Luke Merritt lands a job at the cult-like Symbio Corporation, where a mind-altering kombucha turns employees into productive corporate cogs. As the drink begins to erase his identity, his ex-girlfriend Elyse uncovers Symbio’s grotesque secret: a monstrous Mother at the heart of the company, churning out obedient clones. With Luke slipping beyond reach, Elyse must race to save him and destroy the source before the company consumes him completely.
Grimmfest Says: Imagine “David Cronenberg’s Office Space”, and that’s not a bad description. A deadpan dark comedy that takes its time to develop characters. Shot in a cool, calm fashion, which makes the weirder, more surreal moments all the more disturbing and off-kilter, as it becomes clear just how creepy and disturbing and cultish the workplace environment here actually is.
Sharply played by a strong cast, with a good sense of the odder aspects of corporate culture, KOMBUCHA is sharply observed, entertaining, and often unsettling in it’s satiric meditation on how the corporate workplace feeds off creativity and commodifies the trappings of health and wellness to serve its own ends. And, in the end, there might just be a little Lovecraftian cosmic horror at play here!
Followed by a Q&A with the director.