Rhode Island International Film Festival 2009

Classmates Steve and George are part of a frightening food-chain; a deadly secret hidden deep within idyllic suburbia.For Steve, high school is a game. Seducing his classmates gives him his sense of purpose and fuels his art and poetry. When Steve sets his sights on the school star athlete, he starts a cat and mouse chase which could ruin him and his idol.George, the school recluse, copes with the stress of his mother's cancer and strained relationship with his father by cutting class and using drugs. Hooking up with a stranger in an effort to lose himself, George finds himself in a life or death situation.At odds with each other, George and Steve have more in common than they realize. As their paths spiral downward, they could save each other -- or continue on their way to self-destruction.Based on the novel Closer and poems by Dennis Cooper, Weak Species, my thesis film, explores youth, alienation, rites of passage and calculated risk.