Fresh is the Scary Reality Based on the Horrors of Dating

I’m going to start off this movie review right off by saying:

I LOVE THIS MOVIE.

I have seen Fresh about 5 times at this point. I’m not sure what it is about this movie…but I always find myself going back to watch it. The premise to this movie is pretty sick and original.

I FREAKING LOVE IT.

What if you met the perfect guy one day after a horrible time of dating?

But…he turns out to be a complete psychopath?

And…things are ten times worse than you think?

Fresh begins with a picture-perfect love story.

A young woman named Noa is tired of online dating. After a terrible date with some guy named Chad (yes, that was his real name) Noa is obviously done with using dating apps at this point.

During a random day after Noa spends some time with her best friend, Mollie, and unsuccessfully not getting to meet anyone on the dating app again, Noa decides to head to the grocery store to purchase food for her house.

This is where Noa meets the perfect guy.

His name is Steve.

He is charming.

Funny.

Handsome.

Witty.

He doesn’t use social media.

He’s the real deal.

Noa and Steve hit it off at the grocery store, and they go on a date.

The date goes perfectly well, but right away, the audience is aware that this guy...may be hiding something sinister.

There are so many weird red flags in the first half of the film, and Noa’s own best friend, Mollie, keeps warning her that something doesn’t feel right.

That weird feeling continues to build up as Steve asks Noa to come away with him to a place called Cottage Grove.

Noa agrees, and then the couple heads to a beautiful getaway cabin together. When they arrive, Noa appears to be a little confused when Steve briefly mentions that the Wi-Fi signal is down, indicating that Noa can’t contact Mollie to let her know how she is doing.

Then Noa accepts a drink made by Steve, and not surprisingly, Steve drugs her and she passes out.

Then we finally get our title card sequence to the film, 30 minutes into the movie.

That’s a ballsy move right there, and that was when I knew I was in for a wild ride.

Noa is pulled into a fight for survival when she realizes that Steve is a part of a cannibal operation for the elite.

At this point in the movie, it feels like I started watching a completely different story. I couldn’t believe what Steve revealed to Noa, stating that he is part of a dark operation for the elite.

And that his job requires Steve to kidnap women and slowly cut them into pieces to feed to this cannibal group. Noa freaks the hell out, and tries her best to escape from Steve's capture. She fails miserably, and as punishment, Steve cuts off her ass.

I'm not kidding. He cuts off her butt as punishment for trying to outsmart him.

Noa forms an unexpected alliance with a woman named Penny, who is one of the women who has been stuck in this hellhole for a long time, slowly losing her limbs. Another poor woman named Melissa had lost her mind, and was killed offscreen by Steve.

Noa then receives a message through a magazine that Steve gives her to keep her occupied, that was once given to another mystery woman that was killed offscreen. Apparently, Noa is special, and she decides to use this to her advantage to manipulate Steve.

To prove to Steve that she is 'special,' Noa decides to try out human meat for the first time. She tells Steve is it delicious, and she pretends to show interest as he takes a delight in telling her about the organization he works for. Noa immediately throws up the food when she is brought back to her cell, making sure that Steve doesn't hear her.

While Noa is slowly coming up with a plan to take down Steve, Mollie is determined to find her missing friend.

Mollie ends up making discoveries of her own as she is trying to locate Noa. It turns out that Steve is a married man with two children, confirming that he truly was a two faced son of a bitch. Mollie decides to speak with his wife, and before she leaves, she makes the risky decision to ring Noa's phone, and she hears it coming from Steve's pocket.

His wife suddenly knocks Mollie out, confirming that she was a part of the operation too. We get a shocking scene with his wife too, revealing that she was missing a leg. This sequence made me wonder if she was once in Noa's shoes, using her own manipulation tactics to convince Steve to spare her.

Only in this case, she actually did love him and start a family with him...eww.

While Noa is getting ready for a date night with Steve, she discovers that Mollie was captured too.

After Noa is about to convince Steve to take her out on a date, she discovers that he now has her friend under his capture too. Noa decides right then and there she must do whatever it takes to kill Steve. She goes as far to have meals of human meat again, and she tries her best to keep her composure when she realizes she had eaten a piece of Melissa.

She eventually does break, but she brushes her tears off as her 'love' for Steve, telling him that she is afraid of herself for loving the food. Steve comforts her, and Noa takes her chance to ask Steve for a dance, to go through with her full plan.

After the couple have a romantic dance session, they end up going to the bedroom. Noa takes her chance, severely injuring Steve, and then blinding him with toothpaste.

The third act of the film becomes a fight for survival with the girls against their kidnapper.

While Steve is an absolute agony over his injuries, Noa is able to save Mollie and Penny from their cells. The trio attempt to escape together, but Steve is able to catch up to the girls. The four of them get into a battle royale, beating the absolute crap out of each other.

Mollie wins the fight for the girls, knocking out Steve in the kitchen. The girls escape the house, but now Steve is coming after them with a gun. The trio are able to get the upper hand again, and they knock out Steve. Noa kills Steve with his own gun, finally getting rid of the man who caused her and her friends so much pain.

Steve's wife shows up when she suspects her husband of cheating on her, and she doesn't seem all that surprised when she finds his body. She tells the henchmen with her to dispose of his body, and goes after Noa. She attacks Noa, trying to kill her, and Mollie comes to her rescue, beating her to death with a shovel.

Noa and Mollie are both exhausted, and in a hilarious reveal, Mollie tells Noa that was his wife. Noa freaks out over the fact that he was married, and out of everything that happened with Steve, I was not expecting that reveal to shock Noa as much as it did.

Noa and Mollie laugh, and the woman tell each other that they love each other, both thankful to be alive. Noa receives a text from Chad the asshole, ending the film.

Fresh is one of my favorite horror films of all time. It's a masterpiece, and has now become one of my Halloween must-see movies every October!

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn