An Addiction

Log Line

Two people have a one-night stand after sharing details about their bizarre addiction in a local AA meeting. At the next meeting, only one is there.

Synopsis

During a meeting of addicts, two addicts end up going back to one of their places. A montage of the two addicts' passionate kissing, fondling, and groping is intercut with cooking and preparing for a meal. At the next meeting, only one of them is present. Only to be revealed why, by the other's confession.

Moodboard

Plot

Commencing in a hall is an addicts meeting. A timid Indian (Rashid) man is confessing his struggles with his addiction to the council around him. He finishes and is followed by a light respected applause. They are all equals within this room, connected through a common struggle within themselves.

The head of the meeting, a woman (Carloine) in her 40s, leads onto the next person in the room. An attractive, but reserved, man (Peter) in his late 20s, dressed in a suit. He slowly opens up about how he has ended up where he is at this moment. As he is explaining the struggles of his life, he catches the gaze of a woman from across the room, Annie, mid-late 20s, attractive. They glance at each other across the course of his explanation of addiction. She acts flirtatiously when they exchange looks. She pulls her lip, leans forward to express her cleavage, folds her leg over the other to reveal her thigh, and plays with her hair to reveal her neck. This continues after Peter has finished his story and the room's attention has moved towards the man (John) next to him. The eye contact between the two of them is hypnotic, until it is broken by the applause of the room, sympathizing with John.

After the meeting, Annie is waiting for Peter outside. He approaches her, they flirt with each other and agree to go back to Annie’s place for dinner.

A montage follows this brief encounter; clips of the couple passionately kissing, grabbing each other on the arse, kissing and biting each other’s ears and necks, are intercut with clips of a table being set, cooking of a meal, pouring and drinking wine. It concludes with Annie, naked, falling back on her bed triumphantly.

The next morning, there are clothes strewn across the bedroom floor. She gets dressed for the day, revealing more of the aftermath of the night before (the glasses are still out, the clothes are a mess everywhere and there is plenty of washing up to be done.) Once dressed she leaves the house.

Back in the hall, the meeting is once again underway. However, there is no sign of Rashid or Peter. There are slightly fewer people present in the meeting. As a sad voice concludes their story to the room, Caroline turns to Annie. She asks Annie if she is willing to share. Annie takes a moment, stands and says the immortal words of “Hello, my name is Annie. And I am an Addict.” She is greeted by the room as she starts her story.

The last thing we see is the entrance to the hall where a sign says “Cannibals Anonymous”.

Style Notes

In terms of visual aesthetic, the film should have a glossy look to it. Especially in the montage scene, where the overtly sexual actions are shot in close-up so that attention is brought to the visceral nature of the actions. Obvious comparisons to the series ‘Hannibal’ are well-founded as the clean visual presentation of the show would be well adapted to convey the narrative.

Characters

Each character within the Narrative is a cannibal. It is important to note that they each have their own ways of going about trying to quench their addictive thirst. Which should be reflected in how they talk and interact in the meeting with the group. 

Rashid – A timid young man who finds the fact he is addicted to consuming people sickening but does not have the mental fortitude within himself to stop doing what he knows is bad for him. He has a challenging time looking people in the eyes and his timid nature is usually used as a tool to lure people in.

Caroline – The head of the anonymous meeting. Her endeavour to help people recover from their cannibalistic addiction used to be as pure as snow, however, she relapsed once and now uses the meeting to pick off people who are in the most vulnerable position, as she is the last person, they would expect to attack them.

Peter – An attractive, professional man. He works as a banker and is always sharply dressed. He slipped into cannibalism by accident at first, but the addiction has slowly taken over his life, destroying his relationships and his ability to work to his most efficient or effective. He is at the meeting with a true intention to get over this addiction and set his life back on the right track. 

Annie – A young woman, incredibly attractive. She uses her beauty and sexual attributes to seduce people to eat them (as she does through the narrative with Peter). She uses the anonymous meeting for the express purpose to find and seduce people back to her house where she kills and eats them. She is an expression of the character archetype, The Femme Fatale. She dresses somewhat professionally and powerfully. She has been a cannibal for a long time, and this is a perfected routine of entrapment.

John – Is a large man who uses his compassion and welcoming allure to get to know his victims. He is genuinely trying to get better but allows his compulsions to get the better of him. He allows time and support for other people, which allows him to have a wide variety of choice when it comes to eating people. Divorced from his partner due to his addiction.