(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the kind of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“When a once-fabled campfire tale becomes real, a group of campers uncover a profound secret that questions their very existence.”
Think what you may, but the wide, wide world of the Friday The 13th film saga has truly ruined the possibilities of storytelling within the traditional summer camp setting; and that’s only the first of many problems one encounters when trying to make a bit of sense out of Marshmallow (2025), a kid-centric SciFi/Horror hybrid from director Daniel DelPurgatorio and screenwriter Andy Greskoviak. What starts out looking like it might be a bit more psychologically grounded takes a few twists and turns in order to get to a place wherein the central story – that of a young boy whose identity is murky from the first frame – ambitiously tries to explore how obsessive we’ve culturally grown with confronting (or not confronting) our grief; and, yes, that topic alone might be a bit too heady for a summer camp setting populated with more young faces than Stranger Things can shake a stick at. Sadly, about the time one learns what’s really going on, you might be asking yourself, “Why should I really care?”
FYI: that’s not a good place to be … in any film … regardless of genre.
Young Morgan (played wonderfully by Kue Lawrence) is a bit of a neighborhood misfit, the kind who can’t even get the kids across the street to throw the ball to him. Mom (Alysia Reiner) and Dad (Todd M. Friedman) have decided that maybe getting him out from under the wing of Grandpa Roy (Corbin Bernsen) might be good for the boy’s emotional development; but before those sunny days arrive the Grim Reaper pays Roy his big visit, leaving the boy even more despondent, uncommunicative, and Granddad-less than ever before. The fact that he’ll now spend his summer in the same cabin as CJ (Sutton Johnston) – the typical schoolyard bully – means that life ain’t exactly shaping up to be all that grand with our film’s lead.
But there’s more wrong with Morgan than typically meets the eye. Early in the picture, we’re shown sequences wherein the boy is plagued by vividly disturbing dreams involving water (i.e. flooding, drowning, etc.). In these visions, it fills every room he occupies; and it even springs eternal from his own midsection in a violent instance. Thus, it’s very clear that – for better or for worse – Morgan is far from the traditional suburban ‘plus one’ in the proverbial nuclear family; and it’s this initial characterization which casts him right away as a somewhat ‘unreliable narrator.’
Now, I’ve written quite a bit about this storytelling technique on SciFiHistory.Net, mostly because I’ve rarely seen it work to any film’s advantage. When you legitimize an audience’s questioning of any tale’s central perspective, you’re fundamentally balancing the entire narrative on the edge of a knife: push it a bit too much one way, and the tale is quickly out of balance and hard to swallow. A kid’s life can be hard enough – especially when you’re the local oddball to which Morgan appears – so adding some unexplained nocturnal visions and the looming death of the family patriarch – a presence we’re shown to be ‘looking out’ for the boy – I had no choice but to begin asking why things happen in such dark ways around him. Is Morgan cursed? Does he know something I don’t? Why has the universe come down so hard on the buy? Even though all of this does have a time and place in where Marshmallow ultimately delivers us, I’d still argue it was too much laid out far too quickly. Textual foreshadowing should’ve been tempered.
Furthermore, Marshmallow’s setting – the idyllic summer camp with all of those relative highs and lows – never at once seems authentic. Having spent the better part of three summers employed in such a place, I can tell you that nothing that plays out in the film ever realistically operates like a camp (i.e. semi-private lodging, little to no structure to daily activities, only a handful of paid counselors, the lack of discipline when one camper nearly kills two others, etc.). Because the place felt more like a private summer escape than it did an authentic camp, I kept noticing things that were a bit suspect; and this general sense of incredulousness also helped to kill the effect of the twist once it’s finally delivered. Perhaps restructuring the setting to be something like a summer getaway for emotionally troubled children might’ve removed some of the disbelief, but that’s hard to say as – critically – I can only react and assess what I’m shown. Either way, the camp never worked like a camp, and that killed the effectiveness.
Additionally, far too many storytellers these days seem to have grown invested in having some big reveal upon which to build these humble universes. Marshmallow is no different – in fact, perhaps it relies too much on hiding the reality when all that’s in here could’ve worked more astutely if the ‘big secret’ were known from the beginning – and that makes it a feature hard to discuss to any great extent without spoiling its best bits. Since both the director and screenwriter committed to this script as is, there were just too many elements working against the grain for me to accept everything needed at face value: instead, it’s as if I knew a shake-up was always coming, and this heightened awareness made even the reveal feel smaller than it should’ve. Some otherwise good work by a young cast wasn’t grand enough to make it work the way it should’ve, and – if surprises truly matter – then this one needed a bit more.
