With their chilling rape-revenge debut “Violation,” the filmmaking duo Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli set a new precedent for visceral, female-fronted horror. Their sophomore feature “Honey Bunch” — a competitor at Berlinale and TIFF set to release this Friday via Shudder — defies categorization. Wholly original and endlessly unexpected, “Honey Bunch” takes a slew of tropes and turns them on their heads, setting up a provocative puzzle that’s admirable, ambitious, and only occasionally vexing.
The film centers on Diana (played by Grace Glowicki, the Canadian actress and director behind “Tito” and “Dead Lover”) as she undergoes experimental treatment to recover memories she lost while in a coma. Set at a foreboding countryside estate during a bygone era, “Honey Bunch” tests the limits of marital fealty as Diana unfurls the mystery of her own mind. Her husband, Homer (played by Glowicki’s real-life romantic and creative partner, Ben Petrie), is acting strange — or maybe he was strange to begin with — and the woman in charge of Diana’s care, Farah (Kate Dickie, “The Green Knight”), is even nuttier. As Diana succumbs to strange visions and uncovers the truth about the house’s former mistress, it’s clear there is some conspiracy afoot.
If you know anything about Gothic romance, you’ll think you’ve got this thriller cracked right away — Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli are counting on it. Whether Diana is seeing ceramic bunnies where she thought she saw wedding rings or receiving dubious prescriptions from an absentee doctor, “Honey Bunch” is a movie in which the protagonist is constantly questioning her own mind, and its filmmakers are the ultimate unreliable narrators. (Sims-Fewer, who starred as the lead in “Violation,” has even winkingly cast herself as the estate’s departed matriarch.) With its retro art direction and costuming, old-timey tunes, and zoom-happy camerawork, this film harkens back to countless tales of hoodwinked damsels and their deceptive lovers. But can there ever be a noble reason to gaslight the one you love?
“Honey Bunch” gleefully tackles that question in its second act, and though its answers aren’t wholly satisfying, the journey to them is fun as hell. Glowicki makes a meal of her role, her Jennifer Tilly-ish voice belying jagged depths, and the supporting cast is also excellent — particularly Jason Isaacs and India Brown, who are as frightening as they are compelling as another patient/caregiver duo at the estate. The sets are incredible, and not only because of the film’s vibrant vintage aesthetic. Production designer Joshua Howard Turpin (“V/H/S/94”) has built a world lush with details, including prescient rabbit imagery and a series of plot-relevant, deliciously creepy oil paintings.
As it comes to a scorching close, “Honey Bunch” occasionally veers from experimental into nonsensical, from affectation into mawkishness. Still, it’s refreshing to see a film with such an unapologetic vision, no matter its blind spots. It also helps to remember that these are the same filmmakers whose first movie culminated in a woman grinding her rapist’s bones up and mixing them into vanilla ice cream. “Honey Bunch” is a work of art, but it won’t go down easily for everyone, and it’s sure to be divisive. Definitely watch it with a friend or loved one — whether you’re picking apart the plot holes or reveling in the reveal, you’ll need to debrief afterward. [B]
