User Reviews

"Fresh Hell" is a very weird little entry in the "video meeting during the pandemic" horror film. As of June 11, 2022, it appears that this will be the first non-fake review, so here goes --

"Fresh Hell" is set during 2020, and is presented in a series of "Acts" that are broken up with news reports to give us a sense of the timeframe in which the film is taking place. The movie begins with a video reunion of a group of classmates. The classmates are an hilariously and absurdly diverse group, and I believe that is intended to be ironic since in the course of the film we will have jokes about BLM and QAnon, among others. Seven of the eight show up and spend a bunch of time sort of goofing around while waiting for Laura, the eighth student. Suddenly, Laura appears to join the meeting but instead of Laura it's some bizarre guy in a huge beard that is definitely not Laura. He calls himself "The Stranger" and after acting in a totally unhinged manner for a while, he ups the ante by showing images of Laura being abused and then going truly off the deep end. Afterwards, the remaining friends are not sure if what they saw was real or fake. And then it appears that maybe someone is targeting them, but no-one can be sure if it's real or not...

"Fresh Hell" is a mixed bag. It starts very slowly, while we watch the seven friends in a seemingly endless chat. Finally the "Stranger" shows up and we enter some serious "WTF?" territory and movie moves along briskly, even if it's awfully familiar territory. Possibly the biggest flaw, though, is the ending, which is pretty much just one of the longest and most drawn-out "Villain Monologues" ever put on film.

But it does some things well. It takes its violence seriously and doesn't shy away from showing it. The middle part -- the strength of the film -- is pretty unnerving at times. It appears that it is trying to say something meaningful, however clumsily it's trying. But the bad is bad. It takes way too long to get going, and the ending is really underwhelming.

While nothing to get excited about, "Fresh Hell" is not the worst of the pandemic-era "Video Meeting" movies, so it's not a terrible way to spend 90 minutes.

I enjoyed it very much until the end. I HATE HATE HATE movies that never give the audience the motivation or reason for the villain's actions. That is called TRICKING THE AUDIENCE and it is nothing but irritating. It's one thing to "give the audience something to think about", but when the movie never gives a motive, it ruins it for me. Sorry, but the ending ruined what could have been a better-than-decent horror flick.

Created by a group of Chicago theatre artists locked out of their livelihoods by the pandemic, Fresh Hell was a movie I thought I'd struggle through. No offense to directors Ryan Imhoff (who also wrote the script and plays The Stranger) and Matt Neal, but I'm on Microsoft Teams all day for work and struggle to get through up to ten virtual meetings a day. Could I handle one in my non-work free time?

Grace (Lanise Antoine Shelley), James (Randolph Thompson), Kara (Christine Vrem-Ydstie), Cynthia (Crystal Kim), Brian (Tyler Owen Parsons), Scott (Will Mobley), Todd (Rob Fagin) and Laura (Christina Reis) all gather for a video chat and by the end, The Stranger appears in place of their friend Laura. Their call ends with him knowing too much about them, hints that Laura is dead and the sinister man slicing his own cock off and showing the bloody wound left behind.

This is where the film changed and brought me in. Grace lost her sister in the early days of COVID-19 and while everyone else thinks Laura's death is some kind of joke, she worries that what they've seen may be real. That's when The Stranger starts coming for everyone else.

Mwanwhile, Scott has become an alt-right firebrand, human puppies show up in the background of the others when Grace tries to warn them and then the finale is an on-stage talk show with the surviving characters and The Stranger, which again, is unexpected.

I'm glad I stuck with this movie. I was honestly expecting it to be background noise, but it becomes more deranged, unsettled and surprising as it goes on. And isn't that what we want from movies these days? Trust me: stick around for that first videochat and then buckle up.

This film eats. It draws you in by providing much more than just a set of characters; it makes them any bodies - easily relatable for viewers. The dynamics between friends felt a little forced, and that was perfect for how ZOOM calls went during the pandemic. The triviality of each characters' drivers (outside of the main character who lost her sister) planted the bait for feeling meh about some of them biting it which is ideal for a horror film. It kept me guessing and made me wonder, without really wanting to know anymore. The final delivery by Imhoff in the theater scene is nothing short of deliberate genius. Everything about how disgusting he makes it feel is so tangible. It's exactly what I never expected it to be and that's why I loved it. Something FRESH and, if I may, HELLISH!