Sweetness Review: Obsession Turns Dangerous in Emma Higgins’ Timely Psychological Thriller

A fan’s devotion spirals into captivity in Emma Higgins’ unsettling psychological thriller Sweetness.

Review: Sweetness

Rating: 3 / 5

There’s a quiet menace running beneath Sweetness, one that has less to do with pop stardom and more to do with the spaces adults don’t pay attention to. Written and directed by Emma Higgins, the psychological thriller—first unveiled at South by Southwest last year—arrives at an eerily fitting moment, opening just ahead of the next SXSW cycle.

At its core, Sweetness is not a celebrity thriller. It’s a film about neglect, isolation, and the dangers of obsession when emotional needs go unmet. Higgins frames fandom not as a joke or a punchline, but as a coping mechanism—one that can curdle into something far more dangerous when left unchecked.

Kate Hallett delivers a sharp, unsettling performance as Riley Hill, a teenager whose devotion to a troubled pop star becomes a surrogate for real human connection. Riley isn’t portrayed as naïve or stupid—she’s intelligent, observant, and frighteningly capable. That intelligence is what makes her obsession so disturbing. Alongside her is Aya Furukawa as Sidney, the friend who initially shares Riley’s fandom before realizing just how far Riley is willing to go.

The film’s emotional backbone lies in Riley’s fractured home life. Justin Chatwin plays her father, a police officer trying to move forward after loss, distracted by a new relationship and blind to how disconnected his daughter has become. Higgins never paints him as cruel—just absent. And that distinction matters. Sweetness is clear-eyed about how emotional neglect often isn’t malicious; it’s mundane. It’s adults being busy, tired, and unaware of how fragile their children actually are.

As Riley’s fixation escalates, the film shifts into a Misery-adjacent psychological dread—less about shocks, more about inevitability. Higgins’ writing leans into uncomfortable truths rather than sensationalism, asking hard questions about accountability, parenting, and the warning signs society routinely ignores. While the scenario occasionally stretches plausibility, the emotional logic never breaks. This is a thriller built for the present moment, shaped by conversations we often avoid having in households, schools, and communities.

Sweetness doesn’t pretend to have answers, but it demands attention. It’s a reminder that obsession doesn’t emerge in a vacuum—and that the people we overlook can sometimes be the ones most desperate to be seen.

A solid, thoughtful thriller anchored by a standout lead performance, Sweetness earns a respectable 3 out of 5 from us—and marks Emma Higgins as a filmmaker worth keeping a close eye on moving forward.