dir. Aliyah Knight

Consume from director Aliyah Knight is a queer coming of age tale full of sex, blood, and religious guilt. Her story focuses on Esther (Sara Camara), who is from a religious household yet gives into her growing attraction to her friend Alana (Jess Spies). What is so interesting about Knight’s use of cannibalism is that it is not framed as the actual horror of the film. The real moments of horror are the ones that many of those questioning their identities face when they feel their identity misaligns with their upbringing. Esther is judged by her sister and feels she is letting her family down, becoming untethered from her religious background, and that those around her know something is “wrong” with her. 

While Esther may feel that giving into her desire transformed her into a monster, the sex/cannibalism scene is itself framed as being very sexy and intimate. Cannibalism as a metaphor for love and desire is something much more often discussed in horror spheres than seen in horror films and television. Bones and All from filmmaker Luca Guadagnino is perhaps the best example of this. It aligns with the romantic notion of becoming one with the person you love, fusing the two humans together forever. 

Consume and Bones and All also blend this with their queer themes. When we live in societies that look down upon those who are queer and queer relations as taboo, then it aligns this simple act of loving someone of the same gender as being as horrific. In these societies, queerness is as taboo as things like necrophilia, incest, and of course, cannibalism. In this way, Knight’s short shows the ridiculous means used by organized religion to make someone questioning their identity, as Esther does, feel as though they have “sinned” in one of the worst possible ways. And the more we repress, the more this desire and hunger come out in other ways. 

Within its short 12-minute runtime, Aliyah Knight’s Consume is able to show and explore a type of self-hatred that many of us who have questioned our identities have felt, and the harm that putting this kind of pressure on a young person can do. It is no surprise that queer folks have aligned themselves and identified with monstrous characters throughout horror history. Marginalized communities have frequently been made to feel like there is something intrinsically wrong with their being, and that if people discover what is hidden inside them, they’ll be run off with pitchforks by the town mob. 

While there is much sadness in seeing the struggle Esther goes through, one that sours a beautiful blossoming romance, the intimate moments between Esther and Alana are beautiful. The flirtation, glances, and innocent spark of love are reminders of how beautiful queer love is, even if others try to taint it with hateful rhetoric. Consume balances beauty and horror with expert filmmaking, beautiful writing, and two actors whose performances give us all the lovey dovey feels. Knight is a talent and I hope to see more from her, and more cannibal love stories. 

If you like Consume, you may also like:

• My Animal (dir. Jacqueline Castel, 2023)
• Perpetrator (dir. Jennifer Reeder, 2023)
• Bones and All (dir. Luca Guadagnino, 2022)
• May (dir. Lucky McKee, 2002)