Forget everything you (think you) know about peptides. Have you tried eating human ashes?
That’s the main thrust of Natalie Erika James’ newest nightmare, Saccharine, centers around a mysterious new diet trend that is giving people results that would (literally) die for. All you have to do is start eating ashes in pill form, and you’ll start losing weight at paranormal speed.
Saccharine follows Hana (Midori Francis, Ocean’s Eight), who’s a really resourceful lead character, and approaches everything in her life (whether that’s weight loss or ghost hunting) from a purely scientific perspective. After reconnecting with an old friend who gifts her a small sample of weight loss medication, Hana is shocked to see how quickly her body reacts to this magic medication. Unwilling to pay the absurd price tag for the mysterious pills, Hana leans on her medical school training to reverse engineer her own this new weight loss drugs. As it turns out, the secret ingredient in this dream medication i something she already has pretty easy access to: Human Remains. And as gross as it might seem, she starts shedding the lbs as soon as soon as she starts taking the pills.
“A little bit Body Horror, a little bit Generational Trauma, and full of Super Spooky Ghosts”
It’s a little bit Body Horror, it’s a little bit Generational Trauma, and it’s full of Super Spooky Ghosts. But seriously; Imagine yourself in Hana‘s scenario. You’ve been given this new wonder drug that is helping you become the person you always wanted to be, but then you’re utterly haunted by the ghosts of the people who’ve been consuming. What do you do? How do you go back from that?
Saccharine has some fiendish ideas, a ton of scary ghost sequences, and a really interesting take on diet culture and beauty. Which is to say that if you were a big fan of The Substance I think you will also dig this slower burn chiller, but also, if you hated all of those gross close up shots of people eating, there are a couple key sequences in Saccharine that you might not want to watch immediately after eating. I thought it was great, but I’m also a big fan of gross stuff 🙂
Narelle Portanier. An Independent Film Company and Shudder Release.
If you’ve been keeping an eye on the release schedule lately you already know how spoiled we’ve been at the cinema this month. There is a record setting amount of A+ Horror hitting theatres right now, but if you want to enjoy an indie film- something a little smaller, a little quieter, something that’s really gonna give you nightmares when you hear bumps in the house at night, check out Natalie Erika James’ Saccharine.
Surely you remember her James’ first film, Relic (2020), which was an absolute gut punch of a horror story. Or her follow up, the visually stunning Rosemary’s Baby prequel Apartment 7A. Of course, if you’ve missed both of those films you can watch her short film Creswick for free on YouTube, to get a taste of what Natalie Erika James’ unique blend of haunting horror feels like before heading sitting down in a dark movie theatre and officially kick off Haunted Girl Summer with Saccharine.
“….gonna give you nightmares when you hear bumps in the house at night…”
Natalie Erika James’ Saccharine is in theatres now! Let us know what you thought of this body horror/ghost story over in the Nightmare on Film Street Discord….and also tell us if you’d be willing to eat a few human ashes if you knew you could have a summer bod by the Summer Solstice. We won’t tell anyone. It’ll be our little secret. 🤐
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