Honey Bunch Review

Most people don't have the time, money, or energy to watch many movies, so when you do get a chance to watch something, you want it to be worthwhile. That's why Rotten Tomatoes exists: to give a snapshot of whether a movie is worth your time. But does it always work? I'll be watching all of Rotten Tomatoes’ Certified Fresh movies from this Wikipedia list, and we'll see if these movies are really worth the hype.

Movie 6 of 2026:

Honey Bunch, directed by Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli, is a horror period piece that explores an experimental memory care center and the people who inhabit it. Our protagonist is Diana (Grace Glowicki), who we learn has suffered a traumatic event and has suffered from memory loss. Her husband Homer (Ben Petrie), definitely a reference to The Odyssey, seems like a supportive husband on the surface.

This movie started pretty slowly. I didn't know anything about it going in, which is the preferable way to go into this, so I wasn't really sure what was being presented to me at first. We see a confused woman dealing with memory issues, a husband who feels pretty shady, and an eclectic group of other guests and staff members. The first 30 minutes or so really took its time to establish a creepy tone. In a way, it felt like a typical haunted house movie.

That completely shifted for me during a scene where Diana was recalling a memory. The sound design and camera work were so engaging that I was completely hooked at that point. This is also when the mystery starts to unravel, and I'd be interested to revisit this in order to see what breadcrumbs were scattered throughout the beginning.

We definitely explored themes of codependence and altering oneself for love or partnership. This has been a pretty common theme in horror in the past year; the biggest one that comes to mind is last year's Together, but I do think this film had a different enough take that nothing felt cliché. I don't want to give too much away, but once the big twist is revealed, everything just falls into place and makes sense.

I've already been so impressed with Shutter’s exclusives this year, and this one just adds to that catalog. I love that auteur horror filmmakers are being given a platform, and I'm glad that these films are being more widely distributed through streaming. There were definitely some chilling moments here, which I always look for in horror movies. I feel like a lot of times stuff like this can feel pretty samey, but this felt like something that was unique and interesting to watch.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

Is it worth the hype?:

Definitely! It was a little slow to start, but once the pieces began to fall into place, it became enthralling. Some really interesting camera work and committed performances really pushed this one over the top. Give this one a shot if you're looking for a unique horror flick, and go in as blind as possible.