There’s a saying that goes along the lines of ‘I could eat you up’, which perhaps is the perfect embodiment that comes to mind when watching Luca Guadagnino’s new film Bones and All. Adapted by screenwriter David Kajganich from the Young Adult fiction author Camille DeAngelis, this horror is not as conventional as what some might think - it’s a twisted tale exploring lustful sexual awakenings, whilst exploring the romanticism of cannibalism through a different yet equally as emotive direction.

When we meet Maren (Taylor Russell) we soon find out she is a cannibal. Her father, one day, ups and leaves after giving up hope that she would stop these heinous crimes. Leaving just a tape, explaining his departure, along with exploring Maren’s history we begin our journey of exploring her thirst for human flesh. Whilst finding her birth mother to find some peace and answers to her unique differences she meets Lee (Timothee Chalamet). Both Maren and Lee share the same taste in meat, but in connecting with one another the pair fall in love. In some ways, you could say their love story is similar to that of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in that their romance is forbidden, not in such ways of family acceptance but societal acceptance.

Arguably this film wouldn’t have worked if it wasn’t for Russell and Chalamet’s performances. In some ways, their chemistry together is poetic despite one of the film’s flaws being that Maren and Lee’s relationship wasn’t written in the stars. Their bond is only cemented through one reason, and one reason only - they are both cannibals. In fact, this is a story of two lonely individuals unlike anyone else who have bonded with the hope that they can become more than what they eat.

Bones and All marks Chalamet’s second collaboration with Guadagnino, with the first, Call Me By Your Name, being far more peachier and appetising. This film is more in line with the director’s previous film Suspiria in that its gore was hard-core at times. It’s refreshing to see that there is a pick and mix of direction when it comes to this film. Its gore quality is intense and sickly but enough to keep you infatuated with Maren and Lee’s adoration, and their sense of living with the desire to work on themselves for the better - despite how messy things might get.

In the midst of all the gore and its complexities, you will instantly forget about the controversy surrounding Chalamet’s Call Me By Your Name co-star Armie Hammer relating to his rumoured cannibalistic fantasies and accusations of abuse. However, this did not halt or distrust its production or general release - with a lack of acknowledgment apparently being the best route.

If you take away the cannibalism aspect of the film, Bones and All would be the perfect representation of being an outcast when you are young and figuring out life’s unfairness. But unlike Suspiria in its oddness and spellbinding direction, this film has taken a softer approach of focusing on the ideology of love rather than delving into the nitty gritty of flesh eaters and their characteristics. It’s a romance turned tragedy, and as Shakespeare would have said, for never was a story more woe than this of Maren and her Lee.

Tickets for Bones and All are on sale via our website, with preview from Wednesday 23 November.