‘Fresh’ Ending Explained: Breaking Down That Violent, Gross Ending

Warning: This article contains major Fresh spoilers for the 2022 movie on Hulu. Like, pretty much every spoiler. Only read this if you’ve already watched it, or if you’re really, completely sure that you want to be spoiled for Fresh. 

If you think your dating horror stories are bad, just wait until you watch Fresh, a new darkly comedic thriller that began streaming on Hulu today.

Directed by Mimi Cave in her directorial debut, and written by Lauryn Kahn, Fresh first premiered virtually at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival in January and immediately made a splash among festival-goers. Some viewers loved it, others, not so much. (But most agreed that Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan delivered two delectable performances.)

When you get a chance to see the movie on Hulu for yourself, you’ll see why it’s so provocative. This is not a movie for the faint of heart—or the faint of stomach. If you’re dying of curiosity, or if you got last along the way, then Decider is here to help. Read on for the Fresh movie plot summary and the Fresh ending explained.

WHAT IS THE FRESH 2022 MOVIE ABOUT? FRESH PLOT SUMMARY:

Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to dating. But after yet another comically horrible date with a man named Chad (Brett Dier) who criticizes her outfit and steals her food, she finally meets a guy she actually likes—a charismatic man named Steve (Sebastian Stan) who asks for her number in the grocery store.

Steve and Noa have a fantastic first date and end up sleeping together. It’s such a good date, in fact, that Noa agrees to go away with Steve for a weekend to a “surprise” location, despite the fact that her best friend Mollie (Jonica T. Gibbs) thinks it’s a bad idea. (Noa doesn’t seem to recognize Steve asking who she has told about him is a huge red flag!) Noa promises to text Mollie the details when she gets there—but when Steve finally tells Noa that they are going to a place called Cottage Grove, there is no cell service. Steve promises the service at his place is better, but Noa still can’t get her text through when she gets there. Sketchy af.

Steve and Noa arrive at his house and have a drink, and it quickly becomes clear Steve drugged her. Noa passes out, and then, thirty minutes into the movie, we get a creepy credit sequence over distorted images from Noa’s point of view in a drugged-out haze. When Noa wakes up, Steve calmly informs her that he drugged her, kidnapped her, and that he’s going to slowly mutilate her to sell her meat to high-end clients who are into cannibalism. He will keep her alive for as long as possible, to keep the meat “fresh.”

While screaming for help in her cell, Noa meets another prisoner through the wall—a woman named Penny (played by Andrea Bang), who, like Noa, doesn’t have any family who would look for her. Penny tells Noa that there is one other woman being held prisoner by Steve, someone named Melissa who has lost her mind. Noa learns that although Steve slept with her, he didn’t sleep with Penny. She is starting to see that Steve likes her.

After charming Steve into letting her out to take a shower, Noa tries and fails to escape. As punishment, Steve cuts off her “ass meat.” While she recovers, Steve gives her some magazines to read—and Noa discovers a note from a previous victim that says, “If you’re reading this, that means he likes you.” Noa turns up the charm to 11 to get on Steve’s good side. She flirts with him, and, most importantly, expresses interest in cannibalism. Steve, flattered by her interest, starts having dinner with Noa and cooking her elaborate meals made with human meat. She impresses him by actually eating and enjoying (or at least, pretending to enjoy) the meals, and gains his trust.

Meanwhile, Noa’s friend Mollie is starting to get worried about her. Using Noa’s phone, Steve texts her that everything is fine, but that service is spotty, along with a picture of a waterfall. Not satisfied by this, Mollie searches the photo of the waterfall and discovers it’s a stock photo. Mollie begins to investigate Steve in earnest and uses an earlier picture of Steve that Noa sent her—taken without Steve’s knowledge, while he was sleeping—to reverse Google Image search him. Eventually, she discovers Steve’s true identity and tracks down his wife. While she visits his wife, Steve comes home and sees Mollie. On her way out, she calls Noa’s phone, and it rings in Steve’s pocket. Steve tells Mollie he wishes she hadn’t done that, and Steve’s wife hits Mollie from behind. Later, when Steve’s wife gets into the shower, we see that she is missing a leg—implying that Steve married one of the girls he kidnapped and mutilated.

Back at Steve’s prison, we see that Noa has been throwing up after her meals. Penny and Noa both hear Steve bringing in a new prisoner, and the audience sees that the new prisoner is Mollie. Noa has another cannibal dinner date with Steve, and she is in top form—smiling, laughing, flirting, and wearing a dress that Steve bought for her. Steve shows her his wall of memorabilia from his past victims and sees his collection of cell phones—including her friend Mollie’s phone, which she recognizes.

WHAT IS THE FRESH ENDING EXPLAINED? FRESH 2022 SPOILERS:

After building an emotional connection with Steve, making him trust her even more—seriously, give her an Oscar for that performance—Noa goes into the bedroom with Steve, ostensibly to have sex with him. She goes down as if to give him a blowjob, and then bites, hard, on his penis, and shoves soap into his eyes. Oop!

Noa locks Steve in the bedroom, steals his keys and her phone, and runs to free Mollie and Penny. It’s difficult to run because Penny is missing a leg, but Mollie and Noa help as best they can. Steve gets out of the bedroom and all three women attack him in the kitchen. They manage to knock him out and escape the house.

Meanwhile, Mollie’s friend Paul (Dayo Okeniyi) uses location-tracking information—which Mollie sent him before she went to visit Steve’s wife—and drives to Steve’s house. But when he hears gunshots—Steve is still alive, and has a gun—he peaces out. The three women are stranded on the grounds, with no vehicle to escape. But they manage to get the jump on him, and they all start viciously attacking Steve. Noa picks up his gun, asks him to smile, and then shoots him in the head.

They think it’s all over… but then Steve’s wife Ann (Charlotte Le Bon) shows up at the house, sees the signs of struggle, and hears the gunshots. Ann finds Steve’s dead body and comes across Noa, who ran back to the house to get her phone. Ann begins to strangle Noa, but Noa manages to stab her with the car keys. Then Mollie shows up to Noa’s rescue, and kills Ann with a shovel, while shouting, “Bitches like you are the fucking problem!”

Noa and Mollie collapse against each other, finally done. They tell each other they love each other. Then, in the final shot of the movie, Noa gets a text on her phone from Chad—aka the terrible date from the movie’s first scene—that says, “U up?” It’s a moment of pure irony that hits home the movie’s theme: Modern dating is hell.

And, for one last moment of gross, disturbing imagery, there is a mid-credits “scene,” of sorts: an aerial shot of Steve’s clients seated around a dinner table of raw, bleeding human meat. Some men are wearing suits, and some are naked. It’s just a final reminder that there are a lot of rich sickos out there in this world. Then a box—not unlike the kind of box Steve used to package the human meat—closes around that image, and the rest of the credits roll.

I don’t know about you, but I, for one, am never eating meat again.

Watch Fresh on Hulu