By Jacob Cameron

Saccharine is a new horror film that walks in the footsteps of movies like The Substance and It Follows. It is a film that takes aim at diet culture and what one will do to shed a few pounds. This makes for an interesting idea that touches on this idea briefly without going all the way.

Saccharine tells the story of Hana, played by Midori Francis, who is trying to lose weight. She has tried just about everything and has been unsuccessful. Resorting to binge eating and failing diets left and right. Fresh out of ideas, Hana learns of an obscure diet in which one eats pills made of human ashes. Hana begins this diet and sees results immediately. Shedding the pounds and, possibly, her sanity.

The main star is Midori Francis, and she does an admirable job. The strength of the movie lies in commenting on how diet culture and body positivity have played a somewhat adverse role in negative body image. Hana feels legitimately frustrated and confused and ultimately embraces the unusual diet. Due to her own motivations, such as the pursuit of the affections of her fitness coach and the want to not look like her overweight father.

The cinematography was quite good as well. There were some gross looking shots and some that bordered on the shocking. Crucially, the film tackles those factors of looking overweight as well as underweight. It presents both extremes as inherently bad. The thinner Hana gets, she loses more of herself. This provides a weird sense of profoundness that is appreciated.

The movie is derailed by the presence of the ghost that begins to haunt Hana. This is a literal presence that haunts Hana that, it is explained, appears to Hana when her blood sugar is at a certain level. The presence is unseen by everyone except Hana for a good chunk of the film, and this causes some hokey moments. The throwing of items around in certain scenes definitely doesn’t help.

Additionally, the movie is too long. It’s just shy of two hours, and it did not need to be that long. There were a couple of montages that felt repetitive. There were some plot points that felt like they meandered through. If this had been trimmed to 90 minutes, the pacing would’ve been much better.

And then there’s the issue of the film being very similar to The Substance. For transparency, this is not a ripoff necessarily. But there were many similarities between the two films. In terms of plot and technical details. There is even an interesting detail involving Hana’s eye that is eerily similar to what happens in The Substance.

Ultimately, this one was a bit of a mixed bag. There’s some good moments and some good shots. Along with some prescient commentary in places. But it feels bogged down by its runtime and its derivative feeling. Which makes this just a good watch and not a great one.

3 stars