It was December 2018 when I heard the news that there that a horror project in my home country (Belgium) got the green light. Despite it’s rather silly name “Yummy” the premise sounded cool to me immediately: hospital and zombies. Ok that didn’t sound very original but somehow I had the hopes this movie might be old school. After all the hyped up stuff that year from Hereditary and Mandy (which were good in their own right but IMO also highly pretentious) it felt this one might actually appeal to me: simple story, gory, filthy and trashy. Sure there is spaltter movies still made but a lot of time they feel polished and over the top that it feels you are watching some busy cartoon. Not to mention that horror needs to be something more to be taken seriously. It needs to either be clever, be deep, send out a strong (political, social…) message, it needs to make one think or use your brain to solve the mystery (pay well attention to details or you might get lost), psychology and suggestion are more desirable than graphic horror, nudity must be kept to a bare (pun intended) minimum because we really want to PG 13 rating. Oh well I can go on and on… Oh yes and than there is the style over substance, arty farty brigade don’t get me started on that lol.

After that announcement there was hardly any promotion done and it was only when I searched for some news at the start of this month (I was like hey wasn’t this supposed to be released this month) that I found out the release was the 18th this month. The previous Belgian horror movie was not that long ago (to Belgian standards anyway where genres like drama, comedy, crime and in recent years thriller are the most popular in both movies and TV shows). That previous movie was ‘Welp’ internationally known as ‘Cub’ released in 2014. The premise of a killer on the loose in the woods where a group of boy scouts were camping sounded cool enough even though not very original either. However me not being a big fan of the slasher genre postponed it for a few years. When I saw it 2 years ago I was rather underwhelmed. The story started with a rather unlikable protagonist, one of the boy scouts was a loner, an outcast. Somehow he gets connected to that boy that cries at night in the woods. Is he human or a supernatural being. Some kills happen well I hardly remember how. The setting of the woods is great, the events and characters are not. The movie wants to be more than an ordinary slasher but in the end I wonder what it actually wanted to be. It felt a very unsatisfying experience. There had been quite a bit of talk before, after maybe too I don’t know.

It remains to be seen how Yummy will eventually fare but I’m not getting my hopes up too high. The problem is that it needs to compete with the release of mega franchise Star Wars (part uhm who cares). When my mate and I entered the theater and took a look at the screen of seats available where the SW movie was playing it said 2. Where our movie was playing there was plenty of room. I looked around us when our movie was about to start and counted about 9 people. The good thing is we could enjoy the movie without noisy people. If the attendance will be that low at other theaters or other moments Belgium might have to wait longer than 5 years for another horror movie. And what other movies besides Star Wars, a Frozen sequel, an animated version of the Addams Family, another installment of Jumanji; To be expected: a new movie of Charlie’s Angels, the Grudge, another sequel to Bad Boys, another Dolittle movie (ok not Dr. dolittle but it’s about the animal doctor anyway). Gretel and Hansel did get my attention though in the promo vids shown before the movie started. Maybe that might be something interesting.

Enough introduction on to the movie. I did watch the trailer in advance and read an article of one of the male leads. It was going to low budget, there would not be CGI involved, no film sets, all locations were real. These were all encouraging elements. It had a very good feeling about it and yes I’m happy to say these expectations were confirmed. Would the camera not turn away at the penultimate moment or most of the graphic moments be censored by filming in the dark? Would the bloodshed be minimal and nudity be filmed in a tactical manner so one won’t see anything of it? Nope nothing of that shit! Other points where this movie scored well in my book: the characters get minimal background, the build-up is half an hour max. We have a couple Michael and his fiancee Alison and the latter’s mother Sylvia heading to a Polish hospital where plastic surgery is done. Why they won’t do it in Belgium is not touched upon, but since in Poland everything is cheaper I guess there lies your answer. While Sylvia in her 50s will get various treatments to still look young, her daughter is there for a breast reduction. Having an F cup she is tired of the back problems she faces and the horny looks of the men. Actress Maaike Neuville has in real much smaller breasts so all the added weight in her bra must have been physically demanding. Neuville is a big name in Belgium just like Bart Hollanders playing the husband, Annick Christiaens as the mother, Clara Cleymans as the head nurse and Tom Audenaert as William a male patient. The latter is using a false name because of a TV celebrity rather would not want the world to know he had been treated for a penis enlargement. The penis well it will play a role later on in a painful yet pretty hilarious way; I’m sure Bry Bry will love this particular scene. No splatter where we see limbs flying around but some good old zombie munching like the latter scenes in Romero’s Day of the Dead.

Anyway it’s awesome that such names were prepared to do this. They really didn’t act like divas not complaining about getting dirty with blood, the pretty high pace, going through real garbage and a smelly sewer. And they slept with several in a room, no luxurious hotel rooms. And yes there was time for humor sometimes silly situations SPOILERS AHEAD (for example Michael on the run for zombies stopping for a little snack from the machine) or predictable (the doctor feeling up Alison’s huge chest saying I guess it’s for a G cup?) sometimes less so by a painful situation. Humor and shock are sometimes came together like one of the surgeons who is bitten in his arm demands it to be amputated. When it takes too long as something goes wrong with the ax the paper shredder gives him an idea. Yup there are certainly a few creative ideas in there even in the gore department with intestines in particular.

Are there clichés like the car that won’t start or the ones having sex that die for sure, the virgin that survives. No not at all. It’s incredible that a modern movie actually manages to avoid these and still be a throwback to the good old days of graphical horror where trash actually looked filthy. There is hope for the trash lover but if the big public will swallow it with the same enthusiasm as I did, remains to be seen. If it however develops into a cult classic I will be more than happy. One thing is for sure director Lars Damoiseaux has the right heart for horror. A project made with love for the genre and I hope we will see more of him.