Directed and written by Larry Fessenden (Beneath, Wendigo)
Depraved opens with Alex (Owen Campbell) leaving the New York apartment he shares with girlfriend Lucy (Chloe Levine) after an emotional conversation about commitment and the future of their relationship. Subsequent to being attacked on the street, Alex wakes to find himself trapped in a pale body covered in large stitches lying naked on a table in a makeshift operating room. We then meet Henry (David Call), a decorated field surgeon suffering from PTSD, who names his creature Adam. Henry spends the next month teaching Adam (Alex Breaux) to be human through hours of reading children’s books, listening to music and engaging in heated ping pong matches.
Depraved takes a sidestep from father-son bonding time to introduce Henry’s sleazy partner and college frenemy John Polidori (Joshua Leonard). Polidori is pushing Henry to bring to market the red pills that have assisted in keeping Adam alive (and potentially mentally stable). Polidori even takes Adam out on the town for a night of booze, drugs and strippers. Adam’s innocence is further compromised when he finds the video of the night Polidori and Henry brought him into existence.
Depraved is Fessenden’s gritty fleshy take on the classic Frankenstein’s creature brought to life by Mary Shelley. Set predominantly in Henry’s visually rich Brooklyn loft, Depraved focuses less on the monster and more on the relationship between Henry and Adam. As Adam grows more self aware, Henry plunges deeper into a state of remorse, relieving his inabilities to save dying soldiers in the Middle East.
With some satisfying nods to the classic, Depraved is a modern sensitve take on what it means to be human.