The Carnivores
Director Caleb Michael Johnson | 2021 | Drama, Horror, Independent, Comedy, LGBTQ | English
Alice and Bret’s dog Harvie is dying, and he’s ruining everything. What had been a bright little family is quickly being consumed by clouds of self-doubt, suspicion, and a disturbing amount of ground beef. Bret (Lindsay Burdge) is taking the news hard. She’s had Harvie since before the relationship and is startled to find just how much of her sense of self is wrapped up in her history with him. Alice (Tallie Medel) thus finds herself on the outside of a relationship looking in. Bret’s obsession with the dog is getting overtly unhealthy, yet the more Alice attempts to connect, the further Bret retreats.
As the stress on Alice, a vegan, manifests in increasingly strange ways involving sleepwalking and a fascination with meat, she plans to get rid of Harvie to reclaim Bret’s love. But when Alice wakes one night holding an empty leash with no sign of Harvie except his severed ear, she begins to fear she’s become a monster. As each woman sets out in search of what’s been lost, Alice and Bret uncover parts of each other they never suspected, hideous and beautiful alike.
“CALEB MICHAEL JOHNSON’S PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER PIVOTS ON THE POSSIBILITY OF LOVE AS A KIND OF ALL-CONSUMING MADNESS.”
– VARIETY
“A THOUGHT-PROVOKING STORY ABOUT LOVE AND OBSESSION.”
– FILM PULSE
“IT IS SUCCESSFUL IN BEING BOTH DISCOMFORTING AND INVITING, YOU WON’T KNOW HOW TO LOOK AWAY.”
– FILM INQUIRY
“THERE’S SOMETHING DARING AND MEMORABLE ABOUT JOHNSON’S VISION OF POSSIBLE MENTAL ILLNESS AND MARITAL STRIFE.”
– ROGEREBERT.COM
“JOHNSON AND SMITH KEEP THE AUDIENCE GUESSING ABOUT WHAT IS REAL AND WHAT IS DERANGED FANTASY. THE MEDITATIVE CLOSE-UP SHOTS BOTH EXEMPLIFY ALICE’S CRUMBLING STATE OF MIND AND PUT THE AUDIENCE RIGHT THERE WITH HER.”
– HAMMER TO NAIL
“ALTHOUGH [THE FILM’S LEAD] MAY HAVE LONG EXCLUDED RED MEAT FROM HER DIET, THERE’S PLENTY OF IT TO CHEW ON IN ‘THE CARNIVORES’”
– MOVEABLE FEAST
Caleb Michael Johnson (Joy Kevin) – Director
Tallie Medel (Joy Kevin, Jules of Light and Dark)
Lindsay Burdge (Easy, The Invitation, A Teacher)
Frank Mosley (Freeland, The Ghost Who Walks, Some Beasts)
Dark Sky Films, a wholly owned subsidiary of MPI Media Group, is an independent genre film production and distribution label founded in 2008. Dark Sky Films works with emerging talent as well as established veterans to develop, produce and finance feature films and episodic television projects. Representing films from some of most talented directors working today, such as Ti West’s The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers, and Jim Mickle’s Stake Land, Dark Sky continues to identify original talent and projects to bring a vibrant slate of films to the world market, with original productions and releases such as Girl on the Third Floor, We Are Still Here, Deathgasm, Emelie, Catfight, Darlin’, Bliss and most recently, The Dark and 1BR. | Follow us on twitter: @darkskyfilms @mpimediagroup
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