HONEY BUNCH: A Sinister Love Letter to 70s Thrillers at LFF

With HONEY BUNCH, the creative duo behind Violation craft a mesmerizing and unsettling descent into memory, manipulation, and marriage. Echoing the aesthetics and tension of 1970s thrillers, the film transforms familiar tropes of love and loyalty into something darkly original and deeply human. Blending a vintage visual texture with raw, embodied performances, Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli deliver a story that’s at once eerie, emotional, and profoundly cinematic.

Diana (Grace Glowicki) is being taken by her attentive husband, Homer (Ben Petrie), to an experimental trauma facility hidden deep in the wilderness. After a devastating accident that left her in pain and unable to recall the past, this mysterious retreat seems like their last hope. Guided by Dr. Tréphine’s unorthodox therapies and the supervision of physician Farah, Diana begins a process that promises renewal—but the more “healed” she becomes, the less she recognizes herself.

As strange visions emerge and Homer’s behavior grows increasingly erratic, whispers and absences point toward something far more sinister than recovery. Diana’s resurfacing memories begin to blur the line between healing and horror, forcing her to question not just her sanity, but the terrifying truth about her marriage.

Paying nerve-jangling homage to psychological classics while carving out their own audacious voice, Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli craft a disturbing yet deeply emotional exploration of love’s most destructive forms.

Cast: Grace Glowicki, Ben Petrie, Jason Isaacs, Kate Dickie
Writers-Directors: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli

About the Filmmakers
Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli first joined forces at the 2015 TIFF Talent Lab, quickly forming a creative partnership rooted in fearless storytelling. Their acclaimed debut feature Violation premiered at TIFF, Sundance, and SXSW, earning awards at the Calgary and Vancouver International Film Festivals, and was named a New York Times Critic’s Pick. The film later screened at MoMA’s Horror: Messaging the Monstrous and was released on Shudder in multiple territories. HONEY BUNCH marks their second feature—a bold, emotionally charged continuation of their exploration of trauma, control, and the monstrous within intimacy.

LFF P&I Screening: Wednesday, October 8 — 12:40 PM, Picturehouse Central, Screen 5