Fresh
2022 Directed by Mimi Cave
Horror Marathon 2024 Day 9 Film 18
Fresh starts with a 35 min long intro - Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is a 20 something white heterosexual woman on Portland's dating scene and she really just can't seem to get a decent date whatsoever- all of the men seem especially obnoxious. Noa sulks to Mollie (Jonica T. Gibbs), Noa's black bisexual bestie, about her options. Luckily Noa has a wonderful meet cute at a grocery store with a seemingly authentic white dude, Steve (Sebastian Stan), that is heartwarmingly cheezy in his one-liners. This intro is full of moments where Noa jumps headlong into her own romantic romcom while Mollie questions the lack of self preservation. There aren't any specific things that stand out about Steve that would threaten things- even the soundtrack highlights this thematic glee for love on sight. It's not until the last few minutes of the intro that the realization of Steve's betrayal becomes clear.... Noa stumbles on the floor; she wakes to Steve telling her that meat tastes best when it's "FRESH."
The pacing of the film is a bit off because of the extended nature of the setup- with the cultivation of their relationship not adding much to the surface level metaphor- men will eat you up. Mollie is close to being a cliche of a helpful minority friend- both exhausted by her friend's lack of foresight and a willingness to put herself in danger when she eventually goes to find Noa. This is unfortunate as Mollie is the more interesting character, and she seems relegated to platonic love for her straight friend. Perhaps another film would have Noa have more of a character arc. Steve on the other hand becomes increasingly cartoonish- going on about his culinary skills as a cannibal and having the swagger of Tom Cruise in Risky Business.
The film itself isn't able to fully take in a serious or outright ridiculous. Some small commentary is made on the wealthy 1% as well, but it's mostly spliced between the chewing up closeups of meat eating. There are other films that exploit more of the cannibalistic aspects- but surprisingly this film is relatively tame. There are many moments that seem to outright retread the ground of Get Out- without better consideration of the underlying themes beyond dating. It focuses more on the comedy of errors as the women eventually get their revenge on the serial killer. If you don't think too much about some of the other aspects the film it works as a popcorn comedy horror movie without much bite.