Fair warning: Don’t watch Fresh if you have a weak stomach. The Mimi Cave-directed thriller is a gross-out horror in all of the right ways and is a fresh (I’m sorry) take on the thriller genre. Daisy Edgar-Jones is surely a star in the making and Sebastian Stan gives a performance that is the right kind of unsettling.
Fresh is a new take on dating in this generation and all of us hopeless romantics. When we first meet her, Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is stuck in a Tinder cold streak of guys who talk about hot sauce, wear ascots (big red flag), and passive-aggressively mock her apparel. Now, I’ve worked in a grocery store in the past, and no one, and I mean no one, has ever fallen in love in the produce section (I’m not jealous, you are!). But alas, that is exactly what happens to Noa when she meets Steve (Sebastian Stan), a man with all of the right swagger and hints of awkwardness and the body of a cologne model. They talk about cotton candy grapes, which I thought were a myth when I worked in a grocery store, and next thing you know, they’re going on a romantic trip.
Fresh — “FRESH” follows Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones), who meets the alluring Steve (Sebastian Stan) at a grocery store and – given her frustration with dating apps – takes a chance and gives him her number. After their first date, Noa is smitten and accepts Steve’s invitation to a romantic weekend getaway. Only to find that her new paramour has been hiding some unusual appetites. Steve (Sebastian Stan), shown. (Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.)
Now, all suspension of disbelief must be in play when watching Fresh, as a lot of the logistics don’t make a ton of sense. For example, Steve doesn’t have any social media and is very ominous. It’s fair that some people don’t have social media in this digital age, but at the same point, you’re trying to sell the audience on the fact that a hotshot like Sebastian Stan doesn’t have a single traceable thing on the internet? And at the end, I won’t name who, but a few people survive an event and gather their phones. Fresh never explicitly says how much time has passed, but it has to have been a few days at the bare minimum and I don’t think it would take an Apple store employee to tell you that your phones would be dead. And before you counter that with “The phones were charged!” just bear in mind that the phones were locked in a secret place and you see them sitting on a shelf sans any charger. Hell, even Steve’s house shouts red flags. It’s out in the middle of nowhere, there’s “no signal,” which is always bullshit in these films, and the interior looks like a cross between the house in Ex Machina and Christian Grey’s lair.
With that said, the usage of technology does have some high points. When Mollie, who is a more useful version of Lil Rel Howery’s character in Get Out, is attempting to search for her friend after suspecting foul play, she uses a reverse image search to realize a photo sent to her was a stock photo from a website. It’s not necessarily a mind-blowing idea, but it was a creative usage of an underrated internet tool.
Fresh — “FRESH” follows Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones), who meets the alluring Steve (Sebastian Stan) at a grocery store and – given her frustration with dating apps – takes a chance and gives him her number. After their first date, Noa is smitten and accepts Steve’s invitation to a romantic weekend getaway. Only to find that her new paramour has been hiding some unusual appetites. Steve (Sebastian Stan), shown. (Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.)
But back to the actual film, Daisy Edgar-Jones gives a great and star-making performance. She has a certain earnest demeanor in her performance that rings back to Renate Reinsve in The Worst Person in the World. Paired opposite of her is Sebastian Stan, who will restore far more of your faith in him after The 355 (in the unlikely event that you even bothered watching it). Stan turns the dial from a totally normal dude that you’d see in your local grocery store to an unhinged whackjob. It’s these two performances that really make the film something unique. Speaking of unique, director Mimi Cave does a fine job with some stylistic choices, including some GoPro shots.
The gross-out element of Fresh comes in Steve’s weird “hobby.” It’s not the gore or anything like that, rather, Fresh will make you question ordering foods the next time you’re eating out. Now in fairness, the promotional poster for the film did say that the film is not for everyone, and that couldn’t be more true. One particular shot of a meatball with the cheese still melting on it was just disgusting, and the other shots of meat were even worse. Fresh is certainly not for those with a weak stomach, and if you’re that curious as to what the secretive plot is, there’s a song in the film that I believe says “Arm and hammer,” though it easily could have been the name of a certain actor but I’ll let you take that how you will.
