Fresh
Hulu | Release Date (Streaming): March 4, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
7
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesSarah-Tai BlackMar 4, 2022
It doesn’t just offer up the most palatable aspects of horror as a genre; instead, it pushes it to its limits through a complete, and undoubtedly satisfying, reworking. Read full review
90
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonMar 3, 2022
A wickedly funny cannibal romance and dazzling feature debut from the director Mimi Cave. Read full review
83
ColliderTherese LacsonApr 25, 2022
The concept is an exciting new vehicle for a spin on some well-worn tropes, giving them a facelift for today's audiences. If this is just the beginning, then the future looks bright. Read full review
83
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiJan 22, 2022
Mimi Cave knows how to captivate and how to repulse, usually at the same time. She knows how to make us laugh and hate ourselves for laughing. “Fresh” is a breakneck emotional roller coaster, and like many roller coasters, it’ll also make your stomach churn. Read full review
83
IndieWireNatalia WinkelmanJan 22, 2022
Cave has an imaginative sense of camera placement, and she’s an expert at inserting ultra-close-up shots at precisely the right moment to induce a laugh, gasp, or shiver. Her camera is always in service of the story, rather than distracting from it with artifice. Read full review
80
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJun 15, 2022
Fresh is instead a grim slice of visceral entertainment, occasionally dressed up as something weightier. When the script indicates toward its intent—especially in the final climax, when a couple of clunky, theme-driven lines threaten to derail the whole thing—the cool flint of what’s come before loses a bit of its edge. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesTara BradyMar 18, 2022
It is equally a solid genre effort, characterised by gory set-pieces, discombobulating scenarios, and welcome lashings of feminist revenge. Read full review
80
EmpireSophie ButcherMar 17, 2022
It’s as subtle as a sledgehammer, but Fresh’s audacious storytelling, full-throated performances and accomplished direction make for a tasty, wildly entertaining concoction. Deliciously deranged stuff from Mimi Cave and writer Lauryn Kahn. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatt MaytumMar 16, 2022
Debut director Mimi Cave and screenwriter Lauren Kahn maintain a sure grip over the tonal shifts, ensuring the messages don’t drown out the entertainment factor. Read full review
80
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Chandler LevackMar 13, 2022
The first 90 minutes is an audacious shock, petering out with an exceptionally messy and chaotic climax. But while Fresh takes obvious cues from Get Out and Promising Young Woman, it’s something unique, a balm to any singleton that promises to turn you off online dating and red meat forever. Read full review
80
IGNRafael MotamayorMar 11, 2022
Fresh delivers a full-course meal with dazzling cinematography, disturbing imagery, and one of the best horror performances of the past few years. Sebastian Stan joins the pantheon of horror psychopaths as this delightfully gory movie explores the world of modern dating. Read full review
80
SlashfilmShania RussellJan 24, 2022
Fresh is shameless and hilariously audacious, anticipating critique even when it can't quite offer a response. But the film happily rolls with the punches, so self-assured that you're hard-pressed to let the flaws win out. Because even if its commentary won't linger, the experience of "Fresh" is something to savor. Read full review
80
Screen DailyAllan HunterJan 22, 2022
The central performances give the film its conviction and keep you intrigued about the twisted, see-sawing power dynamics between captor and captive. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenJan 22, 2022
T​his​ smart and taboo-defying social ​​horror draws you in before abruptly bearing its teeth. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeJan 22, 2022
Fresh comes across as a carefree bit of bloody fun. But there’s considerably more going on beneath the surface, and the allegory is open-ended enough to hit a range of viewers on different levels. Read full review
80
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJan 22, 2022
For those who like their dating movies with a bit of gristle, Fresh is a perfect match. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 4, 2022
I don’t for a moment believe the film has widespread, mainstream appeal (hence the decision of Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures to bypass theatrical distribution in favor of a Hulu premiere) but for those who enjoy stews that mix warped comedy with twisted horror, it hits the spot. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyMar 4, 2022
Allow the tongue-in-cheek “Fresh” to satisfy your appetite for a generous helping of heartening sisterhood and eradicate your cravings for a juicy burger, possibly forever. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussMar 2, 2022
While “Fresh” is intentionally not for every taste, it’s an uncompromising feminist horror/thriller with a fantastic lonely girl/victim/heroine for Edgar-Jones to play. Read full review
75
UproxxVince ManciniJan 25, 2022
It’s silly without being stupid, smart without being dull, and broad without being corny. It’s a hell of a feature debut for Mimi Cave and a solid sophomore effort for Lauryn Kahn. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJan 23, 2022
Cave has a smart, stylish way of storytelling that somehow makes a film built on bone saws and grotesqueries feel almost breezy. Read full review
70
PolygonTasha RobinsonMar 4, 2022
By the end of Fresh, the film hasn’t done anything more than restating what it made clear at the start: Dating is hell, and women deserve more than to be treated like pieces of meat. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterAngie HanJan 22, 2022
Regarded as a whole, Fresh is a success — a taste of its creative talents’ abilities that leave the viewer hungry for more. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeMar 2, 2022
Despite its bolder choices, however, Fresh doesn’t push the body horror as far as it could, and works better as an empowerment fable than as an actual thriller. Read full review
60
Paste MagazineJacob OllerJan 24, 2022
It’s still a bit of a romp, but sacrificing both its logical plotting and dark humor with shortcuts (and not quite having an ending, just kind of stopping once it’s out of gas), cuts the legs out from under Fresh. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyJan 23, 2022
The film gets too caught up in its svelte, talky stylings to stay properly watertight as a suspense piece, and when it goes for broke in the last reel, it has too many characters – major and minor – behaving like buffoons. It definitely could have ended better. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedMar 7, 2022
Although it’s a sick and depraved menu, director Mimi Cave’s direction, for the most part, strives to be different—and succeeds. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreMar 4, 2022
Like a lot of movies these days, Fresh feels like it was conceived through its themes first and then written to bolster those ideas, rather than from the perspective of character or story. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 23, 2022
Screenwriter Lauryn Kahn and director Mimi Cave take a broad swipe at “Just give me a smile,” sexism and the objectification of women. Their aim is dark comedy — darker than dark, darker even than “Promising Young Woman.” But the chuckles are mostly in the finale. Read full review
50
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiJan 23, 2022
All told, Fresh has a lot of potential even though it doesn’t fully deliver. Cave makes a case for herself in a directorial debut that is ambitious, even when all the pieces don’t seamlessly fit together. Read full review
40
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyMar 17, 2022
To frame it in Fresh’s own language, all we get here is a single bite – not the whole steak. Read full review
33
The Film StageMitchell BeaupreJan 23, 2022
From the opening act, the film reeks of well past their expiration date cliches regarding toxic men in our modern dating culture and the ways they commodify women to be conquests rather than people. The trouble is that FRESH doesn’t treat any of its characters as more than commodities either. Read full review
25
The PlaylistElena LazicJan 22, 2022
Neither an exciting thriller nor a satisfactory (“elevated”) horror metaphor for one of society’s ills, FRESH is certified meh. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineMark HansonJan 25, 2022
Fresh is pitched as a kind of genre corrective, except its tone-deaf cheekiness only results in a feeling of dreary regression. Read full review
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