Novella McClure is not having a great life. She's an aspiring actress who hasn't landed a role in three years, she's having to compete with younger and more desirable actresses in casting calls, she is on the verge of being evicted from her tiny apartment, and her best friend might be a psychopath. As stresses pile up one after another, Novella turns her emotions and self-doubts inward, leading to a grotesque habit: Eating her own flesh.
Eat is a 2014 dark comedy/horror/drama film, the first feature-length film by Jimmy Weber, and stars Meggie Maddock, Ali Francis, and Maru Garcia.
Tropes found in Eat:
- Agony of the Feet: Novella's attention turns to her feet by picking at a hangnail on her big toe, which leads to her ripping all the flesh off her toe and swallowing it.
- Autocannibalism: The main theme of the film, though set against the backdrop of a woman's crumbling life and failing aspirations.
- Awesome McCoolname: At least, Novella thought her professional name sounded cool about ten years ago.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Dr. Simon asks Novella out to dinner, Novella's nervous reaction suggests she might start chewing on herself again, and the next shot shows her tearing a large mouthful of meat... from her dinner with Dr. Simon.
- Casting Couch: Discussed, when Novella's rival Tracy indicates that she's willing to do anything to get a role, but see below...
- Consummate Liar: Tracy is later described as a pathological liar, meaning she might not be offering sex for roles, or she might not be successful, or any number of other possibilities.
- Fingore: Novella's habit of sucking her thumb in response to stress eventually graduates to showing on the side of her thumbnail until she draws blood.
- Hospital Hottie: Dr. Simon. Novella meets him at a nightclub and goes out on a date with him, but when he's later assigned as her court-mandated therapist after an apparent suicide attempt things get a bit weird between them.
- Kind Restraints: Candice ties Novella to her bed after discovering Novella during one of her fits.
- Made of Plasticine: Novella bites chunks of flesh off her arms and foot with stomach-churning ease, but the topper is when all the flesh comes off her big toe in one large piece
- Mistaken for Suicidal: Novella chews a hangnail so badly in heavy traffic that she rips a narrow strip of skin up the side of her forearm, drawing a lot of blood. She wakes up in a hospital with her forearm heavily bandaged and with the doctors wanting to put her on a suicide watch.
- Self-Harm: A variant here; eating herself does relieve her stress in the short term, but she feels awful later and treats it as a dirty secret.
- Slipping a Mickey: A couple of dudebros at the club decide that drugging Novella and Candice's drinks will be the best way to get them to "loosen up".
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Slow-Paced Beginning: This movie spends the first half on Novella's crumbling life and compounding stresses before things start to boil over and the gore hits. - Splatter Horror: Oh yeah. This movie is messy as hell once the autocannibalism starts up.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Candice tries to help Novella in ways that actually make things worse, ranging from encouraging her to keep following her dreams even though Novella is broke and can't find an acting job, to hunting down and killing Dr. Simon and dragging his corpse back for Novella to chew on when she misunderstands the degree of Novella's cannibalism.
