Saccharine <\/p>\n
\ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d7 <\/p>\n
Director: Natalie Erika James <\/p>\n
Cert: None<\/p>\n
Genre: Horror<\/p>\n
Starring: Midori Francis, Danielle Macdonald, Madeleine Madden, Robert Taylor <\/p>\n
Running Time: 1 hr 52 mins<\/p>\n
Nobody uses the word Ozempic in Saccharine, but it\u2019s unquestionably a body horror inspired by GLP-1 manipulation and disordered eating. Natalie Erika James, the writer and director of Relic<\/a>, revisits the intersection of female identity and inherited trauma with this unapologetically queasy swerve towards demanding beauty standards. <\/p>\n Arriving hot on the heels of Obsession<\/a> and Backrooms<\/a>, it confirms 2026 as the year of zeitgeist scares. Tonally, we\u2019re in similar terrain to Coralie Fargeat\u2019s The Substance<\/a>. Hana (Midori Francis) is a Japanese-American medical student in Melbourne whose perception of her body bears little resemblance to reality. <\/p>\n Her disgust is amplified by Robert Mackenzie\u2019s icky sound design: every slobbering smack of the lips is articulated. Hannah Peel\u2019s corporeal score, punctuated by distortions of breathing and mastication, is similarly disconcerting.<\/p>\n Trapped in cycles of binge eating, shame, stationary biking and relentless weight journaling, Hana becomes seduced by the promise of effortless transformation through an illicit weight-loss drug. When she discovers its grotesque origins her response is not revulsion but ghoulish ingenuity, setting in motion a supernatural nightmare in which physical transformation and moral decay become intertwined.<\/p>\n James grounds the horror in relatable experience rather than spectacle. The film burrows deep into the intestines of body dysmorphia and beauty fascism. Visually, Charlie Sarroff\u2019s cinematography redefines unappetising against a backdrop of sickly greens, bruised shadows and invasive close-ups.<\/p>\n Francis maintains a trembling vulnerability at every size, making Hana\u2019s increasingly irrational decisions feel tragically comprehensible. Danielle Macdonald and Showko Showfukutei channel warmth as women whose empathy is no match for the heroine\u2019s self-destructive impulses.<\/p>\n In common with the chilling Alzheimer\u2019s-themed Relic, James composes memorable supernatural set pieces. But the ghostly figure at the heart of the film equally functions as the inner \u201cfat girl\u201d whom Hana seeks to obliterate. A stomach-churning parting tableau snipes at a culture that monetises insecurity and conflates self-erasure and self-improvement. Don\u2019t bring popcorn. <\/p>\n