Working away from home, Dani (Jackie Kelly) settles into her room for the evening, flirting into the early hours in a sexually-charged text message exchange. Her cosy night in is interrupted by a knock on the door; a sinister portent of the night she has in store.
Dani isn’t prepared for where this is all headed, and nor are you – Human is a balls (and everything else) to the wall gorefest, taking its version of a splatter flick to nigh-existential levels in what it throws at the screen. As the faucet is opened on a veritable torrent of effluence, poor Dani emerges as one of the most abused horror heroines of recent years.
Between the gallons of gore and disembodied, uh, body parts, it’s very much in the Evil Dead II vein of bloodbath. Even fans of that franchise’s grisliest entries might struggle with Human though, which dials up the unpleasantries to almost inhumane levels.
And we’re not necessarily talking about the trauma suffered by Dani either. It’s hard enough to stomach as an audience member. From the constant ping of Dani’s phone to an absolutely gruelling gore sequence late in the film, it’s a harrowing experience, and a relentless assault on the senses.
Kelly weathers it all well, while writer and director Matt Stuertz sends in several surprises to ensure that she has something to bounce off of, even if it’s just a strange man doing a monologue about periods over the phone. The cacophonic approach is probably the point though, successfully putting the audience on edge before the gross stuff has even started.
Human is not a pleasant horror film, but it is an undeniably effective one.
HUMAN premiered at FrightFest on August 22, 2025.
