‘We have been overindulging…’
Here in the UK, we don’t really have a sense of what the concept of ‘wilderness’ actually means. You’re never too far away from an Asda on these isles, and so it’s not really possible to become properly and dangerously lost. America is a different beast. This idea of the American Badlands as some unknowable malevolent force has been used with great success for eons. The Evil Dead, Blair Witch Project, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre… heck, even Deliverance, all of these films play on that specific fear that maybe those folks in that small town that you passed through ain’t quite right. Honeydew joins this fine tradition in a way that is hypnotically and brutally effective…
Sam (Sawyer Spielberg) and Rylie (Malin Barr) are a young couple investigating a mutant strain of corn that causes mental illness after prolonged ingestion. Following some car trouble, they are taken in by Karen (Barbara Kingsley) a seemingly harmless yet eccentric elderly woman. That’s when things start to get weird.
Well… that was quite the thrill ride. Honeydew builds on the psychedelic tripiness of Midsommar and combines that with the degradation of The Hills Have Eyes to produce something truly nasty. This is not the kind of film that you will forget in a hurry and it certainly isn’t one for the faint hearted.
First time director Devereux Milburn favours a mostly psychological slow burn in the first hour of his debut feature before everything goes goddamn nuts in the final act. This is always a tough act to pull off and he mostly manages it here, despite the ending perhaps being a little too long and a little too esoteric for comfort. But then, Milburn clearly doesn’t want his audience to feel comfortable. The crudely effective score and horrifying conclusion ensure that the final few scenes pack a real punch. One particular image will no doubt return to me in the dead of night over the coming weeks. Thanks. For. That.
Honeydew is a horror film for horror film fans. Those with a passing interest in the genre will probably find this to be too much, but for those who count the days to Halloween, Honeydew represents an all too rare example of a horror film that is genuinely shocking and genuinely disturbing. Just don’t say you weren’t warned.