THE STORY – Hana, a lovelorn medical student, becomes terrorized by a hungry ghost after taking part in an obscure weight loss craze: eating human ashes.
THE CAST – Midori Francis, Danielle Macdonald & Madeleine Madden
THE TEAM – Natalie Erika James (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 112 Minutes
With her debut feature “Relic,” filmmaker Natalie Erika James turned the very scary reality of dementia into an exaggerated cinematic nightmare. Her latest film, “Saccharine,” similarly uses a very real malady and turns it into horror-movie fodder. Here, it’s overeating, body dysmorphia, and the very common but commonly dangerous pursuit to lose weight by any means necessary. And although James shows an ability for crafting a finely made technical film, her filmmaking efforts are overshadowed by her messy, overlong, and inadvertently mystifying screenplay.
The film centers around Hana (Midori Francis), a medical student trying to focus on her studies but distracted by her desire to lose weight. She seemingly tries everything, including purging her apartment of junk food and signing up for a fitness program run by Alanya (Madeleine Madden), a trainer for whom Hana secretly pines. But nothing is working in helping Hana reach her goal weight. One day, she runs into an acquaintance from high school who’s gone through a severe body transformation. No, it wasn’t diet or exercise; she used mysterious “grey pills,” which apparently make the extra pounds simply vanish. She gives a couple to Hana, assuring her that she’ll love the results. Hana takes one and immediately notices a difference. But as a medical professional in training, she’s curious about the contents of the pill capsules. She runs some experiments and concludes that they contain shocking, taboo material: human ash. But they’re so effective that Hana has trouble stopping her pill-popping regimen, even when she begins to experience distressing, supernatural side effects.
Far too many horror films were clearly born from a great concept, but too often, this storytelling conceit runs out of juice as the film goes on. “Saccharine” is, unfortunately, one of these films. Because of the pills, Hana begins to see a noncorporeal form lingering behind her, but she’s only able to see it when looking at a convex reflective surface like a teapot or the underside of a spoon. The longer she sticks to her ill-advised pill routine, the closer this shape gets to her. The build-up of stress as her fateful follower creeps up on her with each pill she takes is palpable, but its impact is diminished by just how repetitive the film is. There are countless scenes of Hana nervously looking at a bulging surface to gauge how close her spectral stalker is to her, and the number of times she does this without changing her habits at all (or even having much of a reaction) dulls the film’s tension. Obviously, this is meant to visualize the addictive nature of eating disorders, even when the negative effects are obvious. Still, the film is too limp in its depiction for this metaphor to totally work. Things get even more ridiculous when the spirit starts controlling and moving physical objects, often with violent intent, and, again, this does little to deter Hana at all. One scene in which she mindlessly and unquestioningly consumes multiple candy bars repeatedly thrown to her by an invisible force distractingly strains the film’s credulity. The film shows a brief awareness of how bizarre this is in one genuinely hilarious scene where Hana tries to convince her friend Josie (Danielle Macdonald) of the ghost’s existence. Still, the fact that this occurs briefly, late in the film, makes the segment feel like too little, too late. And the film’s baffling final sequence, while eerie, raises questions about its thematic intent and overall message.
Still, James clearly shows an ability to craft a visually compelling horror film. She strictly adheres to her filmmaking rules, using several close-up montages of bodies in motion to highlight the thin line between desire and repulsion, and between pleasure and pain. The choppy, swirling editing used in these sequences disorients the audience, and the emphasis on intense mouth and stomach sounds is particularly upsetting. The film’s echoey soundscape helps further sell the idea that Hana is alone on this frightening journey.
Midori Francis is on-screen for nearly the entire film. She strangely underplays Hana’s reactions to some of the unexplained occurrences that her character witnesses, which is particularly odd given that she’s supposed to be playing a scientific, logic-based person. Perhaps she was directed to suppress obvious emotions. But Francis really shines in the aforementioned scene where Hana tries to bring Josie into her terrifying situation. Here, the lead actress clicks into a rapid speech pattern, playing manic in a way that’s both funny and worrying.
Like being on an ineffective diet, “Saccharine” is repetitive and frustrating. Even in a broadly unreal horror film, certain standards of consistency must be followed, and this film doesn’t seem to know how its characters should react to their situations or what exactly it wants to say about it all in the end. Natalie Erika James is proficient at cooking up some effective moments of horror filmmaking, but unfortunately, her script leaves viewers hungry.
