Movies
[Review] ‘Strawberry Flavored Plastic’ is a Slow, But Thought-Provoking Thriller
Over the years, Found-Footage films have become almost unanimously associated with supernatural horror. When most people think of the sub-genre, Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project are usually the first movies that come to mind, despite a few notorious exceptions like Cannibal Holocaust and The Poughkeepsie Tapes. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, some filmmakers, like Colin Bemis with his new film Strawberry Flavored Plastic, have been hard at work trying to prove that Found-Footage can be used as a tool to tell personal and down-to-earth stories as well.
Bemis’ genre-bending film stars Nicholas Urda and Andres Montejo as Errol Morgan and Ellis Archer, a duo of New York filmmakers attempting to produce a documentary about the mysterious Noel Rose (charmingly played by Aidan Bristow), an active serial killer attempting to reconcile his humanity with his unsavory hobbies. As production goes on, however, the film begins to interfere with Errol and Ellis’ personal life in increasingly alarming ways.
There may be some obvious comparisons to be made with Patrick Brice’s Creep films, but Bemis does a good job at keeping things fresh with his documental approach in Strawberry Flavored Plastic. The tone and overall style of the movie are more in line with an urban thriller than a traditional horror film, and barring a few annoying details that remove you from the experience, it’s easy to believe that you’re watching a real documentary.
Bristow’s talkative psychopath is evidently the main attraction here, with his performance as Noel carrying most of the film and keeping things from getting boring in spite of some hefty (and occasionally pretentious) monologues and uninteresting static camera angles. It’s downright fascinating to see this character attempt to justify his cruel actions while simultaneously being forced to deal with the negative consequences of his violent tendencies.
The protagonists are also extremely well developed, as the film provides a lot of insight into their personal lives beyond the documentary, but the overabundance of these scenes proves that there can, in fact, be too much of a good thing. We’re sometimes forced to endure lengthy conversations and sub-plots that don’t really connect to the main story, and there are also some questionable sequences featuring musical montages that feel like they were ripped straight from an insurance commercial.
In the end, this is Strawberry Flavored Plastic‘s greatest weakness, as there is an abundance of scenes that could easily have been cut from the film without altering the overall plot. With a shorter runtime and brisker pace, this could have been a great example of Found-Footage being used to provide commentary and an introspective view on the darker side of human nature. Nevertheless, as it stands, the movie is entertaining enough but falls just sort of becoming a genre classic.
Strawberry Flavored Plastic will be available on VOD January 23rd, 2018!
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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