came before him, from Scream 's Skeet Ulrich to Christian Bale in American Psycho — the guy with a golden smile and nothing but emptiness underneath.
There’s even a late-film sequence in Fresh that manages to capture the precise energy of Matthew Lillard’s “I’m feeling a little woozy here” moment in Scream, which is an apt enough articulation of the tenor Cave seems to be angling for.
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
Directed by Peter Greenaway
influenced Fresh (2022)
Visuals
Gnawing, slurping and chewing have not been this horrifying since Michael Gambon ate a bookshop opener in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover .
This is a genre picture through and through, think a glossier version of Miike’s “Audition,” and despite its lack of subtleties or even the absence of character substance, not to mention a wildly over-the-top climax, it’s a wild ride.
These musical overlays offer some morsels of normalcy but then again, not so much, as “Fresh” triggers uncomfortable memories of the “Sister Christian” scene in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” (1997).
To be fair, it’s a deliriously dark hearted film with expert ambience provided by DP Pawel Pogorzelski, responsible for Ari Aster’s shriek shows Hereditary and Midsummer (not to mention the delirious Bob Odenkirk Death Wish retread, Nobody ).
Her direction is notable, marked by strong character work, striking framing, and masterful cinematography from Pawel Pogorzelski (Hereditary, Midsommar).
The movie shares a director of photography, Pawel Pogorzelski, with “Hereditary” and “Midsommar.”
Pawel Pogorzelski brings his signature style used in Midsommar and Hereditary to create interestingly seductive close-ups making the camera its own secret character.
Cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski, who has worked on Hereditary and Midsommar , successfully captures Cave’s sensibilities in her wides and close-ups.
But by then the movie has become so untethered from any psychological reality one is with nothing but the cool, TV-commercial colors from “Hereditary” and “Midsommar” cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski in one over-composed shot after another.
The main plot line gets rather repetitive, and the subplots weak (that involving Mollie is much too reminiscent of “The Shining” and “The Stepfather”).
Director Mimi Cave’s audacious feature debut offers up plenty of unnerving moments, as it segues from an acerbic look at the modern dating scene to a full-on horror which evokes memories of the likes of Tusk , Ridley Scott’s Hannibal or – dare I say it – The Human Centipede .
The film’s best moments rely more on the idea of what’s being consumed rather than the more flamboyant ‘food prep’ sequences wherein Stan seems to be living out a Risky Business -style fantasy.
Even in the darkest sections, Stan relishes the role of Steve with playful joy, dancing through the house like he's in Risky Business.
There have been funny iterations too, like “Motel Hell” and “Eating Raoul.”
There have been funny iterations too, like “Motel Hell” and “Eating Raoul.”
The rest of the film plays like a cross between “Get Out” and Kevin Smith’s very wrong but even funnier “Tusk” (the movie where a sicko tries to turn Justin Long into a human walrus).
It shares more in common with Eli Roth’s Hostel than almost any other film we can think of, though there are elements of Get Out, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs throughout.
There have been plenty of cannibal movies over the years, from “Blood Feast” to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” to “The Silence of the Lambs.”