Brain Drain
A socially awkward fresher's hopes of acceptance take a monstrous turn when he develops an insatiable hunger for human brains.
Aidan (18) arrives at uni, desperate to reinvent himself, far from his overbearing parents. He has a rare autoimmune condition requiring twice-daily nutrients. Miss a dose, and things get dangerous. When his supply vanishes during Freshers' Week, Aidan starts blacking out and feeding on his floormates' brains, absorbing each victim's personality. As the body count rises, his cannibal parents arrive for damage control. Only best friend Camilla can end the carnage, if she survives the night.
Director's note
Brain Drain is inspired by my experience supporting someone I love deeply who endured a psychotic break at university. They returned home with their mind blank, and their personality gone. It was terrifying. What scared me most was how fragile the mind is and how easily everything that makes someone who they are can be lost.
Like Aidan, I started uni with grand plans of rebranding myself (mood board and all). What I didn’t realise was that everyone had done the same. Stealing aspects from peers in their past lives to construct an exciting new student. So, I thought: what if someone was compelled to steal those abilities by consuming another person's brain?
Tonally, the film is Jennifer's Body meets Fresh. The world is heightened but never descends into farce. Comedy lives in the scenarios and world rather than the performances. Set across three visually extravagant Freshers' parties, I will craft a striking film charting one boy's monstrous descent.
Producer's note
I am a UK Chilean/Palestinian producer and founder of Rasp Films. My work includes the BAFTA-nominated short Lucky Break (2021) and the BIFA-nominated short Housewarming (2024). Through my shorts I have focused on developing bold projects with emerging talent and building a pathway toward genre features.
Brain Drain is a contained, high-concept horror-comedy aimed at global audiences. The university setting offers strong production efficiencies, with halls and bedrooms redressed as multiple locations and a single club venue serving the film’s three party sequences. These efficiencies allow us to prioritise practical effects and VFX, which drive the film’s key comedy and horror set-pieces.
The EGF Labs would be invaluable for us. We have a strong script and clear creative direction, the project would benefit enormously from the programme’s mentorship, producing expertise and market access. My ambition is to develop Brain Drain as a European co-production with a distinctive genre voice.