In theaters and On Demand June 7th, 2024, and directed by Ariel Vida (Vide Noir 2022), Trim Season is a Horror film with a timely subject at its centre. The film follows Emma (Bethlehem Million: Sick 2022, And Just Like That… series) who, after arriving late for work one day due to car issues, finds herself unceremoniously fired. When an acquaintance suggests that she go and work on a marijuana farm trimming the crop ready for sale where she can make thousands of dollars, Emma is unsure about this shady job opportunity. However, desperate for cash and out of any other viable options, she reluctantly decides to accept.
Joined by her friend Julia (Alex Essoe: Doctor Sleep 2019, The Pope’s Exorcist 2023), the pair are taken to a remote location where they meet the other trimmers and their boss Mona (Jane Badler: V 1983, The Free Fall 2021) who smokes her own special brand of the product that she is not willing to share.
Whilst Trim Season begins with some horribly brutal deaths, it does take a while to get back to the horror. On the one hand this works in the film’s favour in the way that the audience gets to know the characters well and what makes them tick. This means that even though not all the characters are really likeable, the audience knows and cares enough about them to care when they start getting picked off one by one. On the flip side, some audiences may feel that Trim Season is too much of a slow burn and too much time is spent where nothing really happens.
The last act of Trim Season really ramps things up though and this is where the horror really comes into its own. The film makes use of some cringe inducing practical effects and is suitably gory. Throughout Trim Season is very strong visually and the remote location works well in enhancing the creepiness and isolating nature of the situation.
Where Trim Season is slightly weaker is in the plot points surrounding the villainous Mona. At times she feels almost cartoonish in her villainy and her henchmen sons feel extremely one dimensional. Her characterizations feel at odds with the slick look of the rest of the film and her motivations feel uninspiring when looking at the film as a whole.
Regardless, Trim Season is a thought-provoking film. Does the film serve to remind audiences of the danger of illegal substances and of smoking? Or conversely does it want to show that the true horror comes from those who are in charge of supplying and distributing drugs? Is Trim Season a timely and Social Horror? Or is it simply a Supernatural Horror set at a weed farm? Of course it is up to the audience to decide, and Cryptic Rock gives Trim Season 3 out of 5 stars.
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