Can You Love Too Much? – “Honey Bunch” Review

Director/Writer/Producer: Madeleine Sims-Fewer & Dusty Mancinelli
Produced By: Becky Yeboah
Starring: Grace Glowicki, Ben Petrie, Jason Isaacs, India Brown, Katie Dickie, and Julian Richings
Run Time: 113 min
Release Date: February 13, 2026 (US), Now Streaming on Shudder

There are very few films these days that genuinely surprise me. Honey Bunch definitely caught me off guard. At a time when grief is still part of my daily life, this film touched emotions that made me reminisce and ponder the future without my loved ones near. This thriller transforms the ideas of love, grief, loss, and devotion into an original, crazy, twisted, dark, and at times funny story.

Directed, written, and produced by Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Macinello (Violation) and produced by Becky Yeboah (V/H/S 94), Honey Bunch follows a woman named Diana whose husband, Homer, takes her to an experimental trauma facility deep in the wilderness. In a testament of hopeless devotion that Danny and Sandy, from Grease, would be in awe of, Homer takes Diana to this facility after an accident left her with crippling pain and memory loss. Farah, Diana’s personal physician, promises a full recovery with cutting-edge therapies and Homer’s help. When Diana starts to experience haunting visions and notices her husband’s strange behavior, her memories begin to creep back in, as do sinister truths about her marriage.

The film stars real-life couple, actor/directors Grace Glowicki (Dead Lover) and Ben Petrie (BlackBerry) as Diana and Homer. It’s no wonder the chemistry on screen was off the charts. Joining Diana and Homer in the facility are a father, Joseph, and his daughter, Josephina, played by Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter franchise, The White Lotus) and India Brown (That Christmas, Invasion), respectively. Playing the slightly unhinged physician, Farah, is Kate Dickie (The Northman, Game of Thrones, Prometheus). Playing Farah’s long-time devoted husband suffering from his own form of memory loss is Julian Richings (Supernatural, The Witch).

The entire cast is fantastic. They build off each other in an authentic way where conversations feel important and relationships feel real. The cast portrays their characters with such skill. The audience has fun catching subtle hints that something is wrong with every single person in this film. They all have a depth of emotion that is thrilling to watch on screen. 

Honey Bunch is a romantic psychological thriller that shifts in tone over its 113 minutes. It’s fun, strange, and thought-provoking. Dark humor slides into this gothic horror, taking audiences on a wild, original ride. The film is creepy, thanks in part to cinematographer Adam Crosby, with its vintage look and feel. The trauma facility acts as a haunted house full of pain, ghosts of the past, and mystery. The facility is also full of aching nostalgia, love, and memory playing off of each other through all the characters in the film. It makes you wonder, how far would you go to save, bring back, or even cure a loved one? What would you sacrifice? What would you put them through?

This film is an absolute ode to 70s horror films that thrive on the weird, uncanny, and psychologically disturbed—like The Wicker Man, The Shining, and Don’t Look Now. It questions what we do for the ones we love. It speaks to our selfish tendencies, our capacity to love, our desire to be loved, and the conflict that can form from all of the above. The dialogue is witty and is delivered by the cast in such a compelling way that there sometimes seems to be more meaning beneath the surface, with secrets and hidden agendas.

The film premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival on February 18, 2025, as part of the Berlinale Special program. It is now available to watch on the premium streaming service, Shudder. I hope wider audiences will get to experience this film. This could be one of those films that impacts many, in one way or another. It’s one you could watch several times and discover something new each time. Some new tick or give away. From the stunning location and perfectly crafted set to the practical effects, these filmmakers have made something memorable.