{"id":2869,"date":"2026-06-03T20:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T20:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/06\/03\/saccharine-director-and-star-break-down-their-accidentally-timely-body-horror-film\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T20:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T20:25:00","slug":"saccharine-director-and-star-break-down-their-accidentally-timely-body-horror-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/06\/03\/saccharine-director-and-star-break-down-their-accidentally-timely-body-horror-film\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Saccharine\u2019 Director and Star Break Down Their Accidentally Timely Body Horror Film"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\t \t \t\t<\/svg>\t\tLogo text<\/span> \t<\/a> <\/p>\n

\tWriter-director Natalie Erika James<\/a>\u2019 latest film Saccharine<\/a><\/em> feels as timely as it could be, even if the director didn\u2019t necessarily intend for that to happen. <\/p>\n

\tThe psychological horror<\/a> film tackles weight loss, diet culture, obsession and addiction. Watching the film, it would be fair to assume that James might\u2019ve felt inspired by the recent return of the early aughts\u2019 outlook on weight loss and the rise of GLP-1 medications, however, the filmmaker chalks it up to an unfortunately evergreen conversation. <\/p>\n

\t\u201cI always knew I wanted to create a film or write a story exploring this kind of subject matter, which had a lot to do with how I was brought up, but certainly in the early 2000s \u2014 there were those tabloids where bodies were being torn apart,\u201d the filmmaker tells The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> on a recent Zoom. \u201cIt felt like there was a time when we stepped away from that [diet culture], but in a way I feel like it\u2019s just been lying dormant or cultures swinging in certain ways.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tFilmmaker Natalie Erika James. <\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tIn the film, actress Midori Francis<\/a> plays Hana, a medical student who becomes terrorized by a sinister force after partaking in the latest dieting fad \u2014 eating human ashes. James says the film isn\u2019t a direct reaction to the current moment, but that things have become even more \u201cinsidious\u201d due to social media showing what only tabloids previously did.<\/p>\n

\tSaccharine<\/em> is far from the first film to use body horror to analyze the beauty standards in modern times \u2014 2024\u2019s Oscar-winning The Substance<\/em> was a cultural moment in and of itself. James and Francis both understand the unique position that the genre has in telling stories like this, even if audiences might not expect the genre to be leading this conversation. \u201cHorror is amazing at externalizing what\u2019s internal and allowing you to play with quite extreme or surreal imagery to depict that,\u201d notes the filmmaker. \t<\/p>\n

\tFrancis agrees. \u201cThat was my initial reaction to reading the script, that this is not the vehicle I would instinctively think to tackle this issue, and yet it works so well,\u201d the actress says.<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tFrancis as Hana in Saccharine<\/em>.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of IFC Films<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tThe actress found herself holding onto the kernels of truth in the story, even when things seemed outlandish. \u201cNo matter how otherworldly or absurd things got, it was always rooted in the feelings of being in the grips of compulsion or obsession or body checking,\u201d she says. \u201cHow it can sometimes feel, when you\u2019re dealing with a mental battle or struggle or addiction, nobody sees what\u2019s going on, but it\u2019s so loud inside your own brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI loved how loud parts of the movie are to distract and contrast the internal pressure that goes on inside one\u2019s head at times, even the dopamine sequences,\u201d says Francis, whose film uses surreal imagery to depict the dopamine-fueled highs that can come along with binging. <\/p>\n

\tBoth James and Francis have witnessed memorable and unexpected reactions to the film. James notes that it\u2019s easy to forget how \u201cvisceral\u201d body horror can be. \u201cSomeone in our Sundance screening apparently passed out and then had to leave,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect that it would be to that extreme.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tFrancis also noted how audiences reacted to her after seeing her character on screen. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing a lot of Q&As after, and it\u2019s interesting to see people feel a little uneasy by my presence,\u201d the actress says. \u201cAfter the credits role, I think, \u2018Are they scared of me?\u2019\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tThe actress recalls a family member hoping for a happy ending, something that James admits Francis asked her about in the beginning. <\/p>\n

\tEither way, the actress is clearly happy with the final story \u2014 she constantly praises James and admits she\u2019s only interested in horror when there\u2019s a point to it. \u201cEating disorders [and] addiction [are] all things very personal to me, personal to afflictions shared by my family. I knew that whoever wrote this script that there was an authenticity there, a real voice and it was bold,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\tFrancis just might appreciate boldness the most. She adds, \u201cNat has that in spades.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t \t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>

\t \t\t\t\t\tFrancis as Hana in Saccharine<\/em>.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of IFC Films<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tJames knew the film was always going to be challenging for some viewers. \u201cIt\u2019s just confronting to even talk about it openly, or even depict binging on screen\u2026 It\u2019s just a very intense thing and certainly requires trigger warnings,\u201d the director says.<\/p>\n

\tWhile the film does not have an actual trigger warning that appears onscreen, James has been transparent about its subject matter. She explains that Saccharine<\/em> is not necessarily the film that those at their darkest point or struggling with these topics should be watching.<\/p>\n

\tJames also speaks to the feedback they\u2019ve received of the choice to have menace in the film being a larger character. \u201cI think you have to see it through Hana\u2019s very distorted lens,\u201d she says. \u201cThe growth of the ghost is her own projection of her fears and those fears are due to her childhood, but also internalizing pressures from the culture that she lives in, which is very fatphobic.\u201d<\/strong> \t<\/p>\n

\tThe director explains that there\u2019s a very real weight stigma that exists in society and that due to that it\u2019s often suggested that being in a larger body is somehow a moral failing. \u201cI hope that people just go beyond the surface reading of that and look at what journey Hana is actually on to unpack those beliefs within herself as well,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\tAs for Francis, she believes that Hana is missing the point and is afraid of the wrong thing. \u201cHana [is] complicit in this societal belief that the worst thing in her life could be to be ending up in that larger body,\u201d the actress says.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cUltimately the worst thing is Hana,\u201d she adds. \u201cShe, and all of the shame inside of her she doesn\u2019t address, is the monster at the end of this movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t***<\/p>\n

\tSaccharine is now playing in theaters and begins streaming on Shudder on July 24. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Logo text Writer-director Natalie Erika James\u2019 latest film Saccharine feels as timely as it could be, even if the director didn\u2019t necessarily intend for that to happen. The psychological horror film tackles weight loss, diet culture, obsession and addiction. Watching the film, it would be fair to assume that James might\u2019ve felt inspired by the recent return of the early aughts\u2019 outlook on weight loss and the rise of GLP-1 medications, however, the filmmaker chalks it up to an unfortunately evergreen conversation. \u201cI always knew I wanted to create a film or write a story exploring this kind of subject matter, which had a lot to do with how I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1698,1699,164,60,1700,1701],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hollywood","category-horror","category-midori-francis","category-movie-features","category-movies","category-natalie-erika-james","category-saccharine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}