Studio: Shudder
Director: Lars Damoiseaux
Writer: Eveline Hagenbeek, Lars Damoiseaux
Producer: Hendrix Verthe, Kobe Van Steenberghe
Stars: Maaike Neuville, Bart Hollanders, Benjamin Ramon, Clara Cleymans
Review Score:
Summary:
A trio’s trip to obtain plastic surgery at a remote medical facility uncovers a secret experiment that triggers a zombie outbreak.
Review:
Over the years, I’ve seen a number of indie horror critics “retire” or let self-owned sites lapse into 404 errors. Prior to winding down, some of these writers posted explanations echoing a common sentiment. After reviewing a countless number of redundant movies that blandly blurred together in disinterested memory banks, their passion for writing about fright films diminished due to a fear of repeating one’s self.
In other words, they didn’t just feel like they were watching the same things over and over again. They felt like they were repeatedly rewriting the same review too.
“Yummy” causes me to consider I might be approaching a similar point, if I’m not already there. It’s not that I didn’t like “Yummy.” For the most part, I’d say I enjoyed it no less or no more than any midrange horror film. It’s certainly not poorly made. Money makes its way onscreen in the form of lush lighting, quick-fire editing, plentiful practical effects, and expansive settings.
The issue is I can’t connect to the film in any resonant way that inspires insightful or even entertaining analysis. I’m not sure how many different ways I can articulate shrugging shoulders into a sentence other than, “It’s fine, I guess.” Seems like it would be more efficient to repurpose a review from any other undead film from the previous seven years. Or just say, “’Yummy’ is an okay zombie flick” and call it a day, since I only appear able to talk about it in tamely descriptive terms.
The story sort of centers on quiet nebbish Michael. Michael’s girlfriend Alison probably identified with his insecurity. She has been hiding from rude leers, gawks, and jokes about her big breasts for years. Now she’s on her way to a private medical facility in a remote corner of Europe for a procedure to chisel her chest to a smaller size.
Michael only comes along for the ride. But Alison’s materialistic mother Sylvia, who can’t stand Michael, wants to freshen her already tight face with another lift. Sylvia’s demeaning disapproval is exactly what Michael doesn’t need as he struggles to get up the nerve to propose. He also doesn’t need the hospital’s resident gigolo Daniel arrogantly hitting on Alison, but Michael has to deal with that too.
Those problems pale in comparison to what happens after Michael inadvertently releases a woman seemingly held hostage in a hidden room in the building’s basement. She’s actually a secret experiment’s Patient Zero and turning her loose turns the hospital into a gore-filled warzone.
First things first regarding that gore. I’ve seen more than one person who saw “Yummy” at a 2019 screening lament that kills occur offscreen and the FX don’t go as over-the-top into Peter Jackson insanity as they should. Those folks either saw a heavily edited version of the film or else have an astronomical standard for blood and guts no common person can comprehend.
“Yummy” is as goopy as all get out. Unforgettable sequences include a paper shredder used to amputate an arm, a reanimated torso leaving an intestine trail as it pendulums furiously forward on two hands, and an out-of-nowhere little creature that looks like something Tom Savini might have made if Jim Henson asked him to design a fraggle. Everything, and I mean everything, is then covered in barrels of chunky blood, viscera, and sometimes vomit. If “Yummy” isn’t delightfully disgusting enough for you, you’ve got issues.
You might be able to tell from those descriptions that “Yummy” streaks itself with some silliness. It’s not an out-loud laugh riot type of comedy though. It’s almost like what scattered humor there is only exists so the explosive violence doesn’t seem so seriously extreme. Almost all gags qualify as lowbrow too, so plan on butting up against recurring bits about Alison’s big breasts as well as a haywire penis enlargement that leads to an incredible amount of painful testicular trauma.
Brief blips of bonkers brilliance indicate “Yummy” could have gone so much further. Specifically, the diminutive toad creature that’s never explained and the shredded arm that’s basically a live-action cartoon suggest “Yummy” only scrapes the surface of irreverent inventiveness. Maybe that’s why the movie ends up being middling instead of outstanding.
Characterizations get what they can from performances that aren’t asked to do a whole lot. Plotlines also don’t have much going for them by way of intrigue. For instance, Daniel has a drug addiction that’s neither here nor there. He just complicates Michael and Alison’s romance in a way that’s weird for a movie whose tone oddly ends up leaning more towards dramatic than comedic.
It’s the writing that needs to provide everyone and everything with more pop. The script isn’t a dull disappointment or anything. Yet too often the story coasts on clichés like struggling with euthanizing an infected loved one, a bitten person hiding his wound, and other setups that have been standard since “Night of the Living Dead.” “Yummy” doesn’t come across like a completely pointless movie made entirely of recycled materials. But with that much familiarity floating in the air, “Yummy” could use a sharper knife to cut out its own unique niche.
Is it overall malaise or merely this one movie that explains why I don’t have a stronger reaction one way or the other? I’m not sure. I do know it took me nearly twice the runtime to make it through “Yummy” because of frequent pauses when I tuned out to indistinguishable instances of undead violence. Since I can’t totally tell what my personal opinion is, it seems three out of five stars is the fairest sticker to slap on the review score. That essentially says, “It’s fine, I guess,” right?
Review Score: 60
If you want to see impossible amounts of blood explode crimson colors like the world’s worst version of a gender reveal, well, “Abigail” at least has that.