Nerdly » Fantasia 2020: ‘Yummy’ Review

17th Aug2020

Fantasia 2020: ‘Yummy’ Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Maaike Neuville, Bart Hollanders, Benjamin Ramon, Clara Cleymans, Annick Christiaens, Eric Godon, Joshua Rubin, Taeke Nicolaï, Tom Audenaert | Written by Lars Damoiseaux, Eveline Hagenbeek | Directed by Lars Damoiseaux

Heading into surgery is stressful enough, but Alison (Maaike Neuville) has no idea what awaits her when she arrives at Klinika Krawczyk for a breast-reduction operation. She’s joined by her mother Oksana (Taeke Nicolai), who’s in for a procedure of her own, and her boyfriend Michael (Bart Hollanders), who’s not keen on the sight of blood. His hemophobia will be sorely tested after he discovers the result of a “rejuvenation treatment based on experimental skin cell technology” (as Dr. Krawczyk describes it), which soon escapes and spreads a deadly plague throughout the hospital. Pretty soon, Alison, her loved ones, Dr. Krawczyk and a handful of others are the only survivors left, attempting to make their way through a not-very-wellness centre teeming with the blood-crazed living dead. And if these ghouls don’t do them in, their own bad decisions and ulterior motives just might…

A feature-length expansion of writer/director Lars Damoiseaux and co-writer Eveline Hagenbeek’s 2016 short Patient Zero, there’s a real streak of dark humour running throughout Yummy. From the off-the-cuff remarks about free abortions for teenage girls, to everyone’s obsession with Alison’s large breasts, confusion about what hemophobia is and the sheer amount of over the top violence and gore, Yummy is definitely a throwback to to a different era of horror filmmaking. In fact Lars Damoiseaux’s film could have sat alongside with Re-Animator and its sequel on the shelves of video stores everywhere and would have fit in perfectly. As it stands today, Yummy is one of the best throwbacks to the over the top filmmaking of the 80s and as such – given the type of “elevated” modern horror fare we’re subjected to – is a refreshing change of pace. Refreshingly un-PC and refreshingly gory. Like REALLY gory.

And its the gore that Yummy will be remembered for long after the film has ended. It’s the kind of over the top visual effects work that made the likes of Steve Johnson and KNB famous back in the 80s – visceral splatter that feels like its revelling in the gloriously graphic nature in which its being presented. Speaking of presentation, Yummy is most-definitely a film that – like Peter Jackson’s early work – which pushes the envelope of tastefulness, especially in todays more “sensitive” environment; whilst also subverting expectations of an audience that, undoubtedly, THINKS it knows what coming from a film that predominately plays out with familiar zombie-movie tropes.

Yummy also, surprisingly for such a splatter-filled horror, has moments of empathy too – we’re actually given a chance to care about the characters within at times. It might be sparingly but having just the slightest tinge of emotion in this over-the-top gorefest only helps to give greater depth to the film and make it feel more well-rounded than just your typical throwback zombie horror; it also helps to make Yummy‘s final scene so poignant!

Yummy? More like delicious… and the most fun I’ve had with a splatter-filled horror in some time!