Shudder / IFC have announced acquisition of Saccharine, a body horror movie from XYZ films

Shudder and Independent Film Company (IFC) have announced their acquisition of XYZ Films’ body horror film Saccharine. The news comes as XYZ Films is preparing for the film’s premiere at Sundance.

Saccharine is described as a supernatural body horror movie, which stars Midori Francis (The Sex Lives of College Girls), Madeleine Madden (The Wheel of Time), and Danielle MacDonald (Patti Cakes). It was written and directed by Natalie Erika James, who also wrote and directed the very highly regarded Relic, as well as Apartment 7A (which was a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby).

Saccharine will receive a theatrical release before it begins streaming on Shudder this year, just as films such as Late Night with the Devil, Clown in a Cornfield and Good Boy did. There has been no premiere date announced as of yet for Saccharine, but it’s expected that the film will begin streaming on Shudder a few months after its theatrical debut.

Body horror has become quite popular over the past year or so, with Together and The Substance both receiving positive reviews and generating a lot of money at the box office. Shudder is likely banking on that trend continuing in 2026. The Substance in particular was well received. It won Best Screenplay upon its debut at Cannes, and was nominated for the Palme d’Or.

It also generated an Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Demi Moore won a Golden Globe, the Critics’ Choice Award and Screen Actors Guild Award. It received multiple nominations at several different awards shows. As we know, it is rare for a horror film to be taken seriously in the world of prestigious film awards, so that’s quite an accomplishment.

What is the plot of Saccharine?

 

In Saccharine, a medical student named Hana begins following a very odd weight loss regimen, which consists of eating human ashes. If that seems like a bad idea, you are absolutely correct, especially since Hana finds herself haunted by the person whose ashes she has ingested.

Natalie Erika James proclaimed herself to be “absolutely thrilled to be working with Independent Film Company and Shudder again after our experience releasing RELIC together in 2020. They're an incredible team with a deep understanding of genre and a real commitment to filmmakers."

Emily Gotto, the Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Productions at Shudder praised James’s work and described the director as a “leading voice in genre cinema.”