Movie Review: Thinestra

Thinestra Movie Review by Matt Boiselle

Thinestra – directed by Nathan Hertz, written by Avra Fox-Lerner and starring Michelle Macedo, Melissa Macedo, Brian Huskey and Shannon Dang

Synopsis: A young woman takes a new weight-loss drug and the fat she sheds returns in the form of an evil doppelganger.

Ah, the beauty of prescription pharmaceuticals – so many drugs to take to cure virtually any illness or malady that one can be afflicted with…and then there’s the laundry-list of “potential side-effects” that may occur when one is under the dosage spell. Sometimes it might seem easier to just stave off whatever ails you, but in the case of Director Nathan Hertz’s latest body-horror feature, “Thinestra” – it’s not what you’re losing, but what grows out of what you’ve lost that can be the problem.

Penny (Michelle Macedo) is a photo “toucher-upper” who is on a pre-Christmas crunch to shed some seriously unwanted pounds, and she is doing her utmost to keep those food noises at bay, however they seem to be winning the war against her. When all hope has presumably failed, she manages to grab some experimental weight-loss pills and start her initial trial, and upon first impressions the drug seems to be working – pounds are coming off and she’s feeling a bit better about her situation…that is until the side-effects kick in. An evil, flesh-craving mirror image (Melissa Macedo) of Penny’s has spawned from her unwanted poundage, and is devouring everyone that comes close to her. Seeing this, and I’ll never complain again about a little nausea and indigestion ever again.

The struggle Penny faces is not only the horrific doppelganger that is cannibalizing all around it, but her own thoughts and doubts while trying to drop these pounds that appear to infect her every moment, awake or asleep. She works in a profession where your job is to focus on the “perfection” that others possess, then use your craft to fix any imperfection that’s noticed before other measures are taken or viewpoints are skewed to the liking of the brass in charge. It’s a very give-and-no-take career, and you see the stress that becomes crushing to an extent, and now you add in this savage entity threatening your very existence and those around you? Pretty heavy subject matter, even for a body-horror project such as this one, and both the Macedo twins give excellent performances in somewhat of a Jekyll and Hyde representation.

When the credits rolled, I could see “Thinestra” as a form of cautionary tale when it comes to filmmaking, especially considering the content within – always watch what you’re putting in your body, because what comes out isn’t always a friend to you, even in small bites.

“Thinestra” releases on digital/VOD services on April 14th, 2026.