Regardless, I still managed to have some fun with Marshmallow. Its tense moments are staged well enough to ratchet up a bit of tension – the obvious isolation of a woodland camp works every time it’s tried even when, logically, the setting never felt true – and, as I said, the handful of fresh, young faces are given some small character beats that give them a hint of legitimacy. Mind you, I’ll almost always come away from a work like this wanting more – especially more character stuff because that’s what keeps me invested as a viewer – but there’s something to be said for staking out some territory and sticking with it whether or not all of the set dressing and context works. There’s still an efficiency to making a film – even one that stumbles – and that will always give those of us who like to watch something to look at. Marshmallow does, and it even makes you wonder ‘what if’ with its late-breaking surprise.
Marshmallow (2025) was produced by Hemlock Circle Productions and The Warner Davis Company. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been handled by the fine folks at Toy Robot. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that the provided sights and sounds are quite good throughout: thankfully, there’s a solid investment here in practical effects work – along with in-camera jump scares – and it’s effective. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Well, there’s a respectable audio commentary from director DelPurgtorio and two young stars that’s a bit light on substance but fun on the experience. There’s also some deleted bits and a behind-the-scenes featurette that are interesting but brief. The disc also includes some storyboards and a few other short films by the director. All-in-all, it’s a pretty spiffy assortment that should keep fans busy for some time.
Recommended.
Though you won’t know it right out of the gate, 2025’s Marshmallow shares the same intellectual DNA as do such other flicks as 1940’s Pinocchio, 1975’s The Stepford Wives, and 2001’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence. It takes a great while to get to where those films did – mostly by design – but those who are patient will be rewarded if even in small ways. I don’t always encourage patience, and yet I’ll stand on the side of the picture this time out. It earns it … if only in thematic ways.
While I can say that Marshmallow certainly won’t be to everyone’s liking, I’ll still assure you that it’s the kind of film I’ll usually spend more time with – even with subsequent viewings – because it tries to do something new and different with its material even though screenwriter Greskoviak mostly painted himself and his characters into corners they couldn’t emerge from without looking a bit silly. Logically, it’s a pretty slimsy house of cards that can’t withstand a bit of pressure on any front; and – sorry, folks – there are far too many quirks that keep this one from crossing the finish line without feeling a bit tired in spots and contrived in others. A follow-up – one that truly shows how far and wide this universe might be – could reshape it conditionally, but I wouldn’t expect that to right everything that was a bit wrong in this first installment.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Toy Robot provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray copy of Marshmallow (2025) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“When a once-fabled campfire tale becomes real, a group of campers uncover a profound secret that questions their very existence.”
Think what you may, but the wide, wide world of the Friday The 13th film saga has truly ruined the possibilities of storytelling within the traditional summer camp setting; and that’s only the first of many problems one encounters when trying to make a bit of sense out of Marshmallow (2025), a kid-centric SciFi/Horror hybrid from director Daniel DelPurgatorio and screenwriter Andy Greskoviak. What starts out looking like it might be a bit more psychologically grounded takes a few twists and turns in order to get to a place wherein the central story – that of a young boy whose identity is murky from the first frame – ambitiously tries to explore how obsessive we’ve culturally grown with confronting (or not confronting) our grief; and, yes, that topic alone might be a bit too heady for a summer camp setting populated with more young faces than Stranger Things can shake a stick at. Sadly, about the time one learns what’s really going on, you might be asking yourself, “Why should I really care?”
FYI: that’s not a good place to be … in any film … regardless of genre.
Young Morgan (played wonderfully by Kue Lawrence) is a bit of a neighborhood misfit, the kind who can’t even get the kids across the street to throw the ball to him. Mom (Alysia Reiner) and Dad (Todd M. Friedman) have decided that maybe getting him out from under the wing of Grandpa Roy (Corbin Bernsen) might be good for the boy’s emotional development; but before those sunny days arrive the Grim Reaper pays Roy his big visit, leaving the boy even more despondent, uncommunicative, and Granddad-less than ever before. The fact that he’ll now spend his summer in the same cabin as CJ (Sutton Johnston) – the typical schoolyard bully – means that life ain’t exactly shaping up to be all that grand with our film’s lead.
But there’s more wrong with Morgan than typically meets the eye. Early in the picture, we’re shown sequences wherein the boy is plagued by vividly disturbing dreams involving water (i.e. flooding, drowning, etc.). In these visions, it fills every room he occupies; and it even springs eternal from his own midsection in a violent instance. Thus, it’s very clear that – for better or for worse – Morgan is far from the traditional suburban ‘plus one’ in the proverbial nuclear family; and it’s this initial characterization which casts him right away as a somewhat ‘unreliable narrator.’
