...more exhausting than frightening or funny, it is more likely to induce earache than laughs or shivers.
The movie is clearly a low-budget affair, with all of the story line taking place inside the bar. One set serves all. The monsters look good, though, what little you can see of them, and the filmmakers keep the special effects to a minimum, mainly using lots of red ketchup, the film clearly having been done on the cheap. Once the action starts, the blood, gore, and body parts fly in all directions. Blood even squirts on the camera lens, another reminder that this is a reflexive parody, after all.
Typical of a modern horror film, the noise level is high, the camera movements are jerky, the close-ups are many, and the editing is fast and furious, making for more of an energetic romp than a terrifying adventure. Often, the filmmaking is so frenetic, it's hard to tell what's happening.
Tension and suspense are at a loss here, too, the film given over mainly to fast movement and things popping out of nowhere for cheap surprises. Presumably, the unrated edition contains more sheer grossness than the theatrical version, I don't know. With screeching music, screaming actors, and a camera on uppers, "Feast" is more exhausting than frightening or funny, and it is more likely to induce earache than laughs or shivers. Oh, and it's one of those "ain't over till it's over" affairs, so wait for it.
Video:
The video engineers preserve most of the film's 2.40:1 theatrical ratio in a high-bit-rate, anamorphic transfer that measures about 2.20:1 across my screen. Still, the picture quality itself is fairly soft, gritty, and grainy. Everything takes place, after all, inside a dark, smoky barroom, so even with good black levels, the colors and definition tend to suffer a bit.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is very dynamic in a raucous, pop-music sort of way. It's very loud, a touch bright, and a little edgy, too. There is a wide and satisfying stereo spread, though, with an abundance of surround activity, especially in terms of musical ambience at first and then with the usual sounds of violence and things going bump in the night as the plot proceeds.
Extras:
The extras may be more worthwhile than the feature film. First, there's an audio commentary by the filmmakers: director Gulager, producers Mike Leahy and Joel Soisson, writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, and creature and makeup effects designer Garry Tunnicliffe. They seem to be having a good time. Second, there are five deleted scenes totaling about seven minutes, one of them an alternate ending. Third, there's an eleven-minute featurette, "Horror Under the Spotlight: The Making of Feast." Gulager says that the first two Project Greenlight productions were coming-of-age films, so in the third one "anyone who even looked like they were coming of age we ate." Fourth, there's another featurette, this one about nine minutes, "The Blood and Guts of Gary Tunnelcliffe." And fifth, there is a thirty-second "Feast" soundtrack promotion with the music of Vincent Black Shadow, Narwhal, The Penfifteen Club, and Coleman.
The extra materials conclude with theatrical trailers at start-up only for "Killshot," "Pulse," "Clerks II," "Scary Movie 4," and "Wolf Creek"; sixteen scene selections but no chapter insert; English as the only spoken language; and Spanish subtitles, with English captions for the hearing impaired.
Parting Shots:
What starts out promisingly turns into standard horror-flick mayhem. "Feast" may be a step above the usual fare in this genre, but because it changes tone so repeatedly, it's ultimately disappointing. There is really little in the way of thrills or excitement in the movie, and the humor diminishes after the character introductions.
Typical of a modern horror film, the noise level is high, the camera movements are jerky, the close-ups are many, and the editing is fast and furious, making for more of an energetic romp than a terrifying adventure. Often, the filmmaking is so frenetic, it's hard to tell what's happening.
Tension and suspense are at a loss here, too, the film given over mainly to fast movement and things popping out of nowhere for cheap surprises. Presumably, the unrated edition contains more sheer grossness than the theatrical version, I don't know. With screeching music, screaming actors, and a camera on uppers, "Feast" is more exhausting than frightening or funny, and it is more likely to induce earache than laughs or shivers. Oh, and it's one of those "ain't over till it's over" affairs, so wait for it.
Video:
The video engineers preserve most of the film's 2.40:1 theatrical ratio in a high-bit-rate, anamorphic transfer that measures about 2.20:1 across my screen. Still, the picture quality itself is fairly soft, gritty, and grainy. Everything takes place, after all, inside a dark, smoky barroom, so even with good black levels, the colors and definition tend to suffer a bit.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is very dynamic in a raucous, pop-music sort of way. It's very loud, a touch bright, and a little edgy, too. There is a wide and satisfying stereo spread, though, with an abundance of surround activity, especially in terms of musical ambience at first and then with the usual sounds of violence and things going bump in the night as the plot proceeds.
Extras:
The extras may be more worthwhile than the feature film. First, there's an audio commentary by the filmmakers: director Gulager, producers Mike Leahy and Joel Soisson, writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, and creature and makeup effects designer Garry Tunnicliffe. They seem to be having a good time. Second, there are five deleted scenes totaling about seven minutes, one of them an alternate ending. Third, there's an eleven-minute featurette, "Horror Under the Spotlight: The Making of Feast." Gulager says that the first two Project Greenlight productions were coming-of-age films, so in the third one "anyone who even looked like they were coming of age we ate." Fourth, there's another featurette, this one about nine minutes, "The Blood and Guts of Gary Tunnelcliffe." And fifth, there is a thirty-second "Feast" soundtrack promotion with the music of Vincent Black Shadow, Narwhal, The Penfifteen Club, and Coleman.
The extra materials conclude with theatrical trailers at start-up only for "Killshot," "Pulse," "Clerks II," "Scary Movie 4," and "Wolf Creek"; sixteen scene selections but no chapter insert; English as the only spoken language; and Spanish subtitles, with English captions for the hearing impaired.
Parting Shots:
What starts out promisingly turns into standard horror-flick mayhem. "Feast" may be a step above the usual fare in this genre, but because it changes tone so repeatedly, it's ultimately disappointing. There is really little in the way of thrills or excitement in the movie, and the humor diminishes after the character introductions.
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