On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark honors fringe cinema in the streaming age with midnight movies from any moment in film history.
First, the BAIT: a weird genre pick and why we’re exploring its specific niche right now. Then, the BITE: a spoiler-filled answer to the all-important question, “Is this old cult film actually worth recommending now?”
The Bait: Wow, Even Canadians Were Kids Once
We’re in the muggy middle of summer, but After Dark is coming at you from the Great White North. I’ve been in Montreal since Tuesday, and while my reporting on international affairs is generally limited, I’m happy to confirm things really are better in Canada. Getting off the airplane and stepping onto the tarmac, my restored human rights hit me like a G-force, and after an excellent breakfast this morning, I’m confident New York would lose to Quebec in a battle of the bagels. Judging the Cheval Noir competition (and catching some extra titles not in my category) at Fantasia Fest, I’ve seen a lot of great new movies this week — and even made time to double-back for tonight’s pick, “Honeycomb” (2022).
Avalon Fast is established in the Canadian genre scene, but I just learned about her watching “The Serpent’s Skin.” The 22-year-old talent plays a dreamy lesbian love interest opposite Alexandra McVicer in Alice Maio Mackay’s fresh demon romance. The magnetism that made her performance work in that seems to pulse beneath the premise of her earlier feature debut as a director. When a group of girls decide to abandon their lives for the woods of British Columbia, they establish a strange society with violent rituals.
“I wouldn’t bring anything I wasn’t ready to share… or get blood on,” says one of the teens during an early scene that suggests no one should be packing.
The girls won’t know how much they’ve lost it until the outside world comes calling, and the boys they like from school visit the bizarre abode. Sure, that sounds a little like “Lord of the Flies,” but why make the comparison when “Yellowjackets” is right there? Complete with bees, the cannibalism dramedy from Showtime was shooting in Canada around the same time as “Honeycomb.” Fast co-wrote the story with Emmett Roiko and became a feature filmmaker at just 19. (It’s worth noting that Maio Mackay is only 20 now, but who’s counting?)
Leaving letters to their families, and floating through feverish visuals, the girls exit their average existence to build a hive from the bones of “The Virgin Suicides.” At least, that’s what other people tell me. Watching just the first five minutes of “Honeycomb,” the amateur cast and chunky script seem unlikely to induce delirium. But turning the lights off and watching another five minutes, I could already feel Fast reaching into the frame and making exciting choices unusual for any director.
Before Trump 2.0 started picking fights with our neighbors, the U.S. almost always treated Canada the good guys. Now, we’re essentially restructuring our own byzantine government, and I’m dreading leaving Montreal. Maybe “Honeycomb” will scare me away. I mean, there is something upsetting about it — something that feels like this shaky 71-minute experiment (with claymation?) isn’t from a human at all.
“Honeycomb” is available to buy only on Gumroad
The Bite: Screw the Yellowjackets! Let’s Talk “Parent Trap”
Check back in a feature length! Are you watching “Honeycomb”?
IndieWire After Dark publishes midnight movie recommendations late-night on weekends. Read more of our deranged recommendations and filmmaker interviews…