Fresh — “FRESH” follows Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones), who meets the alluring Steve (Sebastian Stan) at a grocery store and – given her frustration with dating apps – takes a chance and gives him her number. After their first date, Noa is smitten and accepts Steve’s invitation to a romantic weekend getaway. Only to find that her new paramour has been hiding some unusual appetites. Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones), shown. (Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.)
Aside from the nitpicks, Fresh is a solid thriller; something that is rare nowadays. It pulls a Drive My Car and doesn’t flash a title card until 30 minutes in, but this is also where the change of tone kicks in. Fresh begins as a story about a hopeless romantic (Noa) and how she meets the guy she thinks is different (Steve). It’s clear that there is more going on than what meets the eye, but the title card signifies a vast change in tone as the film becomes a kidnapping thriller. And while Fresh certainly takes a new angle, or cut of meat, to the kidnapping story, it did become a bit bland and predictable, holding it back from being a four-star film. The second half of the film felt like Get Out in some ways, with Noa’s friend set up to save the day. The biggest issue is that if you’ve seen Get Out or really any kidnapping movie, you’ll know where that story goes.
Fresh will remind you that “There’s more Hope left” for the thriller genre as Steve says in the last act (and yes, there’s a reason that Hope is capitalized). It’s a unique thriller that takes its time to establish the story. Daisy Edgar-Jones stands out and it’s always great to see Sebastian Stan outside of the MCU, his unhinged outbursts are terrifying. The second half of the film is a bit long and doesn’t maintain the momentum that the first act had — though it also doesn’t have the mystique that the first act did — but that’s not enough to hold Fresh back from being a damn good thriller that you should watch if you’ve got Hulu, and, “certified fresh” (ba-dum ching).
Fresh will be available to stream on Hulu on March 4.
Andrew is an entertainment journalist and film "critic" who has written for the likes of Above the Line, Below the Line, Collider, Film Focus Online, /Film and The Hollywood Handle among others.
Leader of the Kaitlyn Dever Fanclub.
The Boogeyman | Official Trailer | 20th Century Studios
The Boogeyman is an upcoming American supernatural horror film directed by Rob Savage from a screenplay by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods and Mark Heyman, based on the 1973 short story of the same name by Stephen King.
Chris Messina, Sophie Thatcher, David Distmalchian
Plot Summary:
The Boogeyman is an upcoming American supernatural horror film directed by Rob Savage from a screenplay by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods and Mark Heyman, based on the 1973 short story of the same name by Stephen King.
Horror has been one of the most profitable genres in recent years due to its low cost to produce scary pics while constantly drawing in audiences. Pair that theory with a fresh star like one from HBO’s House of the Dragon and you might have a hit on your hands. That’s exactly what director Nicolas Pesce (The Grudge, Eyes of My Mother) aims to do with his latest horror film as Deadline is reporting that Olivia Cooke (House of the Dragon, Ready Player One) will lead Visitation.
Visitation will follow a 14-year-old girl named Maria who is sent away to live with nuns while her mother is dying of an illness, however, her stay at the monastery quickly takes an eerie turn as one of her caretakers starts to be enamored with her for all the wrong reasons. Cooke is set to play a nun who is central to the story, but further character details are under wraps for now. Cooke will be joined in the film by other cast members Isla Johnston, Alfie Allen, Penelope Wilton and Stephen Rea.
Cooke is best known for her role as Alicent Hightower in the new hit HBO fantasy/drama House of the Dragon. She has also appeared in supporting roles for indies such as Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Sound of Metal as well as supporting roles in blockbusters such as Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One. Cooke will next appear in the thriller, Mother’s Milk alongside Hilary Swank and Jack Reynor. Alfie Allen is also no stranger to the Game of Thrones universe as he starred as Theon Greyjoy in the HBO series. He most recently appeared in the MGM+ show SAS Rogue Heroes. While Johnston played the younger version of Beth Harmon in Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit and Rea most recently appeared alongside Emily Blunt in the Amazon series, The English but is best known for his Oscar-nominated role in 1992’s The Crying Game.
[…] “Fresh” Review […]