I walked into "Fresh Hell" with no idea what the film was going to be about and found myself surprised in the best way.
"Fresh Hell" starts off as a fairly light, comedic take on the awkward COVID-era Zoom get-togethers and works well in that respect. The characters are clearly delineated for maximum comic effect and are well-cast across the board. Lanise Antoine Shelley as Grace really grounds the proceedings with her realistic, subtle performance. A lot of the humor is topical and will age fairly quickly, but it's quickly sidelined by the appearance of the Stranger (Ryan Imhoff, in a delightfully unhinged performance) and the film quickly dives headfirst into psychological terror and gruesome shock horror. There are moments that are genuinely disgusting and hilarious at the same time and I was switching between laughing out loud and trying not to look at the screen. Directors Imhoff and Ryan Neal wring a surprising amount of suspense out of a series of video calls.
And then the film pivots yet again, broadening its perspective by letting its characters leave their screens just as the Zoom format becomes limiting. The third act shifts in tone as well, culminating in a metaphysical discussion and battle of wits between Grace and the Stranger, who monologues in true villain fashion. It's subtle and thoughtful and theatrical and yet still works in the context of the film as a whole.
The bottom line is, on paper, none of this should work. The Zoom format, the shock horror, the stage play nature of the finale - in lesser hands, this could have been a mess. But the production is solid, the performances are excellent across the board, and in the end, the film actually has something to say. Even the use of COVID-era imagery and sounds work to bookend the film and ground it in a real time and place.
It's not for the faint of heart, but for fans of thoughtful terror, "Fresh Hell" is absolutely worth the watch.
