Externalizing Internal Feelings: A Conversation with ‘Saccharine’ Horror Filmmaker Natalie Erika James

Hana, a lovelorn medical student, becomes terrorized by a sinister force after taking part in an obscure weight-loss craze: eating human ashes.

When social commentary and body horror meet, you know you’re in for a doozy – and not in a negative context. It holds a mirror up to society, and you’re not going to like what you see. But is there hope at the end of the day? Maybe. On an individual level, perhaps. It does take work, and a whole lot of understanding, with a heavy sprinkling of compassion and empathy. And that ladies and gents, is what we’re wonderfully and thoughtfully served by writer-director Natalie Erika James’ latest feature, Saccharine.

The film examines the diet culture and eating disorders in all it’s out of whack glory. And in doing so, centers a young woman yo-yoing her body and mind into oblivion. And while there seems to be a road to closure and catharsis, Natalie gives us a nudge, knocking you off course… with that ending. No spoilers. You’ll just have to watch to experience for yourself.

Natalie Erika James discusses with Script her personal connection to the film and exploring it through a horror lens, the importance of dialing in the visual language, her collaboration with her prosthetics team in designing Hana’s physical and emotional decline, and what she hopes audiences take away from the film.  

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Sadie Dean: Let’s first talk about finding your way into this story and tapping into that vulnerability.

Natalie Erika James: I think, in a way, I've been writing this film for so many years. As you can probably tell by the film, a lot of it is drawn from personal experience growing up with parents who really are on opposite sides of the spectrum in terms of how they cope with food or deal with their… When I was growing up, there were no films that felt like that to me or were really exploring that subject matter in this particular way. So, I think I always knew I wanted to tackle it.

Horror is a real passion of mine, but this one felt particularly suited to horror because of the feeling of being in the grips of an eating disorder can often feel like something that's both internal, but almost like something external taking control, or something like a presence that's lying in wait and there's almost like a sense of possession in that. Doing things that one part of your brain is like, ‘stop,’ and the other is the primal part of you, ‘keep going.’ So, I felt like the way to externalize that internal feeling was through this spectral figure.

And I definitely borrowed from the logic of Dorian Gray, like the picture of Dorian Gray, in terms of the ghost getting larger the more that she ate, and the painting getting older. So that was really the starting point.

Sadie: I won't go into spoiler territory, but that ending, I felt so devastated, because there was a sense of hope and this turning point for Hana. There’s so many layers to her and her journey.

Natalie: Yeah, I guess in a way, it's a character who's moving from self-destruction to self-compassion, right? For me, it's still a very hopeful film. But what I was trying to do with the ending was to, I guess, pitch it in that cautionary tale space, because there's that classic thing about recovery being nonlinear.

And I think that's so true… it's not a place that you just arrive at and that's it forever. It requires kind of constant vigilance, and obviously, with everything happening at the moment, and with that pendulum swinging back to thinness as the aspirational ideal, and the media images that we're constantly bombarded with, I think it puts people in a really vulnerable spot, because we're not impervious to the messaging that we're getting constantly.

It felt more truthful to me to kind of pitch it in a place where she really has this moment where she's given the chance to bear herself and to be fully seen and accepted by Alanya. But it's too much for her in that moment and of course, it has these really destructive consequences. And I think, that is so tied to how much we can dismantle shame within ourselves.

Sadie: It’s absolutely devastating, and layering it with a generational connection and how do you break that cycle? But again, that ending, off. [laughs]

Natalie: [laughs] When I met Midori Francis for the first time, one of the first things she brought up was, 'I love a happy ending, though. Does it have to end this way?' [laughs] Which I totally appreciate. But I think, in a way, I guess all you can do is convey something as truthfully as you can.

Sadie: The visual language of this movie, and your collaboration with your DP – how much of your background as a music video director and directing commercials influenced dialing in those emotional beats, like those fantastic close ups?

Natalie: In terms of where I started, I was definitely making short films first, and then, as you do post film school, doing music videos and trying to keep earning a living with commercials… but at the same time, still having that narrative sensibility and always wanting to direct features.

But I think this film in particular, was quite montage heavy, and that is because of that passage of time that you have to convey in a character that's transforming in the 12 weeks that Alayna's program sets her on.

So, music videos… the language of montage kind of is related to that, in terms of rhythm and what you're conveying through visuals and music. There was a joy in not just leading into the heavier horror aspects of an eating disorder, but also on the flip side, pointing at the feelings, which can feel very like, I guess, conveying a sugar rush, in a way, like the ecstatic thrill of that, and laying the parallels to desire in all forms, and that's the lust, as well as the consumption of food, as well as, these really sensual, bodily kind of experiences. It's oppressive, but it's the balance of the pain and the pleasure that makes it so harrowing in a way.

