Spoiler Warning: This discussion features some important narrative information that could spoil the text for you. It does not necessarily spell out the film's conclusion, but it does talk about events in detail.
















Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

"No games. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Mimi Cave's feature debut, Fresh, has been something I wanted to watch since the Sundance hype and the generally favourable response from critics and audiences alike. It's almost impossible not to make a pun about this being a refreshing thriller/horror, however you want to describe it. It's searingly funny, genuinely creepy in spurts, and most vitally, it is so so entertaining.

If Lenny Abrahamson's Normal People wasn't enough, this will most certainly be the project to make Daisy Edgar-Jones explode into the mainstream. She is just wonderful here; she absolutely nails the tone that Cave is creating with this biting black comedy bobbing underneath the surface of a cannibalistic horror flick. Sebastian Stan, too, is basking in this flamboyant villainy, dancing through hallways and smiling at sickening ideas. Everyone else is fine, but you're here for Edgar-Jones and Stan, who have great chemistry together and light up the screen, whatever the tone may be.

I love the narrative; I'm not saying it's groundbreaking, but I have never seen an idea like this before, and I like the weird Satanic avenue it takes to explain its ludicrousness. Again, I think it importantly gets the vibe right with its jaw-dropping title sequence at the thirty-minute mark and stark shift from downscale romance to visceral horror-comedy. I could eat up another fifteen minutes of those stomach-churning dinner dates the two have, somehow enthralled by the power dynamic struggle whilst also laughing intensely at the offbeat black comedy in the conversation.

Fresh gets it all right. Mimi Cave creates a visually stimulating movie and delivers on a concept that could have been such a bland, ordinary horror by making it truly innovative and exciting to experience. It reminded me of Ready or Not in some ways - maybe just the high standards and similar tones - but it's not a bad thing at all. I highly recommend this one; it's supreme fun.