Reviews

• 

  ★★★★ review by Wood on Letterboxd

  CIFF #16

  If you told me I needed a Johnny Galecki body horror film in my life I wouldn't have believed you, but I did and it's incredible.

• 

  ★★★★½ review by Kyle Jones on Letterboxd

  Pressed Juice out here in LA needs to step up their cleanse game after seeing this..

  I’m happy to see Johnny Galecki out of Big Bang, i really loved his character and emotions in this. This was actually a really fun and enjoyable surprise for me. Being a quirky creature fantasy vibe, it really had a good poignant undertone of letting go. Surprised with the current release, seeing it had premiered back at 2016 SXSW and doesn’t have many recent reviews. I really hope it gets some views. A great debut for Bobby Miller.

  Also, Anjelica Huston screaming in the woods as a stress reliever is such a mood.

• 

  ★★★½ review by ianjcunningham on Letterboxd

  feels undercooked to the degree that it almost seems to be missing a middle act... a rare problem for a film to have
  
  at that fast clip, there's no time to lose interest

  galecki sees to that with his charm and warmth

  and that score is so much bigger than the film
  
  good grief what a luscious composition
  
  feels like it would be a fun film to revisit on quiet nights, as a harmless and amusing pastiche of other genre touchstones

• 

  ★★★★ review by Michael Offerosky on Letterboxd

  What starts out as a dark comedy/horror film that satirizes health fads in a way that “The Stuff” took on junk food consumerism actually becomes an emotionally resonant film reminiscent of “The Babadook”. This won’t be for everyone but I liked it quite a lot. The strong cast includes star and producer Johnny Galecki, Anna Friel,  Anjelica Huston, Kyle Gallner, Diana Bang, Kevin J. O’Connor, and a surprise star who comes in at the end who I wouldn’t want to reveal. “The Cleanse” is a roller coaster ride and I wouldn’t want to give anything away because it’s better not knowing anything. As of this review, “The Cleanse” is on Hulu and is worth watching.

• 

  ★★★½ review by DangerSlater on Letterboxd

  Conceptually, this is right up my alley. The tone of the thing, the cinematography, the performances, and the creature design were all really good too. It was just missing...something...that would've made it great. And honestly, I'm having a hard time figuring out what that *something* was. Maybe it was in the construction of the film, which seemed slow to me, or in the character arcs, which were never really clear. Maybe it was the fact that this came from first time writer/director Bobby Miller who seems to still be learning his storytelling chops. Yes, I think that's it. It is presented to us like a whimsical, dark fairy tale, but doesn't quite play out as such - abruptly jumping from the middle of the 2nd act to (what would be) the end of the 3rd, which sorta derails the spell the movie was trying to cast.

  It wasn't bad by any means. I was into it for the entire run time. It's totally worth your time. I'm excited to see what else this director can do.

• See all reviews