![‘Saccharine’ Review Roundup [Sundance]](https://www.dreadcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Saccharine-Still_2-scaled.jpg "‘Saccharine’ Review Roundup [Sundance]")
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The first major Sundance Film Festival acquisition announcement was that IFC and Shudder had picked up Relic director Natalie Erika James’ supernatural body horror Saccharine from XYZ Films ahead of its world premiere.
There is much hype behind the film, which tells the story of a lovelorn medical student who is terrorized by a sinister force after taking part in an obscure weight-loss craze: eating human ashes.
Saccharine was written and directed by James, marking her third feature following her psychological horror debut Relic (released by IFC Midnight) and Apartment 7A, a Rosemary’s Baby prequel starring Julia Garner.
IFC and Shudder will be bringing us Saccharine this year, but what did critics think out of the ongoing Sundance Film Festival?
“But the stakes continue to elevate throughout the film, with the mental health woes merely serving as an appetizer for the real gross-out moments James has in store,” teases Deadline‘s Glenn Garner. “Albeit about 30 minutes too long, Saccharine poses the question of whether the shortcuts are worth the results, a valid query in the Ozempic era. But perhaps slimming the film down by a few scenes wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”
“Relic director Natalie Erika James has returned to making metaphorical horror that pulls no punches,” writes TheWrap‘s Chase Hutchinson. “…the film’s flaws are mostly smoothed over in the moments where James wields a more focused thematic scalpel to cut through the skin and find something more unsettling and unexpected in the final stretch.”
From Matt Beglia on Letterboxd: “Unfortunately, Natalie Erika James’s story never quite seems to know where it wants to go, growing increasingly silly as the overextended runtime chomps away at you.”
David Cook writes on Geeks: “Saccharine is a quiet, thoughtful film that uses restraint as its primary weapon. It doesn’t shock or overwhelm, but it unsettles in subtler, more lasting ways.
“…in her apparent eagerness to stuff all manner of ideas, themes, and gross-out scenes into the body-horror joint, James can lose sight of the real meat of her tale,” writes Kate Erbland at Indiewire, adding this gem: “It is also, and this cannot be overstated, really, really gross.“
Here are some social reactions:
SACCHARINE is IT FOLLOWS meets THE PORTRAIT OF DORIAN GRAY.
A fierce, gross, and flinching look at our identity with our own body and food.
Natalie Erika Jones handles the subject with deep awareness and confidence.
Natalie is 3 for 3 with me.#Sundance pic.twitter.com/GAeQtl8Ohk
— Slasher Reviews 〇° @ Sundance Film Festival (@SlasherReviews) January 23, 2026
SACCHARINE starts off effectively, plunging us into its protagonist’s perception of herself, her body, and her relationship with food through an immersive, subjective style that reminded me of “The Substance.” Unfortunately, Natalie Erika James’s story never quite seems to know… pic.twitter.com/9lsYfSr1td
— Matt Neglia @Sundance (@NextBestPicture) January 23, 2026
Babe wake up, the year’s first great body horror just dropped. Natalie Erika James’ SACCHARINE is terrific & Midori Francis’ performance will surely go down as one of #Sundance 2026’s bests. Not for the faint of heart but this midnight crowd ate every minute up. (Bad pun.) 🙃
— Tomris Laffly (@TomiLaffly) January 23, 2026
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