[FrightFest 2026]: Starsuckers

Jersey Anderson as Eileen

Starsuckers has big ambitions as a satire of our relationship with fame. The narrative follows two couples and how fame brings them together. Bjorg and Sasha are a celebrity power couple who invite the more ordinary pair of Chuck and Eileen, for a weekend of sex, violence and power plays. 

Regrettably Starsuckers proves a chore, neither satisfying as a comedy-tinged horror nor as a takedown of modern celebrity culture. There is a lack of tension here, a narrative that doesn’t especially engage, a roster of characters that are all underwritten. The satire comes across as smug and any ideas here are too broad and obvious to overcome other deficiencies.  

The Butler duo are capable at mounting a scene but struggle here to make Starsuckers stand out, even with strong work from cinematographer Mathieu Seguin. There is a cheapness here that undercuts the world of fame that is so central to the narrative of the film. Committed turns from the film’s quintet help, but there’s only so much the cast can do with a screenplay as flawed and clunky as the one here. Hopefully this acts as a springboard for better things. 

Although Starsuckers particularly suffers in comparison, one can’t help but compare it with something like the works of Coralie Fargeat, both in their ability to create visually impressive works of violence (Revenge- 2017) and fascinating deconstructions of fame in a modern world (The Substance -2024). There’s something admirable here in setting one’s sights on a proper target and, at times, it feels like Starsuckers manages to say something interesting on this, but those moments are few and far between.

You can’t help but hope for better from the film. The premise is interesting and the tangled web we weave with celebrities is a rich subject matter to explore, but the satire is never biting enough, the writing is never tight enough, and the violence is never shocking enough. It all amounts to a film that leaves you scratching your head over and wondering what could have been if the Butlers had stuck the landing.

1.5 Screams out of 5