Review: Consumption - 2007

Consumption

Director: Richard Powell

2007

Horror/Short

What seems to begin with a romantic dinner for two, soon changes into something more macabre. Something way beyond ordinary peoples frames of references. Professor George Klubbard and Claudia are fully aware of their commitments and will stop at nothing to complete the experiment. Empirical research that emphasises on unknown states of mind and experiences of flesh few can brag about.

It’s all too hard to review this movie in any other way than to reveal certain details of it. The following text may therefore include spoilers. Read at your own risk!

This is a short, no longer than thirty minutes long. These have a kind of dramaturgy not comparable to that of the feature films. It’s a more intense way of telling the story and you don’t have as much time to develop characters and so forth. To create a situation is however possible but to get the depth from longer productions is just not easily obtained. It also has a limited budget so no extraordinary details nor production values is neither possible. But it does not have to contain those things anyway! The tone of the movie is certainly amateurish, but still there is both a feeling of voyeurism and real ambition, underlying values of moral and it’s fascinating at the same time as it’s provoking and really gets under your skin.

I can’t get a total grip of the actors though, at first they’re really bad and the feeling that anyone could have done this at home with a camcorder is apparent. The initial events also seems to be unnecessary trivial. But then something happens! Not really that the acting improves, but as the plot thickens and evolve into a really unpleasant story when the cannibalistic ingredients comes along the production gets more intense altogether. I would compare this, at least plot wise to films like Marain Doras Cannibal based on the true events of German cannibal case of Armin Meiwes. Not that there any homosexual eroticism, or heterosexual either for that matter, but the romantic dinner and the victims willingness to the whole arrangement could easily be compared with that movie.

Instead of the sexuality there’s lots and lots of black humour in the story. Perhaps of the kind that goes unnoticeable the first time but still its present. It’s a pretty clever dialog, but even if it’s apparent where the storyline is going it’s still a bit of a chock when it’s revealed for us. You get overwhelmed by the obvious, so to speak. It’s macabre and totally disgusting (in the most positive sense of the word) and it’s flavoured with some really good and shocking gore effects. The blood might be a little thin but as a whole it doesn’t really matter, the whole point is not to shock with these effects and I’ve seen it done a lot worse in big budgeted movies too.

                                          

So… I like this, regardless of the amateurish production values. I see it as a must for those who are interested in nihilistic, cannibalistic and repulsive flicks. It manages to stay right on the egde and does not get tasteless just for the sake of it and leaves the viewer with a feeling and hopelessness and moral values!