[OVERLOOK 2023 REVIEW:] TRIM SEASON INDUCES A MELLOW YET INTRIGUING HIGH

When the smoke clears, who will be left alive in Trim Season?

There are a million and one ways to get a character into a dangerous and isolated situation. Emma (Bethlehem Million) is facing down about half of them at the outset of director Ariel Vida’s Trim Season, which had its world premiere at the 2023 Overlook Film Festival this week. 

Jobless, soon to be homeless, and feeling like she has no direction or control over her life, Emma has hit rock bottom when she meets James (Marc Senter) in a bar. It’s from him that she learns there’s good money to be made as a seasonal worker at marijuana farms, and while we may be internally screaming at her not to go with him, Vida and David Blair’s script does a good job of keeping Emma’s decision grounded. Senter portrays James as slightly sketchy but just charming enough to keep the alarm bells at a muted clang. A mutual acquaintance vouches for him. Emma’s best friend, Julia (played by Starry Eyes and Doctor Sleep star Alex Essoe), even agrees to tag along.

Marc Senter’s James hides a dark secret behind a disarming smile.

With Emma already well established as an anxiety-riddled pushover, it’s not difficult to see how her grasp of the situation rapidly deteriorates after she relents and accepts the job offer. One allowance leads to another, and another; for all her good sense and caution, Emma is soon sitting in the back of a near-stranger’s van, being driven to a remote farm where men with guns prowl the perimeters. We can see on Emma’s face that she knows she’s made a mistake, but she’s too polite and shy to put her foot down and turn the situation around. 

Million makes for an intriguing final girl, and there’s some convention-bucking to be seen here, with Emma happily partaking in the substance that has condemned many horror characters before her to an early exit. Trim Season rejects the easy slasher story that could so easily have come from this title and setting — as well as the comedic leanings of most weed-heavy horrors — opting instead for something significantly more witchy and weird. 

Trim Season’s characters are living the high life… until they aren’t.

The script can’t seem to fully escape the trappings of the genre, though. From the moment we’re first introduced to no-filters stoner Harriet (Ally Ionnides), pain-insensitive Lex (Juliette Kenn De Balinthazy), and nervous nonbinary trimmer Dusty (Bex Taylor-Klaus), it’s not hard to guess which heads are first for the chopping block. It’s refreshing to see a character’s top scars on screen, but the degree of gendered violence to which Dusty is subjected feels a touch unnecessary. Lex’s congenital insensitivity to pain, meanwhile, is a high-potential concept that winds up feeling frustratingly underutilized.

These shortfallings are through no fault of Trim Season’s cast, however. Jane Badler is especially noteworthy as the wealthy matriarch Mona; from the moment she first appears on screen, Badler commands the room with an over-the-top performance that is impossible not to get sucked into. Costume designer Hayley McCune imbues Mona’s looks with haughty elegance and a dash of Grand High Witch (The Witches), draping her throat in ostentatious pearls and hiding her hands behind a series of expensive-looking gloves. The importance of wearing gloves when touching the crop is stressed early on, the tension growing irresistibly as we wait to see what will happen when Mona finally removes hers. 

Jane Badler’s Mona smokes the competition.

After a strong opening, Trim Season does start to lag in the middle as its characters settle into their roles. Things pick up as it builds toward a bloody conclusion, with one kill in particular taking the red-eyed stoner look to a horrifying new level. But the film takes a little too long to harvest the tantalizing seeds it planted with its opening kills to feel wholly satisfying. The script also struggles to fully connect Emma’s journey to Mona’s own motives, leaving the theme of taking control feeling oddly half-baked.

It might not get you high, but Trim Season is easy to sink into and let yourself get carried away. The film is shot beautifully, with eye-catching lighting and well-detailed sets that make this world feel lived in and full of blood-soaked secrets. Add a fantastic cast and some gnarly kills and this is one smooth — if not hugely potent — blend.