Consumption (2008)

Written and Directed by Richard Powell
Cast: Bruno Talotta, Andrea Nettleton
Fatal Pictures Inc
31 minutes

Consumption is inspired by the true story, so says the opening credits. And I think I recall they story they are referring to. Craigslist is good for many things, not the least of which is experimentation. Sometimes that experiment involves finding out what it’s like to eat someone. And sometimes it involves finding someone who is willing to eat you...

In this case, the experiment is conducted by George, an academic and college professor who has been speaking to a student named Claudia via the internet. Claudia has kindly volunteered her services in the name of science. George prepares for Claudia’s arrival as if it is a date, putting on a suit, practicing sample conversation in the mirror and cooking dinner. When Claudia arrives, he delivers his lines in a stilted manner. She doesn’t seem all too thrilled to be there either, excusing herself to use the restroom almost immediately. Once out of George’s sight, she does what anyone in a movie does when they ask to use the restroom: drugz. She’s not having a great day and, as she tells George, she didn’t come here to eat either. After another trip to the bathroom involving a heated call to an ex, Claudia tells George she’s ready. And eventually we learn what she’s been getting ready for.

Both George and Claudia have long, thoughtful speeches to deliver. Claudia tells the camera that what she’s doing is “an act of self-love, faith, science and humanity” while George makes similar claims about “awareness, enlightenment and the unknown”. Of course, what they’re really talking about is murder most fowl. George wants to know what it’s like to eat someone. Symbiotically, Claudia wants to die and doesn’t care what happens to her body. So George gets to conduct an experiment that no academic institution would ever approve. It’s Crime and Punishment taken to the extreme.

The acting does, at first, come off as stiff. But once you see where the plot is going, George’s weirdness makes sense. He clearly has no idea how to relate to people. His humanity is a mask. Even if he’s never done anything like this before, the fact that he is able to rationalize it now indicates that he’s just making excuses for deviant behavior. “Some will say I took my journey for knowledge too far,” he says in his introductory speech. “To that I say some people don’t take it far enough.”

George documents the whole process by dictating every step into a tape recorder. He attempts to maintain the objectiveness of it all, but it’s not easy for him. He’s an experienced scientist, but not an experienced killer. His multiple attempts at rationalizing and normalizing his actions are the true meat of the story. His relationship with Claudia is just the jumping off point for an interesting profile of a deeply disturbed character. His long, pretentious speeches would be rather tedious if it weren’t for the bloody visuals accompanying them. The gore effects are very well done and do well to keep the audiences attention. At the very least, Consumption is definitely worth a gander for that. But where George ultimately decides to take the experiment is the most shocking part of all.