There has been a long-standing idea that with the right weight loss scheme, whether a diet, a surgery, or a medication, the pounds will just melt off. In Thinestra, from director Nathan Hertz and writer Avra Fox-Lerner, the titular drug makes that promise literal. This body horror film tackles our obsession with weight and the resulting body dysmorphia with humor and insight and a room full of donuts.
Penny (Michelle Macedo) is unhappy with her body. She drinks her breakfast, limits her caloric intake, and attends her spin class with the fervor of a religious fanatic. But regardless of her desire to lose weight, she often finds herself giving in to her cravings when she is alone and feeling sad. She will start her day with a liquid-only breakfast, to end up on her couch, double-fisting doughnuts.
Her job doesn’t help things, as she works for an ad agency as a photo retoucher, making already objectively beautiful people even more attractive at the behest of her horrible boss, Neils (Brian Huskey). When Penny is working on a campaign for SNOG, the year-round eggnog beverage, she gets into a conversation with the model, Veronica (Mary Beth Barone), who offers her a new drug, Thinestra. She warns Penny that there can be some uncomfortable side effects.
While there may be an instinct to compare Thinestra to last year’s body horror breakout film, The Substance, that would be short-sighted. Thinestra puts at its center a “regular” person, someone far easier to connect to. And while she does eventually give birth to an alter ego, Penelope (played by Michelle’s twin, Melissa Macedo), this girl is hungry. And when her hunger strikes, everyone needs to get out of her way.
There are elements of the film that could have been explored better. The Penny/Penelope split kind of works with one having an insatiable hunger, but that is at times at odds with Penny’s own hunger, which seems to come and go even after taking the drug. There is probably a way to make the split personality work more fluidly, but as it stands, it mostly muddies up what is an otherwise solid movie.
The horror elements in this film are really well done. The way weight loss is depicted is quite visceral and will both thrill and disgust. They are aided by a really fantastic performance from Macedo. Even though I found the Jekyll and Hyde element to be lacking, the sisters both put their hearts into those characters, making it a fun watch.
I loved that Thinestra takes place over Christmas, as that is a time when one’s weight seems to be on everyone’s mind. We see Penny utterly surrounded by decadent treats, but she is immediately shamed when she indulges. But what is sadder than the obnoxious man throwing the “a moment on the lips” line at her is the way that Penny is unable to see how others react positively toward her. Her hot neighbor Josh (Gavin Stenhouse) is interested long before she takes the drug.
As we approach the holidays and the inevitable post-holiday diet push, Thinestra is a fun horror film about learning to love the body you’re in and a stern warning that diet culture is the real monster.
Rating: 3.5/5
Check out my interview with director Nathan Hertz below! And be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel!