A month before its debut in theaters — after which it’ll head to Shudder — Natalie Erika James’ Saccharine is offering a terrifying commentary on diet culture in its first trailer. Courtesy of Bloody Disgusting, we have our first look at the upcoming film, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Saccharine is James’ third film, after partnering with Shudder to release her debut film Relic, followed by the Rosemary’s Baby prequel Apartment 7A, and stars Midori Francis, Danielle Macdonald, and Madeleine Madden. The film follows Francis’s Hana, a lovelorn medical student who finds herself in deep trouble when she begins eating human ashes as a way to lose weight, only to find herself terrorized by a sinister force from beyond the grave.
“Saccharine is a love letter – to anyone who has grown up wishing their body was different, to anyone who has felt imprisoned by self-destructive impulses, to my family and the hidden pain we carried, and to myself,” James says. “Shame can often drive self-destruction, but bringing compassion, acceptance and light to your darkness, is the only way its power dissolves. As Hana learns in the most brutal way, healing and recovery are not places we arrive at, but an ongoing path.”
James writes, directs, and produces Saccharine, alongside producers Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw. The film joins an impressive lineup of projects coming to Shudder in 2026, a list that also includes the Adams Family’s Mother of Flies, Beast of War, Dolly, Forbidden Fruits, The Mortuary Assistant, and more.
“Natalie announced herself as a singular force with her haunting debut Relic, a film that we were privileged to bring to audiences in 2020 via IFC Midnight,” said Shudder’s Emily Gotto when they acquired the film back in January. “With Saccharine, she returns with a chilling, utterly original vision that pierces our deepest obsessions with body image, reaffirming her work as a leading voice in genre cinema”.
Saccharine hits theaters on May 22. Stay tuned to FANGORIA for more updates.
