Nerdly » ‘Fresh’ Review (Disney+)

21st Mar2022

‘Fresh’ Review (Disney+)

by Matthew Turner

Stars: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sebastian Stan, Jojo T. Gibbs | Written by Lauryn Kahn | Directed by Mimi Cave

Rising star Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) and Sebastian Stan star in this stylish horror-thriller that sinks its teeth into dating culture, toxic male behaviour and a few other tasty morsels on the side. Now streaming on Disney Plus / Star, it marks the directorial debut of Mimi Cave, who clearly has talent to burn.

Edgar-Jones plays Noa, a single twenty-something who’s fed up of meeting red flag-waving weirdos on dating apps. When she meets handsome stranger Steve (Stan) in the supermarket – i.e. the old fashioned way – she can’t resist his charms and soon she’s allowing herself to be whisked away for a romantic weekend at his not-at-all-suspicious remote house in the woods.

Sure enough, Steve turns out to be harbouring a very dark secret, which you can probably guess from the film’s marketing campaign, if not the title. However, it’s the specific details of the threat that make all the difference, and the script (by Lauryn Kahn) is cleverly structured so that there’s a steady stream of new revelations after the initial penny drops.

Cave’s direction is stylish throughout, aided by some eye-catching production design work and richly hued cinematography from Pawel Pogorzelski that pays close attention to texture and colour, in a way that recalls the Hannibal TV series. That said, Cave’s pacing is slightly off, as the film drags a little in the middle section, twiddling its thumbs a little before the exciting third act kicks in.

Crucially, Fresh delivers genuine chills – so much so, in fact, that the press screening for the film resulted in several audible outbursts and a man fainting. Whether that should be interpreted as a fair warning or the highest accolade is up to you.

In addition to the skilful structure, Kahn’s genre-savvy script weaves in several other elements that make the film stand out. In particular, it has a lot of fun with standard horror tropes, most notably with a character who takes one look at the house and promptly drives off, having seen enough horror movies to know that no good will come of him leaving his car.

Similarly, Fresh has a lot to say about modern dating and relationships, not just the surface level stuff about commodification (dating as a literal meat market) but also the compromises Noa makes in order to stay on Steve’s good side. At one point, the film has her expressing an interest in sharing his predilections, and you can’t help feeling the film might have been more interesting if they’d pushed that idea just a little bit further, with her becoming simultaneously attracted to the idea and horrified by her own response.

The two leads are superb. Edgar-Jones brings both vulnerability and fierce intelligence to Noa, while Stan is perfectly cast, his outwardly charming movie star charisma hiding dark desires and a sort of disassociative depravity. The fact that there’s a certain amount of similarity between Fresh and a recent scandal involving a Hollywood star is almost certainly a coincidence, but that doesn’t make it any less amusing.

Ultimately, Fresh is a stylish and smartly written horror that delivers a decent helping of chills and thrills, before leaving you with something to chew on in post-film discussion afterwards. It’s also an accomplished debut and it will be fascinating to see what Mimi Cave does next.