Spoonful of Sugar (2022) Movie Review - Interesting Idea Pretty Badly Wasted

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are taking a look at Mercedes Morgan’s Shudder original Spoonful of Sugar. In this movie, a woman, Millicent, who has been through the foster care system begins working as a carer for a child with specialist needs. Millicent believes the child’s problems may actually be rather treatable. Having been prescribed LSD to treat her own psychological issues, she thinks the potent psychedelic drug can help him, too. Little does she realise the spiral of events that she will unleash.

I am not a huge fan of this movie. It really didn’t do anything for me and features some questionable depictions of neuro divergent people. Still, let’s take a look. We have actually explained the ending for this one so if you need answers, click on the link – Spoonful of Sugar Ending Explained.

A Poorly Thought Out Plot

Spoonful of Sugar reveals itself to be rather poorly thought out almost immediately. We are presented with our main character Millicent. A twitchy, somewhat bizarre, person that stands out for how atypical she is. Immediately challenging the views of the mother who is employing her to care for her child. It is very difficult to imagine that anyone would trust this woman with their kids.

This speaks to only one of the many plot holes that Spoonful of Sugar is guilty of. The viewer is expected to buy into the possibility of Millicent being employed in this role, despite how unlikely that is. I mean, she even shows resistance to the parent’s demands in the very interview that landed her the job. Sure, this plot hole can be tied up a little by what happens later in the movie. But it all feels like a very shaky premise for a movie.

As time rolls on, things only become worse. The viewer is, again, expected to buy into increasingly more unrealistic scenarios. From psychologists prescribing strong psychedelic drugs, to the reveal of Millicent’s ridiculous history with her foster parents. All for the sake of pushing along a story that is mildly dull, at best, and completely farcical at its worst. The cast are pretty unlikable, the oh-so-common presentation of a potentially autistic person as violent is troubling. And the attempts to twist and turn the viewer’s idea of what is going on are lacklustre.

Dollar Store Lucky McKee

Spoonful of Sugar is a movie that wants to play out like a modern version of May. From Morgan Saylor’s propensity to gurn her way through an Angela Bettis-lite role. To the Lucky McKee rip off style of story and direction. This is a film devoid of originality. Copious amounts of B-roll focusing on irrelevant details highlights the movie’s opening. Only to be replaced with a repetitive obsession with the mundane. As Millicent sits spitting watermelon seeds into the void, I felt a distinct sense of Deja-vu wash over me.

There is a discomforting feeling of familiarity throughout Spoonful of Sugar. Not a feeling of the movie paying tribute, more that a director devoid of ideas took to plagiarism to weave a style. The problem is, everything here feels so poorly done. There is a cheap plastic sheen to the presentation as if the director had ideas but didn’t understand execution. The result is a picture that provokes annoyance at numerous points.

An almost compulsive desire to record every single disgusting sound before blasting it directly into the ears of the viewer proves to be hell for Misophonia sufferers. Again, reminiscent of Lucky McKee but without the relevance and clever focus. McKee used these techniques to highlight May’s obsession with certain characters as well as her obsession with certain body parts. Here, it is used simply to annoy the viewer and get under their skin. Like screamer scares of old, this is becoming all too common in horror and hints at a director lacking in ideas.

Tired Eroticism and Lacking Horror

Spoonful of Sugar is woefully slow paced. Again, choosing to engage in the repetitive and mundane. The movie forgoes plot and character development, instead choosing to emphasise the quirkiness of our boring and unlikable lead. When that isn’t enough, Morgan resorts to tried and tested sex scenes. As boring, awkward, and unnecessary as they are. It’s hard to shake the feeling that this movie was made with a specific audience in mind. I complained about Don’t Kill Me feeling like a softcore skin flick. Well, Spoonful of Sugar is even worse. These characters are horny beyond belief.

My fiancée and I ended up laughing, repeatedly exclaiming “What the hell? Another sex scene!?”. It’s all a bit sad to be honest. I really think sex scenes don’t have a huge place in horror. Whereas nudity can be important and impactful to the story, sex rarely feels like it fits. It can be implied, we don’t need to see two actors awkwardly dry humping each other.

Presenting itself as a straight up horror movie, I am left to wonder which parts of the movie are actually horror? There is very little here for horror fans to hold onto. It feels a lot closer to a simple and straightforward erotic thriller. The movie’s obsession with the drug LSD could have lead to some interesting psychedelic horror. Ala Without Name or Gaia. Instead it simply results in awkward scenes featuring terrible CGI. It’s really just an afterthought.

Substandard Acting

Acting is, generally, bad. I am sure some people will buy into her performance but, for me. Morgan Saylor doesn’t quite hit the mark. I am a huge fan of quirky women in horror movies, its probably my favourite type of character, but I was pretty disappointed by Saylor, here. Aside from looking far too old for the role. She chews the scenery too much and it is hard to buy into her eccentricities. They feel very forced, particularly some of her physical quirks and tics.

Myko Oliver seems fairly checked out and his performance seems a bit phoned in. He seems oblivious to the gravity of the situation. Feeling, somehow, like the token “sexy gardener” character from a sitcom more than an actual well developed character. Kat Foster is probably the best member of the cast. She manages some decent emotion in a few scenes and really tries. She also captures that pre-occupied, career driven, mother type of character pretty well. To be perfectly honest, Leah Saint Marie’s terrible script does nothing to help the actors, here. It is legitimately remedial at points.

Surprisingly Decent Ending

Cinematography is fine. I’m always a fan of the 1.66:1 aspect ratio. It looks, generally, quite nice here and offers a somewhat unique feeling to the picture. Lighting is a bit of a problem, though. This is a very dark movie, at times, which wouldn’t be so much of a problem but many of the dark scenes feature backlighting making characters difficult to see. Some of the more abstract shots are quite interesting. This movie doesn’t do nearly enough with psychedelic imagery, though. It falls quite flat given the potential of the theme.

I actually loved the ending. It was, by far, my favourite part of the movie. I actually bumped the score by a point as its nice to see something unexpected. The build up leads to a very nice twist that feels quite refreshing. I wouldn’t suggest sitting through the movie just for the ending but it is the best part of the movie and shows that the writer wasn’t completely devoid of ideas. One thing it does do, however, is undermine much of the movie’s plot. Still, it deserves praise for subverting expectations.

Should You Watch Spoonful of Sugar?

I didn’t vibe with this movie. Unfortunately, I found Spoonful of Sugar to be a rather dull and boring horror movie that wasted some great potential. I really wanted to like this movie because we need more horror fronted by female writers and directors. Unfortunately, Spoonful of Sugar misses the mark by quite a bit. It engages heavily in tropes that are both damaging and irresponsible. Presenting neuro-divergent characters as being either violent and incapable of love or as drug addicted and sex obsessed. I loved the ending and that deserves praise. But unless you have a high tolerance for mediocre horror based on interesting ideas you probably shouldn’t watch Spoonful of Sugar.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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