By Ryan Lavoie

Each week, I will look at a movie that is currently in theaters or available to stream and give some reasons why people should watch it. This isn’t necessarily a film critique, rather, an overview of what I think is enjoyable about the film, and why it’s worth seeing. This week, I’ll be looking at The Menu, starring Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy.

The temptation to make many puns based on the title of this movie is high, but I will do my best to refrain. The Menu had a very interesting preview when I first became aware of the movie a couple of months ago, and after watching it, it deserves wonderful reviews. The movie is set on an island in a high end restaurant that is world renowned. The chef, played by Ralph Fiennes is one of the most famous chefs in the world and he attracts interest from rich foodies and critics. However, this is not a food documentary. The type of horror movie this becomes is something far less graphic than what we’ve seen been put out lately, despite robust imagery on non-horrific things. But the horror in this movie derives out of things that can be very real to humans. The feeling of not being appreciated, not being in control, feeling like a failure, and being trapped all become central emotions for the characters in the film.

This movie sets rules for itself and it follows them. Talking with a friend afterwards, we spent 30 minutes trying to poke holes in any decisions made with the film or of some of its characters and we really couldn’t find them. This, combined with the harsh human realities involved, make this movie have a cloak of reality that while this is obviously a movie, the motivations of its characters and the poor traits that some of them exude are more than plausible in real life. Moreover, the real horror here is in the way humans can be. This movie makes it hard to sympathize with the antagonist and the victims. The movie is clever in that way. I usually don’t watch horror movies to draw comparisons to the human condition, but this was a wonderful execution of that, within a movie that was different in its’ presentation and entertaining throughout. The Menu is one of my favorite movies I’ve seen in 2022 and will satisfy anyone’s appetite for a horror/thriller film.

The Menu is currently showing in theaters.