MEAT IS MURDER (FRESH)
We've had horror movies that tackle consumerism.
We've had horror movies that tackle racism.
We've also had horror movies that tackle inequality.
But do we need a horror movie about meat consumption and toxic masculinity?
© Disney+, Hulu, Searchlight PicturesThat's the question you might find yourself asking as you watch Mimi Cave's comedy horror film 'Fresh'.
Working from a screenplay by horror enthusiast Lauren Kahn, Cave's Hulu and Disney+ film starts off like a romcom but then takes a very grim leap sideways.
Inevitably, the film has provoked a debate on whether it is too woke.
But does that really matter?
Daisy Edgar Jones plays Noa, a young Portland woman who is getting increasingly disillusioned with the concept of dating apps.
© Disney+, Hulu, Searchlight PicturesEarly on, we see her on a date with Brett Dier's Chad, a self-obsessed sponger who turns abusive when she declares at the end of their evening out that she doesn't really see any future for them.
Noa confides in her best friend, Jonica T Gibbs' Mollie that she is giving up all hope on finding Mr Right online when she meets Sebastian Stan's Steve in a supermarket.
He makes her laugh by generally goofing around the fruit snd vegetables section and soon they swap numbers and go out on a date in a bar where Mollie's ex-boyfriend, Dayo Okeniki's Paul serves drinks.
Steve seems too good to be true.
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© Disney+, Hulu, Searchlight PicturesHe's handsome. He's a doctor. He appears genuinely interested in everything Noa has to say.
After a couple of dates, Steve asks Noa if she wants to spend the weekend away with him.
She agrees - much to the concern of Mollie who thinks it's a dumb move.
Staying at Paul's house overnight before the journey, they have drinks.
However quickly Noa starts to feel a little woozy and then passes out.
© Disney+, Hulu, Searchlight PicturesWhen she comes round, Noa finds herself chained to the ground and realises that Steve isn't the dreamboat she assumed but more of a nightmare.
Steve spiked the cocktail he prepared for her in his home and reveals he makes a living as a butcher.
The meat he trades in is not normal, though.
Steve carves up human flesh for a very select clientele who pay handsomely for the privilege of eating other people.
© Disney+, Hulu, Searchlight PicturesEnthusing about the taste of human flesh, he says he exclusively prepares female meat for his cannibal clients because it tastes better.
Noa, he reveals, is being prepared for consumption.
While in captivity, Noa realises that there are other women held in chains in cells beside her including Andrea Bang's Penny and she starts to communicate with her.
Desperate to break free, Noa also decides to try charming Steve into letting her sample the meat he prepares so she can plan an escape.
© Disney+, Hulu, Searchlight PicturesPretending to be genuinely interested in his trade, she figures she can get out of her cell, understand the layout of the house and work out how to flee captivity.
In the outside world, meanwhile, Mollie becomes increasingly concerned about not hearing much from Noa since the trip.
She is not convinced by text messages she receives purporting to be from her close friend and decides to investigate.
She asks Paul to check what information can be pulled from Steve's credit card details that might help her trace Noa's whereabouts.
© Disney+, Hulu, Searchlight PicturesWill Mollie be able to save Noa in time?
Will she get to her before Steve starts to carve bits of Noa's body for his customer base?
Or will Noa find a way of avoiding death by turning the tables on Steve and getting inside his head?
'Fresh' on one level taps into the notion of toxic masculinity with a man literally keeping women in chains to satisfy his own and other male pleasures.
© Disney+, Hulu, Searchlight PicturesIn this respect, Steve could be seen as being the cannibal equivalent of Jeffrey Epstein - luring young women with the promise of a great life but exploiting them for the twisted pleasure of others.
He even has a Ghislaine Maxwell-style accomplice, Charlotte Le Bon's Ann who aids and abets him.
On another level, it could be seen as a movie designed to make the viewer think twice about meat eating, making a case for vegetarianism by depicting the whole process of butchering, preparing and cooking meat - in this case, human flesh - so gross.
Regardless of intent, as a psycho thriller ' Fresh' is decently made, with Cave knowing how and when to turn on the horror taps and unleash the film's violent set sequences.
© Disney+, Hulu, Searchlight PicturesA lot hangs on the performances of her two leads.
Stan does a pretty good job as a deranged villain, comfortably handling the switch from romantic charmer to complete scuzball, without ever doing the full Anthony Perkins eyeroll.
Edgar Jones is good too as the heroine - bringing Sigourney Weaver style intelligence to the part of Noa.
Throughout the film, Noa is depicted as smart, resourceful and she refuses to simply wallow in the horror of the stomach churning predicament she finds herself in.
© Disney+, Hulu, Searchlight PicturesAs for the rest of the cast, Le Bon is effective as Stan's creepy, formidable collaborator Ann.
Gibbs also catches the eye as Noa's feisty and fiercely intelligent friend Mollie in a role that recalls Lil Rel Howery's in Jordan Peele's 'Get Out'.
Okeniki, Bang and Dier also provide sturdy support.
Does 'Flesh' have the same impact as Jordan Peele's satirical horror films?
© Disney+, Hulu, Searchlight PicturesNot quite and at times, you suspect Cave and Kahn are trying just a little too hard to ram their messages home.
As a psycho thriller, 'Fresh' feels just a little too disposable for most horror aficionados' tastes.
It is an entertaining diversion but for all its pluses, Cave's movie just doesn't deliver the jaw dropping moments you feel it ought to.
Pardon the pun but there simply isn't enough meat on the bone to really sink your teeth into.
There's too much gristle.
('Fresh' was released on Hulu on March 4, 2022 and on Disney+ in the UK and Ireland two weeks later)
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