The Cleanse (2018)

The Cleanse is the kind of offbeat, one-of-a-kind genre cocktail that sneaks up on you: part spiritual satire, part creature feature, and part bruised-heart drama that actually means what it feels. Bobby Miller treats the premise with confident weirdness, letting the humor curdle into unease while Johnny Galecki and Anna Friel keep it grounded in recognizable loneliness and longing, and Anjelica Huston presides with the cool authority of someone who knows exactly what you came to purge. The creature work is satisfyingly tactile and strange, but the real hook is how the film turns its gross-out shocks into something unexpectedly tender and cathartic. It won’t be for viewers who want straightforward horror or clean comedy, but if you like your midnight movies with soul—and your emotional reckonings with teeth—this one’s worth the cleanse.

The Cleanse is clearly aiming for a quirky, body-horror-tinged metaphor about grief and self-improvement, with a solid hook and a few enjoyably strange images. The problem is it tends to circle the same idea for too long, so the middle can feel repetitive and oddly low-energy for something this gross and surreal. Character work is thin, which makes the emotional payoff and the destination of the story feel undercooked, and the ending may leave you thinking, “Wait, that’s it?” If you like offbeat indie horror-comedies that lean more on mood and symbolism than plot momentum, it’s worth a look—if you want sharp character arcs and a satisfying escalation, this cleanse might not do much for you.