“Fresh” wants to be a date-night thriller, a comedy of errors about bad choices, and a genuine horror movie about a man who eats people. It mostly succeeds at two out of three.
Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Noa, a woman from Portland tired of online dating. She meets Steve at the grocery store, exchanges numbers, and the two bond over several dates. Then Steve invites Noa for a weekend getaway, and everything goes wrong. Noa drinks a drugged cocktail and wakes up chained to the floor, where Steve reveals he is a butcher of human meat who sells his product to rich cannibals.
The setup is simple and effective. Noa is a relatable protagonist, and Steve is a creep who is oddly charming until the reveal. Sebastian Stan plays Steve with a quiet menace that keeps him likable even as the plot descends into horror. The film understands that the worst monsters are the ones you want to trust.
Trailer, via Hulu.
The Date-Night Setup
The film leans heavily on the date-night formula popularized by films like “Cyrus” and “Don’t Breathe.” The premise is that a woman agrees to a romantic getaway only to find herself in danger. “Fresh” follows this template closely, with Noa’s best friend Mollie warning her against the trip and Noa ignoring her anyway. The film knows this ground well, and it plays the slow burn with confidence.
The problem is that the formula is now familiar territory. Viewers know exactly what is coming, and the film does not offer much new beyond the expected beats. The tension comes less from suspense than from dread, since the audience knows the trap before Noa does.
The Captivity Sequence
Once Noa is captured, the film shifts into full horror mode. She is chained to the floor, told she will be kept alive to keep her meat fresh, and warned that Steve will harvest pieces of her body over time. This is where the film finds its strongest footing. The captivity sequence is tense, well-paced, and genuinely disturbing without relying on gore for effect.
Noa speaks to Penny, another captive in an adjacent cell, who describes multiple meat harvests and warns of a woman named Melissa who has gone insane. These conversations add depth to the horror, making the threat feel personal rather than abstract. The film understands that fear is more effective when it has a face.
The Investigation Thread
Meanwhile, Mollie investigates Steve’s identity. She discovers he is actually named Brendan, that he is married to a woman named Ann, and that he has children. Mollie visits Ann and confronts her, but Ann realizes she has been exposed and knocks Mollie unconscious. The investigation thread runs parallel to Noa’s captivity and adds a layer of stakes beyond Noa’s immediate survival.
Dayo Okeniyi plays Paul, a bartender who served Noa and Steve on their first date, and he helps Mollie with her search. The investigation subplot is solid, though it occasionally feels like padding. It keeps the film from becoming a single-location ordeal and gives the story some scope.
The Tone Problem
Where “Fresh” stumbles is in tone. The film wants to be a comedy-thriller-horror hybrid, but the tones clash. The romantic-comedy setup is light and breezy, while the horror sequences are grim and violent. The film tries to balance these extremes, but the result is a tonal whiplash that can be jarring.
The tagline, “It’s not for everyone,” hints at this instability. Some viewers will find the humor off-putting, while others will find the horror too mild. The film never commits fully to either mode, and that indecision shows in the final product.
The Ending
The film builds to a climax that ties the threads together. Noa escapes, Mollie survives, and Steve gets what is coming to him. The ending is satisfying, though it feels rushed. The film could have spent more time on the aftermath, but it chooses to end on a note of closure rather than lingering on the trauma.
“Fresh” is a competent, entertaining genre hybrid that never quite reaches greatness. It is well-acted, well-paced, and well-written, but it is also predictable and tonally inconsistent. The captivity sequence is a highlight, and the overall package holds together better than its individual elements might suggest.
Key Facts Box
- Title: Fresh (2022)
- Director: Mimi Cave (directorial debut)
- Writer: Lauryn Kahn
- Runtime: 114 minutes
- Genres: Horror, Thriller, Comedy
- Release: March 4, 2022, via Hulu (US), Disney+ via Star (international)
Cast
| Role | Actor |
|---|---|
| Noa | Daisy Edgar-Jones |
| Steve / Brendan | Sebastian Stan |
| Mollie | Jojo T. Gibbs |
| Ann | Charlotte Le Bon |
| Penny | Andrea Bang |
| Paul | Dayo Okeniyi |
“Fresh” is a solid entry in the date-night horror subgenre, but it is not a reinvention. It is best enjoyed as a well-made thriller with a sharp edge, rather than a masterpiece of horror cinema.
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