Friday, April 3, 2009

The Human Buffet: Feast

A man had a dream- to make a gory, old-school horror film. Thanks to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's 'Project Greenlight,' he got his chance. Things got complicated for him when his producers- the Weinstein brothers- split from the Miramax company. What would happen to his film now?!?
*
Well, it came out and they made two sequels. Since I just watched the 'finale,' you get to know about them. Let's begin today with...
The film begins simply enough with a bunch of people in a bar. Name captions and descriptions pop up for them, giving you the first clue that this movie is going to be a bit different.
*
The casting is also unique, mixing Jason 'Jay' Mewes, Balthazar 'I'm only famous for my affair' Getty and Krista 'Forget that I used to do porn' Allen. It also stars Judah Friedlander, who most people know as the fat guy who wears the funny hats on '30 Rock' and alt-rocker-turned-host Henry Rollins. The other interesting bit of casting is Clu Gulager, who is the father of the director. You'll see a lot of him.
*
The movie starts off fast and furious, with a tiny creature breaking in and killing off a couple notable cast members. They finally lock it up and shoot it to death. Unfortunately, they learn that it was only a baby and the parents are outside. A hero...called Hero shows up and says that they will make it out alive. He is promptly killed 'Deep Blue Sea'-style by a monster. Fortunately for them, a second one- his girlfriend- shows up a little later and manages to live past her speech.
*
Things never really slow down too much and for too long. Some people get messed up bad while many others die. The film's dark humor is prevalent throughout. Part of the finale involves a plan that most people would despise in real life. They tie one of the dead women to a plank and cover her in explosives. She is sent out to lure them over to their death. Two problems: she is not dead and the bomb is not too reliable. The lady wakes up in time for the beasts to go 'Law & Order: SVU' on her for a while before they finally get the explosive to work.
*
The survivors escape and live happily ever after. Or do they?!? Well, there is a sequel, so the answer is 'no.'
*
'Feast' is hard to recommend to a casual audience. It is dark, strangely-funny and full of gore. The tone alternates strangely from fear to sight-gag-related humor throughout. A more experienced filmmaker would have balanced it better. Despite all that, it has a weird charm to it. You can do worse than 'Feast.' Of course, you'll learn that soon enough.
*
More 'Feast' to come. Stay tuned...

No comments:

Post a Comment