Sadie: Another thing you’re doing here is playing with Hana’s POV. There’s a scene specifically in her apartment where it feels like she’s hallucinating and we’re seeing Bertha, or are we, is she? But on top of that is how you fully utilize the space of that apartment

Natalie: Hana inhabits a lot of different spaces. There's the gym, which is more Alayna's world and more poppy, and the university clinical setting as well. But her apartment really had to be almost cocoon-like, or womb-like in a way. A lot of what we drew on in terms of the design of the space was the human body. And the walls are kind of cadaver like, and there's a lot of layered set dressing and kind of mess that she accumulates, and it's taken away by her mom, but then brought back in by herself.

And so much of that is about, how much are you keeping in control? Because I think that's one of the driving forces of the eating disorder is the need to control something, or control how you're perceived, or how you feel like in the world, which can feel very unsafe. So, the body was something that we homed in on. I guess the whole film is very textural and bodily in experience, so the architecture really needed to mirror that as well.

With the cinematography, like the perception of herself within the space was something that we talked about a lot as well. All of these intense binges that she has, they're within the privacy of her own space, but we wanted to make sure that we utilize, even down to the lens choice of how her view of herself shifts over time. And so, we start with lenses that are a little bit longer to compress the space, and then over the course of the film, they become slightly wider as well as she gets smaller too. There's certain psychological cinematic language choices that kind of just operate under the surface.

Sadie: As grotesques as the film can get, it’s also very visually pleasing to watch. In terms of your collaboration with your prosthetics team - you could have gone totally overboard with her look. However, it didn’t feel inappropriately portrayed, it didn't feel like you were shaming anyone, and yet there was a very specific aesthetic to it all.

Natalie: It was a real focus for us. One of those make-or-break things for the film, in terms of Hana's transformation. There was so much that was put into both the design process, but also how is an audience receiving her and what are we saying about her transformation? I think it was really important that it looked as natural as possible and as seamless.

Obviously, historically, prosthetics like that are almost like a punchline to a film, and so completely flipping that on its head so that was not a consideration. And if anything, she looks healthier at the start of the film, because as we move along, she is obviously losing too much weight, and then she starts to become very gaunt as well. And there were seven stages to convey that decline. On top of that, of course, Bertha's growth over the film that she has four stages as well, played by two actors.

The prosthetics team did such an incredible job of layering those stages with in terms of monstrosity, I think it's more about like decay, like she becomes more monstrous and more inhuman, but I think always with we're seeing the film through Hana's eyes, and it's so much about her projection onto this figure that seems to be haunting her, but it's really just a mirror to herself. And that's why it was so important to really humanize Grace or Bertha at the very end of the film, and for Hana, for it to hit that that's a person that is not only of value, but is intensely loved as well.

Sadie: As a director, you’re asking a lot from an actor in this piece, there’s a lot of vulnerability on display here. What kind of conversations or guidance were you sharing with Hana along the process of filming this, to make sure she felt safe?

Natalie: It's so emotionally and physically taxing for an actor to be in a horror film, and particularly when they're in every frame of the film, pretty much, [laughs] she's in every single scene, apart from, the opening titles. I think it's a testament to her stamina, but also commitment to the project that she powered through.

We worked really closely with an intimacy coordinator as well, and some of that process was in when you get your nervous system that amped up, how do you also let that go in this somatic way, which I think is super powerful as well.

And in terms of tracking the character because of the prosthetics and having to shoot out of order, we really group them by days, at the very least, in terms of where she was at in the script. So, it was really just constant recalibration.

To be honest, it was like coming back to lived experience, in a way, and kind of going, 'OK, this is the intent of the scene,' and being able to find common ground on that. We were really deeply connected on set, and probably one of the most rewarding actor-director experiences I've ever had. She's not only just so talented and phenomenal, but just so willing to trust and experiment, I couldn't have been happier with that experience.

Sadie: What do you hope audiences take away from watching this movie?

Natalie: Even though it does kind of flip into this cautionary tale, it's still one of hope. And I think I have certainly had times in my life where I felt kind of trapped by what was happening in my head and the ideas that I had about myself - the main message is that compassion, whether that's through other people, or for yourself, can really be a way out.

Saccharine releases in Theaters on May 22, 2026.