Mike LoManaco
10-12-2009, 02:05 AM
http://www.dreadcentral.com/img/dvdgraphics/feastbig.jpg
Studio Name: Dimension (Maloof/Neo Art & Logic/LivePlanet)
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Disc/Transfer Information: Widescreen Presentation; Region 1 (U.S.) Disc Release
Tested Audio Track: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Director: John Gulager
Starring Cast: Clu Gulager, Balthazar Getty, Henry Rollins
THEY’RE HUNGRY. YOU’RE DINNER.
LoMANACO'S PLOT ANALYSIS:
Let me say this right now – holy !@$@!@ is this film out of !!@%!@ ing control! Okay. Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, let’s move on…I felt the same way after the first time I rented the Wes Craven/Matt Damon/Ben Affleck/Chris Moore-produced Feast, but now that I finally have it on my shelf and in my personal collection, the extremities of gore and mayhem are simply amplified to a degree that can be wholeheartedly appreciated and analyzed.
Directed by Clu Gulager’s own son John (and starring father Clu himself!) , Feast is not for the squeamish, and it was one of a slew of horror flicks to come out of an onslaught of titles that went under the radar and out of people’s consciousness for the most part…these included Black Christmas, Shutter, Wolf Creek and more – but Feast is definitely the most memorable of them by a long shot, with unbelievable amounts of gore and FX fused with an uncanny wit and humor amidst the dialogue which really makes it stand out amongst other horror/comic titles like Return of the Living Dead (which ironically starred Clu Gulager as well). Interestingly, this graphic, over-the-top flick had its production chronicled on the third series of Damon and Affleck’s Project Greenlight, and you wouldn’t think something this gory would have come from these brains – but, alas, Wes Craven was on board to give Feast its tongue-in-cheek charm, and between all of them, the result was a quite memorable horror film in a sea of forgettable releases.
Along with a minor appearance of Naughty By Nature’s Treach early on in the film and the performance by seasoned veteran Gulager, Feast assembles a cast running the gamut from Alias (Balthazar Getty) to The OC (Navi Rawat), Surviving Christmas (Josh Zuckerman), Wonder Showzen (Judah Freidlander) and Unscripted (Krista Allen). We even get Henry Rollins in the mix for a cast that really plays up the humorous edge created by the writers; they all come together nicely – most notable is the ridiculously animated performance by the always-funny Judah Freidlander who gets a faceful of monster vomit and breaks down uncontrollably – but I’ll get to that.
What first-time filmmaker John Gulager does so well with Feast is delivering the suspense, shock and action right away with a bang, using a unique style of putting up each main character’s “stats” on the screen while their faces are frozen in hilarious poses in the first opening frames. For example, Clu Gulager’s bartender character has his “information” put up onscreen while a picture of his face is frozen, announcing his name, status and “life expectancy” in terms of how he is going to survive the coming onslaught of monsters. It’s very cool and interesting, and some of the references are hysterically accurate and sometimes vulgar. The story takes place without any need for serious psychological thought – which is a refreshing change in a horror film – and includes a simple, easy-to-follow plot that gets back to the basics of the genre…people terrified and running from an unknown grotesque life form. A tavern in the middle of what appears to be an American desert state plays host to our cast – Gulager plays the wisecracking old bartender, there’s an old lady lush who hangs around the bar and we see Treach from Naughty By Nature early on as “Vet,” a military guy who doesn’t last very long. Upstairs, the owner and boss of the bar is bangin’ a chick from behind while her kid stays in another room, and we’re introduced to Henry Rollins’ character who is a talent scout of some kind. There’s a couple of sexy chicks and a bartender, and then there’s Freidlander’s Bud Light beer delivery guy character – a brainless, nerdy babbling idiot that doesn’t fare well when it comes to the part where he’s confronted by our main villains.
Suddenly, in the midst of a rather quiet night at the bar, a dude busts in the front door, covered in blood and brandishing a rifle, claiming “something is coming” to ambush this bar – “Hero” (as he is known by his stats) doesn’t know what they are or where they came from, but before he can say “I’m the guy who’s gonna save your ass” he’s attacked and snatched away by some rapidly moving creature that breaks through the window he’s standing near. Moments later, the guy’s tough-as-nails wife (our “Heroine”) comes through the doors of the bar, demanding to know where her husband is. The remaining patrons of the bar inform her he’s been made into roadkill by these “things” (Treach has already been killed, believe it or not) and she lets them all in on what has been terrorizing her and her now dead hubby – and what is heading for this bar now.