Now, I’ve written quite a bit about this storytelling technique on SciFiHistory.Net, mostly because I’ve rarely seen it work to any film’s advantage. When you legitimize an audience’s questioning of any tale’s central perspective, you’re fundamentally balancing the entire narrative on the edge of a knife: push it a bit too much one way, and the tale is quickly out of balance and hard to swallow. A kid’s life can be hard enough – especially when you’re the local oddball to which Morgan appears – so adding some unexplained nocturnal visions and the looming death of the family patriarch – a presence we’re shown to be ‘looking out’ for the boy – I had no choice but to begin asking why things happen in such dark ways around him. Is Morgan cursed? Does he know something I don’t? Why has the universe come down so hard on the buy? Even though all of this does have a time and place in where Marshmallow ultimately delivers us, I’d still argue it was too much laid out far too quickly. Textual foreshadowing should’ve been tempered.
Furthermore, Marshmallow’s setting – the idyllic summer camp with all of those relative highs and lows – never at once seems authentic. Having spent the better part of three summers employed in such a place, I can tell you that nothing that plays out in the film ever realistically operates like a camp (i.e. semi-private lodging, little to no structure to daily activities, only a handful of paid counselors, the lack of discipline when one camper nearly kills two others, etc.). Because the place felt more like a private summer escape than it did an authentic camp, I kept noticing things that were a bit suspect; and this general sense of incredulousness also helped to kill the effect of the twist once it’s finally delivered. Perhaps restructuring the setting to be something like a summer getaway for emotionally troubled children might’ve removed some of the disbelief, but that’s hard to say as – critically – I can only react and assess what I’m shown. Either way, the camp never worked like a camp, and that killed the effectiveness.
Additionally, far too many storytellers these days seem to have grown invested in having some big reveal upon which to build these humble universes. Marshmallow is no different – in fact, perhaps it relies too much on hiding the reality when all that’s in here could’ve worked more astutely if the ‘big secret’ were known from the beginning – and that makes it a feature hard to discuss to any great extent without spoiling its best bits. Since both the director and screenwriter committed to this script as is, there were just too many elements working against the grain for me to accept everything needed at face value: instead, it’s as if I knew a shake-up was always coming, and this heightened awareness made even the reveal feel smaller than it should’ve. Some otherwise good work by a young cast wasn’t grand enough to make it work the way it should’ve, and – if surprises truly matter – then this one needed a bit more.
Regardless, I still managed to have some fun with Marshmallow. Its tense moments are staged well enough to ratchet up a bit of tension – the obvious isolation of a woodland camp works every time it’s tried even when, logically, the setting never felt true – and, as I said, the handful of fresh, young faces are given some small character beats that give them a hint of legitimacy. Mind you, I’ll almost always come away from a work like this wanting more – especially more character stuff because that’s what keeps me invested as a viewer – but there’s something to be said for staking out some territory and sticking with it whether or not all of the set dressing and context works. There’s still an efficiency to making a film – even one that stumbles – and that will always give those of us who like to watch something to look at. Marshmallow does, and it even makes you wonder ‘what if’ with its late-breaking surprise.
Marshmallow (2025) was produced by Hemlock Circle Productions and The Warner Davis Company. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been handled by the fine folks at Toy Robot. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that the provided sights and sounds are quite good throughout: thankfully, there’s a solid investment here in practical effects work – along with in-camera jump scares – and it’s effective. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Well, there’s a respectable audio commentary from director DelPurgtorio and two young stars that’s a bit light on substance but fun on the experience. There’s also some deleted bits and a behind-the-scenes featurette that are interesting but brief. The disc also includes some storyboards and a few other short films by the director. All-in-all, it’s a pretty spiffy assortment that should keep fans busy for some time.
Recommended.
Though you won’t know it right out of the gate, 2025’s Marshmallow shares the same intellectual DNA as do such other flicks as 1940’s Pinocchio, 1975’s The Stepford Wives, and 2001’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence. It takes a great while to get to where those films did – mostly by design – but those who are patient will be rewarded if even in small ways. I don’t always encourage patience, and yet I’ll stand on the side of the picture this time out. It earns it … if only in thematic ways.
While I can say that Marshmallow certainly won’t be to everyone’s liking, I’ll still assure you that it’s the kind of film I’ll usually spend more time with – even with subsequent viewings – because it tries to do something new and different with its material even though screenwriter Greskoviak mostly painted himself and his characters into corners they couldn’t emerge from without looking a bit silly. Logically, it’s a pretty slimsy house of cards that can’t withstand a bit of pressure on any front; and – sorry, folks – there are far too many quirks that keep this one from crossing the finish line without feeling a bit tired in spots and contrived in others. A follow-up – one that truly shows how far and wide this universe might be – could reshape it conditionally, but I wouldn’t expect that to right everything that was a bit wrong in this first installment.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Toy Robot provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray copy of Marshmallow (2025) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
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