When I Consume You

Siblings Daphne (Libby Ewing) and Wilson (Evan Dumouchel) have a close relationship that has developed as they have had to look after each other. Through Wilson’s care of Daphne during her dark times to her hoping to adopt having finally got rid of her demons. Then Wilson taking his knock backs, the humiliation of preparing for an interview then told on the street by one of the interviewers not to bother turning up.

The pair have clearly had a difficult past and the future certainly for Wilson doesn’t hold out much. Things get worse when a stalker (MacLeod Andrews) begins to follow Daphne forcing brother and sister to track him after he begins to threaten them both. The dark and uncompromising streets of Brooklyn the setting for this grim urban horror.

When I Consume You is a dark and heavy film that is not easy to digest with its deliberately lo-fi aesthetic and slowburn pacing. It often has a documentary look about it switching back to more filmic camera work in particular towards the end. It is in some respects an ugly film but then the effects of drug abuse should never be softened as we witness the horror of addiction. Similarly Wilson’s beating at the hands of the stalker (David Castille) is uncompromising.

Split into distinct sections writer and director Perry Blackshear has crafted a complex unsettling film that uses the steamy brooding Brooklyn setting to maximum effect in the first two acts. Up to the third act it does bumble a bit as it reaches for psychological depth as well a physical edge. It doesn’t quite work in that sense until the last section when, the supernatural really comes into play, and the film comes together in satisfactorily, if not lastingly memorable. The acting is first class with Ewing and Dumouchel both excellent in difficult roles that the viewer will have little difficulty empathising with.

When I Consume You will be available on digital platforms from 16 August.