In 2001, Armin Meiwes, the so-called Rotenburg Cannibal, killed and ate a 43-year-old engineer named Bernd Brandes. The catch? He did so with his victim’s filmed consent after Brandes responded enthusiastically to an internet advertisement seeking a young man for “slaughter and consumption”. Inspired by the true crime, writer-director Theo Rhys (with his feature debut) and co-writer and composer Joss Holden-Rea have crafted a story that looks past the horrific murder of it all and reframes the incident as only a few might see it: a fated love story between two people who somehow found the perfect (and only) partner for them.

Reviving the macabre horror comedy and rich visuals of a vintage Tim Burton film, Stuffed turns a musical about a taxidermist falling in love with her human subject into a dazzling Gothic rom-com elevated by the irresistible pairing of Jodie Comer and Harry Melling. Unfolding in a nightmarish, timeless vision of a dreary English town, the film follows Araminta (Comer), a brooding animal-stuffer known to locals as the “Munchenbridge Muncher” because of the street she lives on and a cruel cannibalistic rumour. Bernie, meanwhile, is a meek sandwich factory worker who is haunted by the idea of being forgotten, a feeling exacerbated by his mother’s (Claire Novelli) dementia and his colleagues’ utter disinterest in him despite his 10 years of employment.