Feast

Wes Craven, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Chris Moore

Reel DVD

R4 Release

Web: http://www.reeldvd.com.au

Feast was the product of the third season of the U.S. series Project Greenlight. The show features Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Chris Moore who choose a "non-Hollywood" script and invite an aspiring director to make a low budget independent film. The first two attempts were marginally interesting coming-of-age films, so with the third they decided to try something very different. They teamed up with Wes Craven to create a wild indie horror film.

A man walks into a bar, holds up a strange monster’s head and tells everyone that if they want to live, they better do what he says because there's more on the way. They start to batten the hatches and get weapons ready, but before he has a chance to explain the situation further he is pulled through the window and eaten and here the gore begins.

The bar is populated with a group of eccentric characters including a biker, an actor, an old lady, a no hoper beer delivery man and various others and while their interactions offer some character development, don’t expect too much. There are some interesting roles and some minor twists here and there. Navi Rawat is especially good as the jaded and strong heroic woman figure who wants to return to her daughter, while Henry Rollins is just plain irritating as a second rate motivational speaker, the acting is reasonable throughout but really plains second fiddle to the wild action.

The background story is that one of the heroines of the film (and various heroic figures come and go as they are killed of) has accidentally hit and killed a creature on the way to the bar and the whole “beastly” family have come to take revenge.

To be honest the special effects, creatures and sheer exuberance of blood and gore is what makes this film work. The creatures are really very impressive and the filming style and nice use of disjointed shots etc really creates a very tense mood. This is a constant action film and works hard to pack a punch a minute not really giving you a chance to anticipate what will happen next.

There is a black sense of humour throughout the film ranging from the rating of each character as they appear on screen to the creatures copulating with each other and the irritating constant “motivational” chatter of the character played by Rollins.

You will either love this film or hate it, it is a gore horror monster film which relies on shocks, guts and gore and is a great rollercoaster ride if you enjoy this type of film. I love them and this is a pretty good example of what can be done with a good special effects and creative editing.

The print of the film is clear, even in the darker scenes there is no loss of clarity, the soundscape created is superb with a lot of surround sound action.

There is also a nice range of extras including deleted scenes, outtakes, the Blood and Guts of Gary Tunnicliffe, Horror under the spotlight: The making of Feast and a commentary. It is great to see such a wide range of special features included.