The Cleanse

The Cleanse is a 2016 American dark fantasy comedy film. Bobby Miller wrote and directed it. The story follows Paul Berger, a man who is depressed and disappointed after losing his job and his fiancée. He attends a selection seminar for "Let's Get Pure," a secretive self-help program created by Ken Roberts. There, he meets another applicant, Maggie Jameson. Both are selected for a purification retreat, where participants consume foul-tasting cleanse drinks. During the night, Paul vomits, and a small creature emerges from the sink drain. This creature grows over time, becoming a physical manifestation of the negativity Paul purged. Other participants, including Eric and his girlfriend Laurie, also confront their own creatures. Ken Roberts later arrives, instructing Maggie to kill her creature to complete the cleanse, but she cannot. Paul and Maggie flee with both creatures, which merge into one Kafkaesque monster. After a car crash, they reluctantly strangle the fused creature together. The cast includes Johnny Galecki as Paul Berger, Anna Friel as Maggie Jameson, Kyle Gallner as Eric, Anjelica Huston as Lily, Diana Bang as Laurie, Kevin J. O'Connor as Fredericks, and Oliver Platt as Ken Roberts. The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 13, 2016, and was released on May 4, 2018, by Vertical Entertainment. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 79% rating based on 24 reviews, with an average score of 5.9/10. The critical consensus describes it as a suitably eerie and well-acted horror outing with surprising emotional heft. On Metacritic, it has a score of 58 out of 100, indicating mixed or average reviews. FilmAffinity gave it a 4.1 out of 10.