(director/writer: Natalie Erika James; cinematographer: Charlie Sarroff; editor: Sean Lahiff; music: Hannah Peel; cast: Midori Francis (Hana), Danielle Macdonald (Josie), Madeleine Madden (Alanya), Showko Showfukutei (Kimie, Hana’s Japanese mom), Robert Taylor (Travis); Runtime: 112; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Anna McLeish, Sarah Shaw, Natalie Erika James; Carver Films/IFC/XYZ Films; 2026-Australia)

“Unfulfilling body horror pic on eating disorders.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
 
Japanese-Australian writer-director Natalie Erika James (“Apartment 7A”/”Relic”) creeps us out with this unfulfilling body horror pic on eating disorders and the latest nutty fad in diets.
 
The Japanese-American med student Hana (Midori Francis) participates at the local gym in a 12-week weight loss program run by the trainer Alanya (Madeleine Madden).
 
But Hana changes diet plans when meeting unexpectedly a trusted friend from high school, Melissa (Annie Shapero), who was overweight as a teenager but is now slim. She tells Hana about the new pills she takes called “the Gray,” whereby you can easily lose weight because the fat just falls off you. Hana tries them and now can eat everything without gaining any weight. But the pills are made of human ash and are expensive. She therefore teams up with another dieting med student, Josie (Danielle Macdonald), and they cut-up a human cadaver in class they dub ‘Big Bertha’ so they can find a way to make their own ash pills from Bertha’s corpse to save money.

But Bertha’s ghost supposedly objects to what the med students are doing to her corpse and starts tormenting Hana through supernatural ways.

The unconventional diet film doesn’t work because the story is not believable, but I can appreciate Francis’s appetizing performance that has her dressed mostly in an embarrassing fat suit while performing.

It played at the Sundance Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 5/26/2026  GRADE: C+
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