When Diana (Grace Glowicki) and Homer (Ben Petrie) arrive at the isolated country estate they will call home for the coming weeks, it’s already clear that the place is surrounded by a sense of dread. A woman exiting the facility seems in a stupor, and the groundskeeper is kinda creepy, a strange aura around him.
The couple is at a rehabilitation facility at the recommendation of their doctor; a place they hope will help Diana after a brain injury. But as you might immediately expect things are not exactly as they seem, and their methods are certainly unconventional. Directors Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli, whose previous film Violation played TIFF in 2020, deliver the strange in their newest feature Honey Bunch.
What starts as a seemingly straight forward horror, with a few jump scares and an overall sense of dread quickly turns into a twisted, eerie, ethics nightmare. It’s also rife with some pretty dreadful sounds (if the sound of someone vomiting is a trigger, perhaps stay clear.)
Jason Isaacs, India Brown and Kate Dickie round out a game supporting cast in this unconventional look at grief that could easily have been part of the midnight madness program. It definitely leans into that feel for its grand finale. While some score choices can feel a little tonally strange, Honey Bunch is at the very least a film that will keep you guessing, and at its best a supremely deranged love story.
Image Credit: Courtesy of TIFF
- Rated: Unrated
- Genre: Horror, Thriller
- Release Date: 9/10/2025
- Directed by: Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine Sims-Fewer
- Starring: Ben Petrie, Grace Glowicki, India Brown, Jason Issacs, Kate Dickie
- Produced by: Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Rebecca Yeboah
- Written by: Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine Sims-Fewer
- Studio: Cat People, IPR.VC, Rhombus Media, XYZ Films
