Saccharine: Australian Body Horror

Hana's parasite is more dangerous than a tapeworm, because it is literally a hungry ghost. Ill-advisedly, she deliberately ingested it of her own free-will. Of course, she did not foresee the side effects. On the plus side, her weight loss is dramatic in director-screenwriter Natalie Erika James’ Saccharine, which opens today in New York.

Despite her medical studies, Hana suffers from low self-esteem, exacerbated by family issues. Therefore, she tries one of the diet pills given to her by a formerly obese childhood friend, who now looks unbelievably slim. It works, but the price per pill is prohibitively steep. Applying her training, Hana analyzes the substance, finding it identical to human ash. As “luck” would have it, Hana and her loyal friend Josie are dissecting a human cadaver this semester. Rather enterprisingly, Hana stays behind after class to pack a doggy bag of the remains they left for disposal.

Of course, her bootleg pills similarly work, to a shocking degree. Even her crush, Alanya, the trainer who overseeing her bootcamp-style fitness regimen, is impressed—and eventually concerned. Hana also starts to worry when realizes the cadaver’s ghost has been watching and menacing her. She only comes when Hana’s blood sugar falls below a certain level. Once the med student binges, the terrors subside. However, the pattern quickly grows disruptive and alarming to bystanders.

Larry Van Duynhoven’s prosthetic design work for the “before” Hana is remarkably convincing. However, Midori Francis must still sell Hana’s transformation, which indeed she does. Indeed, she delivers an unusually sensitive and emotionally complex performance, by conventional horror movie standards.

The Australian Robert Taylor (a.k.a. Longmire) similarly transforms himself as Hana’s father Travis, the source of much of her shame and resentment. Danielle Macdonald also adds some balance with her down-to-earth, slightly sarcastic portrayal of Josie.

For fans of body horror, Saccharine will be the next best thing to a sequel to The Substance. However, for mere mortals, the gross-out sequences will be more tolerable, because they better serve the story and the character development. Nevertheless, patrons should probably buy the smallest popcorn available, or better still, just have a light snack an hour or two before showtime. Highly recommended for fans of the subgenre (but everyone should consider themselves strongly cautioned), Saccharine opens today (5/22) in New York, at the AMC Empire.