SACCHARINE

Oh yeah, "The Grey" is actually human ash, so Hana begins producing her own by cremating the parts of "Big Bertha", the cadaver of an obese cancer patient.

But this endocannibalism brings creepy consequences as Hana begins to be haunted by a hungry ghost (mostly visible in the reflection of a spoon, and whose presence is signalled by the sound of a rumbling tummy) that grows larger while Hana's body grows smaller. The only way to ward Big Bertha off is by eating whatever is at hand (BB is also able to possess Hanna and binge eat using her body as a vessel).

Director Natalie Erika James began her career with the impressive 'Relic', and followed it up with the misjudged but sporadically fascinating 'Rosemary's Baby' prequel 'Apartment 7A'. 'Saccharine' feels flimsier than her two previous films – it's ostensibly an indictment of weight loss drugs, society's obsession with body image and the factors that can create eating disorders, but the message is muddled by the delivery – however, there is also a palpable sense of fun that wasn't present in Erika James' previous work. Perhaps it's a case of the director simply having more freedom in a local production - principal photography took place across Melbourne, including at Docklands Studios Melbourne and La Trobe University - after doing a high-pressure Hollywood follow-up to Polanski's classic.

Comparisons with Coralie Fargeat's 'The Substance' are obvious, but Erika James' film reminded me more of a combination of Fruit Chan's 'Dumplings' (about an aging actress who begins feasting on an unusual delicacy to restore her youthful good looks), the Pang Brother's 'The Eye' (featuring a blind woman who experiences terrifying ghostly encounters when she undergoes a corneal transplant and regains her sight), Sidney J. Furie's 'The Entity' (which follows a single mother in Los Angeles who is tormented by an invisible poltergeist-like spook in her home), and the artful gore of Bryan Fuller's 'Hannibal'. There is a bit of Stephen King's 'Gray Matter' in there, too.

While 'Saccharine' is fun as a blenderised mish-mash of influences, the movie's tone is uneven, casting overweight actors opposite people wearing prosthetic fat suits is weird (particularly when you consider the self-acceptance message of the film), and it isn't scary - there are tons of scenes of the ghost just standing around, reflected in convex surfaces. The scene where the character explains the plot via diary entries read aloud - "The ghost is getting stronger???" and so on – gives you an indication of how clumsy the script is.

The only area that I cannot fault 'Saccharine' is the sound design. Sound designer Robert Mackenzie captures every slobbering chomp, slurp and stomach gurgle – the little "squish" noise that one of Hana's eyeballs makes as it rolls to the side whenever she enters her fugue state being my personal favourite. It all works hand-in-hand with Hannah Peel's eerie, electronic, and unsettling score.

Like any binge-eating session, 'Saccharine' is sporadically enjoyable but ultimately messy and won't leave you feeling completely satisfied.