Adding on to Hulu’s top 2022 horror films, “Fresh” is Mimi Cave’s first film debut. Sitting at an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, this cliché romantic comedy meets unnerving horror and addresses the struggles of modern dating as Noa, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, tries to go with the flow after meeting a stranger named Steve in a grocery store.  

Sebastian Stan’s portrayal of Steve, an outgoing, charismatic man aligns with the good-natured traits audiences love about him from his role in the Marvel universe. Unfortunately, this comes to a gut-wrenching halt when his true intentions are revealed. After he invites Noa on a romantic getaway he reveals himself as a cannibal involved in the business of selling human female meat to rich, perverted men.  

While Noa is isolated in a room in Steve’s house, accompanied by two of his other victims in the adjacent rooms, she tries to devise a plan of escaping by flattering Steve and becoming closer to him. At the same time, Noa’s best friend, Mollie, played by Jonica T. Gibbs, is on high alert and begins to search for Noa after realizing that something is not right about the Steve situation. She ends up at Steve’s house to meet with his presumed wife, to which Steve shows up and tag teams with his wife to take Mollie down.  

The film does a great job highlighting the cockiness of an evil man as Steve seems to live his life rich, joyful, and without regrets while his victims are taken apart piece by piece as time goes on. At one point, he has the audacity to tell Noa to smile more after surgically removing her buttocks. Contrary, it showcases the skills of a woman in survival as Noa’s plan to get closer to Steve makes a breakthrough when he accepts her curiosity to try human meat and insists on cooking her dinner. 

After a candlelit dinner of tenderized breast meat and dancing, Noa gets close enough to Steve to severely injure his manhood – literally – and make an escape with the other victims in the house. The film’s emphasis on Steve’s predatory and obsessive behavior is highlighted as he calls out for Noa repeatedly while chasing the group out to the fields, but Mollie and Noa join forces to eliminate both him and his wife who ends up also trying to kill Noa.  

 There seems to be a few holes in the films minor characters’ storylines, like the wife’s role as well as a friend of Mollie’s who briefly seemed like the one to save the day only to end up amounting to nothing. Perhaps the latter is an ode to women not being able to depend on others, men specifically. A New York Times review of the film also denotes the film’s overuse of ideas that leave these gaps in the plot.  

 Fresh is at times too much to swallow yet somehow leaves you hungry for more.