Saccharine (2026)
Genre: Drama / Horror
Duration: 113 minuten
Country:
Australia / Finland
Directed by: Natalie Erika James
Stars: Midori Francis, Danielle Macdonald and Madeleine Madden
IMDb score:
5,9 (4.396)
Releasedate: 22 May 2026
Saccharine plot
"What's eating you?"
Heartbroken medical student Hana joins a new dark craze. In order to lose weight, the trend is to consume human ashes. Since her participation, Hana has been haunted by a starving spirit.
Reviews & comments
orbital
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- 210 messages
- 683 votes
I thought it was okay, a bit of a variation on The Substance or something, but in a fresh way. The theme of taking on the person's spirit as soon as you eat their ashes is quite original and Bertha's story was actually quite moving. But the creepy parts were creepy enough at times. That actress had a bit of a dumb face, but if she really did lose 20 kg for this film, respect!
Translated from Dutch · View original
mrklm
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- 12505 messages
- 10541 votes
Weight-struggling medical student Hana [Midori Francis] enrolls in a fitness program to impress instructor [Madeleine Madden] and discovers a former classmate [Annie Shapero] who has lost a significant amount of weight with a miracle pill. She discovers that the pill consists of human ash and uses her anatomy classes to steal parts of a corpse, burn them, and make her own weight-loss pills. The results are astounding, but there are side effects. James confuses filth (close-ups of Hana's binge eating) and unsavory (close-ups of the dissected corpse) with horror. In fact, this is a banal melodrama about a young woman with a negative self-image and a severe eating disorder, with some creepy elements. The plot is far too thin (!) for a feature film, and James clearly didn't know how to wrap it up. The denouement is downright lazy, and the intended shocking twist at the end is merely a desperate attempt to conceal that.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Drulko Vlaschjan
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- 512 messages
- 445 votes
Not a film I would recommend to others, but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. The dialogue is sometimes a bit clumsy and you shouldn't think too long about the plot, because there is something wrong with it everywhere. Just try performing surgery on yourself while on ketamine. That bothers me immensely in big productions, but here I could forgive the makers. The film has a certain charm; somehow you feel that it was made with love, and that makes up for a lot.
There are definitely some funny scenes in it as well. I didn't find it really suspenseful anywhere, let alone scary. You can indeed also view it as a student drama with some horror elements, as mrklm writes.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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