Writer/directors Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli have a unique collaboration with performers Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie on their latest project together, the haunting thriller Honey Bunch, in Canadian theatres starting January 23. A film that focuses on a specific kind of fracturing relationship, it’s the exceptionally rare case where an off screen couple like Glowicki and Petrie have a chance to be directed by another couple working behind the camera. And with Glowicki and Petrie also being filmmakers themselves (with the former having just directed gross out festival favourite Dead Lover, and the latter having made The Heirloom, with both of them acting opposite each other in each), it’s safe to say that Fewer and Mancinelli (whose revenge thriller Violation shocked audiences in 2020) were working with people who could understand what they were going through.
Honey Bunch is a twisting story about the nature of identity, unfurling at an unorthodox treatment centre for people experiencing memory loss. Glowicki plays Diana, a school teacher who has lost her memory after an accident forced her into a coma. With other treatment options failing, Diana’s husband, Homer (Petrie), brings her to a secluded home that specializes in treating trauma via sensory stimulation therapy. Some of Diana’s memories come back, but she also experiences hallucinations that might be the memories of someone else that spent time at the centre. Interactions with father (Jason Isaacs) and a similarly afflicted daughter (India Brown) at the clinic raise Diana’s suspicions further that something isn’t right, and that her husband and the hospital staff aren’t telling the full story.
Before Honey Bunch made its way onto our list of the top 100 films of 2025, we were able to sit down with Glowicki, Petrie, Fewer, and Mancinelli and chat about their collaboration at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where it had its Canadian premiere. We talked about the dynamics of couples making films about other couples, the unique shooting location for the film, what Honey Bunch has to say about repressed fears for the future, and much more.
Honey Bunch opens in Canadian theatres via Elevation Pictures on Friday, January 23, 2026. It streams in the U.S. on Shudder starting February 13.
