REVIEW: FEAST
Title: Feast (2006)
Starring Balthazar Getty, Henry Rollins, Navi Rawat, Judah Friedlander, Josh Zuckerman, Jason Mewes, Jenny Wade, Krista Allen and Clu Gulager
Produced by Dimension Films, LivePlanet, Maloof Motion Pictures, Five Course Films and Miramax Films
Written by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton
Directed by John Gulager
I never thought I’d see the day when Wes Craven, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon teamed up for a project. So you could imagine my shock to know that their project was frigging genius. A gorehound’s dream come true!
Feast, the baby of “Project Greenlight 3,” follows a group of trailer trash podunkians who have had their night at the bar spoiled by some random individual warning them of monsters. Of course, not believing a word he says, the group continues what they were doing, only to see the man devoured in front of their eyes moments later. Feast takes the Man vs. Beast film into a totally new direction and delivers a delicious bloodbath along the way.
The film opens with perhaps the two nicest 360 shots I’ve ever seen, followed by campy and hilarious information about the film’s characters. As the viewer, you learn rather quickly that this information is highly misleading which makes for a lot of fun! Jason Mewes has a rather hilarious cameo, but no one’s performance could outshine that of my life-long hero’s: Henry Rollins. Seeing this hard-ass mother fucker wearing pink sweatpants gave me enough laughs to last me the rest of my life. He was turned into such a softy, you couldn’t help but crack up…and if you don’t understand why his character is so funny, we’ll never be friends. “CHEESE AND CRACKERS!” Ohhh, classic.
This film also does something I’m a HUGE fan of in films, but is so rare you must savor the films that actually do it. Wonder what I’m talking about yet? Killing off heroes. That’s right, Feast not only kills off the “hero,” but also manages to kill off a “heroine” as well. The second heroine in the film is insanely bad-ass and has finally given me a reason to be happy I have ovaries.
Feast is definitely in the vein of the Evil Dead series along with the campy goodness of Dead Alive, Grindhouse and old school 50s/60s monster movies (i.e. The Giant Gila Monster, Creature from the Black Lagoon, etc). I was definitely in heaven while watching this film. The writing is so sharp and creative, it makes the one-liners in Army of Darkness look like they were written by five-year-olds. If you’re insulted by this comment, just see the movie and try to argue with me. It’s THAT good, I promise.
As Gulager’s first feature film, I was insanely impressed with it. The camera angles are reminiscent of Dario Argento and Terry Gilliam’s work, taking the camera to place one could only imagine. There are parts with the whole “lets shake the camera 300 times and make it look action-packed” thing, but it actually makes sense to use it in this film since it’s a point-of-view shot of the monsters. Not saying I like it, but I understand it.
If you’re a gorehound, such as myself, you will definitely enjoy Feast. Not only was there blood, there was snot, maggots and monster semen. Nausea? Yes, please!
Everything happens so fast in this film, it leaves you in a state of constant “WHAT THE HELL?!” which definitely rules school. So if you’re looking for a slap-stick slaughter fest, rent Feast immediately. If you don’t, I will come to your house and kick your ass personally.
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