Parents' Guide to

Honeydew

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Shocking, unsettling horror movie has gore, language.

Movie NR 2021 106 minutes
Honeydew Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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What's the Story?

In HONEYDEW, Rylie (Malin Barr) is writing her thesis on a strange substance called "sordico" that grows on wheat stalks. She's brought her out-of-work actor boyfriend, Sam (Sawyer Spielberg), along on a research road trip. After they set up their tent for the night, a farmer (Stephen D'Ambrose) chases them off his land, and they find their car battery dead. Rylie and Sam head for the only place they can, a nearby farmhouse occupied by the strange Karen (Barbara Kingsley) and her even stranger son, Gunni (Jamie Bradley). Karen promises to call for help and sets out food for her guests. But as help continues to not arrive, Rylie and Sam are forced to spend the night. Sam, who's on a reluctant diet, gets up to secretly sample some of Karen's cooking. But as the night drags on, everything becomes increasingly unsettling -- and soon, flat-out nightmarish.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say Not yet rated
Kids say (1):

While there are many horror movies about innocent travelers tangling with rural creeps, this one makes the formula bracing again, relying on actual internal logic and an intense, foreboding mood. Directed and co-written by Devereux Milburn, making his feature debut, Honeydew starts well, expertly throwing viewers off balance. Unlike most movies of this type, the traveling couple doesn't really make any dumb mistakes to get into their predicament; it's all just bad luck and circumstance that could happen to anyone. An old-timey educational film on the "sordico" (a seemingly made-up word, though related to ergot) and sliding split-screens set things off-balance.

An insidious, nerve-splitting score and sound design take things into a truly unusual realm, especially alongside the constantly twittering Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons playing on an old TV screen and a truly unnerving nightmare sequence that has jumping, lurching logic. The movie even manages to echo David Lynch, a filmmaker who's notoriously difficult to imitate. Aside from the sharp filmmaking, though, Honeydew has a queasy side effect, not only because of the unpleasant territory it veers into but also because of the characters, who, although realistically flawed, mostly turn out to be irredeemable. It's not a comfortable movie by a long shot, and it may challenge even veteran horror fans.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Honeydew's violence. What does the movie get away with showing or not showing? How did it make you feel?

  • Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?

  • What does this movie (and others of its genre) have to say about the relationship between people who live in urban vs. rural areas? Is the difference between them real or perceived/assigned?

  • How is sex depicted here? What values are imparted?

  • Do you think Sam and Rylie deserve their fate? Are they bad people or just flawed characters? What's the difference?

Movie Details

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