Consumption

by | Dec 29, 2014 | The Horror Review News | 0 comments

The screener for Consumption arrived without any promotional information, so I wasn’t at all sure what to expect. However per the filmmakers’ Website, www.fatalpictures.com, the movie’s byline is, “The complex and tragic relationship between an eccentric professor and a confused young woman.” And the opening screen does tell us that the film is “Inspired by true events”…

We find George (Bruno Talotta) preening for a dinner date at his suburban home. Everything is laid out just so, and his greeting is rehearsed, so when cute t-shirted Claudia (Andrea Nettleton) arrives George is ready for her with small talk and hospitality.

Each appears slightly nervous, as their meeting is apparently an arrangement made between strangers who started corresponding over the Internet; both indicate that this is the first time they’ve seen each other in the flesh (hence the somewhat stiff conversation).

As George prepares coffee Claudia goes to the bathroom, taking a pill and evidently steeling herself for the evening ahead. When she comes out the two talk about how incredible it is that they were able to connect with each other. “Scary,” even.

George prepares and serves dinner for Claudia, taking nothing himself. As she enjoys the meal and the wine, George talks about his work and travels. Claudia encourages him, admitting to “stalling” before saying to him, “Let’s just get on with this, please. Before I lose my nerve.”

George is prepared for this as well, presenting Claudia with a document to sign before they move forward. He assures her that he wants her to be completely certain about their arrangement. In the bathroom again Claudia engages in an irritable cell phone conversation with an ex-boyfriend, Steve. The call ends with hatred, and when Claudia emerges from the bathroom she is ready to go. George, meanwhile, has changed into a clean white coverall.

He also has a camcorder at the ready, with which he records Claudia’s statement. Reading from a prepared script she says to the camera, “I’ve come here to participate in something extraordinary. Something…important.” She explains that this night may not be understood, but that she herself has often been misunderstood. And yet, “This is an act of self-love, of faith, of science.” It’s her place in history, she says. “It’s beautiful and it’s freedom.” And she is relying upon George to play his role as well. “I can only hope that one day you will be enlightened too,” she tells her future audience. “That’s the best you can wish for in this bullshit life.”

“Perfect,” George tells her. Taking up a cassette recorder, Professor George Kubbard makes a statement of his own. “My purpose is awareness, discovery and enlightenment. My objective is the unknown. Knowledge and wisdom are individual pursuits. What takes place here tonight will benefit my knowledge, wisdom and experience alone. And for that I will be hated and abhorred. Perhaps some will say I took my journey for knowledge too far. To that I say you didn’t take your journey far enough.”

Then, to Claudia: “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Thank you Claudia. Thank you.”

Afterward George collects Claudia’s blood in a bucket. He lays her body out on a plastic sheet and begins to prepare her in accordance with the online guide that he’s purchased. Cutting her up is hard for him, and he has to stop and vomit several times. Small talk on the phone with his sister provides a macabre counterpoint to the sounds of Claudia’s body being taken apart.

Then George starts cooking. Sitting down to the table, he turns off the tape recorder.

Will eating Claudia bring enlightenment or incarceration? Will George feel guilt or a growing hunger? Or will it all lead to something else entirely?

This 2007 Canadian production attempts to balance the moral with the immoral, setting a very simple stage for a very complex act. As a dark little film (clocking in at just over 30 minutes) Consumption provides a no-frills example of one of the many fatal connections for which certain people are looking.

The atmosphere however is one of disappointment; only one individual gets what they really want, with the rest, including the viewer, just sort of left behind. There isn’t much to be found here in the way of elation or suspense, and in fact there’s a notable lack of drama to much of the affair. Which may very well be what the filmmakers intended: to showcase how little the modern population reacts to what could be considered the most hideous of acts. Or just how easy it is to go way too far.

Grim and understated, it’s still all very theatrical. With only two actors ever seen on-screen (in a claustrophobically small setting) the film relies entirely upon their performance; and their shy hasty mumbling isn’t always the most riveting.

The special effects are fair, even if the entire process is a little too neat.

Piano mood music by Bernie Greenspoon has a tendency to interfere with the dialogue, already somewhat difficult to understand due to the changes in presentation and recording media (camcorder, tape recorder, cell phone) as well as the staged nature of the players’ parts.

The lighting is as erratic as the sound, and while it is perhaps fitting that the sets are alternately bleak and dark it does display a definite lack of flair. (Also perhaps intentionally.)

Consumption does provide food for thought, but here it may be a case of the subject matter being more interesting than the execution. If you’ll check the links below you’ll find that this perverted love story has been altered for (ahem) Consumption.

Some links to the “true events” that most likely inspired Consumption:

– Tom Crites

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