Through a flashback sequence, the heroine tells the story of how her and hubby dropped her kid off at her mother’s house and then hit one of these things in the road, immediately inviting an attack by more of them. Finally arriving at the bar, these creatures have smelled them all out now and have decided to attack the tavern. The creature effects are grotesquely odd; they appear as fleshy, bloody clawed things that wear strange “masks” or some kind of animal coverings. The editing is quick and frantic, and we’re never really given a good glimpse at the things full-on until later in the film. A strange behavior of the creatures, however, is their tendency to “hump” objects and even each other, creating instant offspring; some of these sequences are horrific to watch, as two creatures hump each other and immediately drop out a “baby” as just before, one of them seems to “suck up” and consume one of their dead babies put outside by the survivors inside the bar. In my opinion, this was an odd decision by the filmmakers.
As these bloody, gory things attempt to break into the bar any way they could (the surviving patrons have boarded up all possible openings), one of the more memorable scenes of the film comes when one of the exposed monsters is seen through one of the unboarded windows and projectile-vomits a sea of slime all over Freidlander’s character. For the remainder of the film, he runs around screaming about being “puked on” by a “monster” as the other survivors can’t take hearing it any longer and continue to tell him to get lost; it’s hilarious to watch. The gore takes a turn for the extreme at this point, as the monster puke turns into maggots and then eventually Freidlander’s eye is ripped out by one of the creatures as he’s looking through a hole in a barricade. His gaping eye socket eventually becomes infested with fleshy, bloody maggots and it’s pretty horrific to watch, but gorehounds will have a blast. Meanwhile, other hysterical moments take place including Rollins’ pants being ripped off by one of the quick-moving monsters (and which he replaces by one of the girls’ pink sweatpants) and comedic bantering back and forth between the survivors, namely Balthazar Getty’s wise-cracking, foul-mouthed responses to the others; in one sequence, the old lady getting drunk at the bar says she’s in for trying to stop these creatures and Getty snaps back “What are you gonna do…throw your teeth at them?” The intensity of the comments and the distain for one another amongst the group make for an excellent, rare mix of brutal horror and comedic dialogue. Freidlander’s replies after he’s vomited on by the creature are hysterical to listen to as well, as he screams “This is bullshit, man!” over and over, as the group won’t let him leave the bar…additionally, his tirade about how the monsters are just simply some radioactive accident and that the military is “on route” to fix it is downright side splitting.
At any rate, in keeping with the usual formula of horror, the group of ultimate survivors comes down to a handful and then eventually less than that, setting up the sequel and Feast III, both of which I didn’t have any real intention of seeing. If you’re looking for hardcore horror though, with a healthy mix of comedic dialogue, definitely check out the original Feast.
FEAST REVIEW CONTINUED BELOW...
Studio Name: Dimension (Maloof/Neo Art & Logic/LivePlanet)
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Disc/Transfer Information: Widescreen Presentation; Region 1 (U.S.) Disc Release
Tested Audio Track: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Director: John Gulager
Starring Cast: Clu Gulager, Balthazar Getty, Henry Rollins
THEY’RE HUNGRY. YOU’RE DINNER.
LoMANACO'S PLOT ANALYSIS:
Let me say this right now – holy !@$@!@ is this film out of !!@%!@ ing control! Okay. Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, let’s move on…I felt the same way after the first time I rented the Wes Craven/Matt Damon/Ben Affleck/Chris Moore-produced Feast, but now that I finally have it on my shelf and in my personal collection, the extremities of gore and mayhem are simply amplified to a degree that can be wholeheartedly appreciated and analyzed.
Directed by Clu Gulager’s own son John (and starring father Clu himself!) , Feast is not for the squeamish, and it was one of a slew of horror flicks to come out of an onslaught of titles that went under the radar and out of people’s consciousness for the most part…these included Black Christmas, Shutter, Wolf Creek and more – but Feast is definitely the most memorable of them by a long shot, with unbelievable amounts of gore and FX fused with an uncanny wit and humor amidst the dialogue which really makes it stand out amongst other horror/comic titles like Return of the Living Dead (which ironically starred Clu Gulager as well). Interestingly, this graphic, over-the-top flick had its production chronicled on the third series of Damon and Affleck’s Project Greenlight, and you wouldn’t think something this gory would have come from these brains – but, alas, Wes Craven was on board to give Feast its tongue-in-cheek charm, and between all of them, the result was a quite memorable horror film in a sea of forgettable releases.
Along with a minor appearance of Naughty By Nature’s Treach early on in the film and the performance by seasoned veteran Gulager, Feast assembles a cast running the gamut from Alias (Balthazar Getty) to The OC (Navi Rawat), Surviving Christmas (Josh Zuckerman), Wonder Showzen (Judah Freidlander) and Unscripted (Krista Allen). We even get Henry Rollins in the mix for a cast that really plays up the humorous edge created by the writers; they all come together nicely – most notable is the ridiculously animated performance by the always-funny Judah Freidlander who gets a faceful of monster vomit and breaks down uncontrollably – but I’ll get to that.
