Movie Review: HONEY BUNCH

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: February 24th, 2026 / 08:46 AM

HONEY BUNCH movie poster | ©2026 Shudder

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Grace Glowicki, Ben Petrie, Jason Isaacs, India Brown, Patricia Tulasne, Julian Richings, Kate Dickie
Writers: Madeleine Sims-Fewer & Dusty Mancinelli
Directors: Madeleine Sims-Fewer & Dusty Mancinelli
Distributor: Shudder/XYZ Films
Release Date: February 13, 2026 (Shudder)

We spend the first bit of HONEY BUNCH wondering exactly where its somewhat traditional set-up is taking us.

The opening sequence is enigmatic. We’re on a cold-looking beach with Diana (Grace Glowicki), a young woman with obvious injuries in a wheelchair. Behind her is Homer (Ben Petrie), who we’ll learn is her husband. He massages her shoulders, then takes her into the water. We don’t know if he’s trying to soothe her or drown her. He says he loves her.

Then we’re with a car on one of those winding mountain forest roads that indicates our destination is remote and isolated. Homer is driving. Diana, still banged up but looking better, wakes up in the passenger seat. She doesn’t remember where they’re going. Homer reminds her they’re heading to a trauma treatment center.

Diana and Homer were in a terrible crash. He escaped without a scratch, but Diana suffered brain damage, leading to memory loss, confusion and hallucinations. Homer is optimistic – the center is said to be cutting edge, with an admirable success rate.

As they arrive at the gigantic mansion that houses the center, we see a man helping a woman out the doors. The man exchanges a knowing look with Homer.

Chief of staff Farah (Kate Dickie) welcomes Diana and Homer warmly and reassures them about the efficacy of the treatment. Farah’s own husband, staff member Delwyn (Julian Richings), has been “cured” by it. Delwyn clearly still has memory issues, but since Farah says she nearly lost him altogether and the man seems happy enough, she declares his condition a miracle.

We soon meet a father/daughter pair, nice working-class English bloke Joseph (Jason Isaacs) and teen Josephina (India Brown). Josephina was knocked out and without air for several minutes after a boating accident and Joseph is hoping the treatment will cure her as well.

The process is supposed to take four days. At first glance, it all seems standard – special diet, lots of exercise and some medication.

Diana starts seeing things, like two of Homer when he’s not there at all, then a vision of herself being sick on the floor. Someone watches her window, then runs off across the vast lawn.

The environment is so Gothic – with portraits of the doctor’s late wife Joan in every room – that Diana name-checks REBECCA at one point. (Diana and Homer are both movie buffs.) HONEY BUNCH has a mid-twentieth-century look, as though the permanent residents like what they’re doing so much that they’re loathe to make alterations. The tech also has a somewhat ‘60s sci-fi vibe, although not so much that it is anachronistic.

So, are the goings-on related to the doctor’s spousal tragedy? Is it supernatural? Is it mad science?

Glowicki is excellent, displaying great range, and Petrie shows genuine anguish and humor while keeping us guessing as to what Homer is not telling Diana. Isaacs and Brown make for a sweet, warm parent/child duo, Dickie is impactful as a true believer and Richings maintains a good balance in depicting Delwyn’s condition.

There is a moment when we more or less correctly peg what’s happening – and then writers/directors Madeleine Sims-Fewer & Dusty Mancinelli take the expectations they’ve called forth and flip them over like magicians doing a card trick.

We wind up in emotional and intellectual spaces that are not normally part of this subgenre. These produce powerful effects, even if they also bring up whole new batches of questions. (We also are curious as to why one character takes a specific action at a particular moment, when later timing would have better suited the purpose.)

HONEY BUNCH has its “wait a minute” aspects, but it overall takes a familiar premise and uses it to create an intriguing, singular experience.

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