Feast (2005)

Not everything has to be overly complicated and not every movie is art. Sometimes you can make a movie just to entertain an audience and have fun doing it. That is what I consider this movie from John Gulager to be, entertaining and a good time. Let’s talk some Feast.

The movie starts in a bar. Before the action starts we are introduced to the characters, including a freeze frame on them with a brief description and their chances of making it thru the movie. These are done tongue in cheek and already with the descriptions it starts to play with our expectations as horror fans when it comes to these familiar archetypes. That done the hero busts in and warns everyone that they need to barricade themselves in. Before much gets done he gets killed and his wife, our heroine shows up to take over. Just to be clear the characters names are hero and heroine.

The creatures arrive and the chaos starts. A face gets ripped off and someone loses a leg. All that from the little one! The big ones arrive and start pounding on the walls. They will get in so what will the characters do? Well first thing they go upstairs to save the kid, though that doesn’t go well. More chaos and deaths follow until they finally get away with all the monsters dead. Or are they? Well there are two sequels so not they aren’t all dead.

While I’m not a fan of the movies that followed the original Feast is a great time. What we have is a movie that knows what it is and who is going to sit down to watch it. It is a monster movie that caters to fans of monster movies. To hell with context or political commentary we want blood spraying and limbs flying which is exactly what Gulager gives us. Now don’t get me wrong. The characters are fun and the cast does a good job. Henry Rollins as the motivational speaker and Judah Friedlander as the “punching bag” Beer Guy (also the character’s name) are my favorites. Really Beer Guy gets puked on, has his face start to melt, gets his eye torn out, and has maggots eating the empty socket. And all this happens before his head gets popped like a ripe watermelon. Not sure if he nailed the audition or really pissed them off!

The creature designs are nice. For much of the movie the monsters are wearing what amounts to flesh suits from the things they have killed. When we finally get to see what they look like they are all teeth and claws. Speaking of teeth, the human cast isn’t the only ones that get mangled in Feast. One of the creatures meets up with the mother of the child they ate earlier. Not only does she knock all it’s damn teeth out, but then takes care of it “Just Before Dawn” style by jamming her arm down it’s throat.

As a final nod to horror fans after the creatures are dead and the night is over our survivors jump in a car and drive away. The music starts and all is well. Only the car stalls, the music stops and they can’t get it started again. A car that won’t start. How familiar is that to horror fans? Damn this is a good movie. Consider it recommended.

© Copyright 2017 John Shatzer