What first-time filmmaker John Gulager does so well with Feast is delivering the suspense, shock and action right away with a bang, using a unique style of putting up each main character’s “stats” on the screen while their faces are frozen in hilarious poses in the first opening frames. For example, Clu Gulager’s bartender character has his “information” put up onscreen while a picture of his face is frozen, announcing his name, status and “life expectancy” in terms of how he is going to survive the coming onslaught of monsters. It’s very cool and interesting, and some of the references are hysterically accurate and sometimes vulgar. The story takes place without any need for serious psychological thought – which is a refreshing change in a horror film – and includes a simple, easy-to-follow plot that gets back to the basics of the genre…people terrified and running from an unknown grotesque life form. A tavern in the middle of what appears to be an American desert state plays host to our cast – Gulager plays the wisecracking old bartender, there’s an old lady lush who hangs around the bar and we see Treach from Naughty By Nature early on as “Vet,” a military guy who doesn’t last very long. Upstairs, the owner and boss of the bar is bangin’ a chick from behind while her kid stays in another room, and we’re introduced to Henry Rollins’ character who is a talent scout of some kind. There’s a couple of sexy chicks and a bartender, and then there’s Freidlander’s Bud Light beer delivery guy character – a brainless, nerdy babbling idiot that doesn’t fare well when it comes to the part where he’s confronted by our main villains.
Suddenly, in the midst of a rather quiet night at the bar, a dude busts in the front door, covered in blood and brandishing a rifle, claiming “something is coming” to ambush this bar – “Hero” (as he is known by his stats) doesn’t know what they are or where they came from, but before he can say “I’m the guy who’s gonna save your ass” he’s attacked and snatched away by some rapidly moving creature that breaks through the window he’s standing near. Moments later, the guy’s tough-as-nails wife (our “Heroine”) comes through the doors of the bar, demanding to know where her husband is. The remaining patrons of the bar inform her he’s been made into roadkill by these “things” (Treach has already been killed, believe it or not) and she lets them all in on what has been terrorizing her and her now dead hubby – and what is heading for this bar now.
Through a flashback sequence, the heroine tells the story of how her and hubby dropped her kid off at her mother’s house and then hit one of these things in the road, immediately inviting an attack by more of them. Finally arriving at the bar, these creatures have smelled them all out now and have decided to attack the tavern. The creature effects are grotesquely odd; they appear as fleshy, bloody clawed things that wear strange “masks” or some kind of animal coverings. The editing is quick and frantic, and we’re never really given a good glimpse at the things full-on until later in the film. A strange behavior of the creatures, however, is their tendency to “hump” objects and even each other, creating instant offspring; some of these sequences are horrific to watch, as two creatures hump each other and immediately drop out a “baby” as just before, one of them seems to “suck up” and consume one of their dead babies put outside by the survivors inside the bar. In my opinion, this was an odd decision by the filmmakers.
As these bloody, gory things attempt to break into the bar any way they could (the surviving patrons have boarded up all possible openings), one of the more memorable scenes of the film comes when one of the exposed monsters is seen through one of the unboarded windows and projectile-vomits a sea of slime all over Freidlander’s character. For the remainder of the film, he runs around screaming about being “puked on” by a “monster” as the other survivors can’t take hearing it any longer and continue to tell him to get lost; it’s hilarious to watch. The gore takes a turn for the extreme at this point, as the monster puke turns into maggots and then eventually Freidlander’s eye is ripped out by one of the creatures as he’s looking through a hole in a barricade. His gaping eye socket eventually becomes infested with fleshy, bloody maggots and it’s pretty horrific to watch, but gorehounds will have a blast. Meanwhile, other hysterical moments take place including Rollins’ pants being ripped off by one of the quick-moving monsters (and which he replaces by one of the girls’ pink sweatpants) and comedic bantering back and forth between the survivors, namely Balthazar Getty’s wise-cracking, foul-mouthed responses to the others; in one sequence, the old lady getting drunk at the bar says she’s in for trying to stop these creatures and Getty snaps back “What are you gonna do…throw your teeth at them?” The intensity of the comments and the distain for one another amongst the group make for an excellent, rare mix of brutal horror and comedic dialogue. Freidlander’s replies after he’s vomited on by the creature are hysterical to listen to as well, as he screams “This is bullshit, man!” over and over, as the group won’t let him leave the bar…additionally, his tirade about how the monsters are just simply some radioactive accident and that the military is “on route” to fix it is downright side splitting.
At any rate, in keeping with the usual formula of horror, the group of ultimate survivors comes down to a handful and then eventually less than that, setting up the sequel and Feast III, both of which I didn’t have any real intention of seeing. If you’re looking for hardcore horror though, with a healthy mix of comedic dialogue, definitely check out the original Feast.
FEAST REVIEW CONTINUED BELOW...