FearTASTIC Vault O’FUN #64
Feast (2005)
Director(s):John Gulager
Writer(s):Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan
Starring:Krista Allen, Balthazar Getty, Henry Rollins, Judah Friedlander, Jason Mewes
I can see the finish line beyond the cacti…
There are times where your FearTastic Vault keeper forgets that not all horror treasures were discovered by his Spook-Tacular will power. Most of my collection can be traced back to a child wandering the aisles of the horror movie section at the local video store, couch surfing on a lazy Sunday or even flipping randomly through a streaming channel, hoping to find some sort of entertainment. Today’s offering however, was given by the best source; a close friend. It’s not often where I get caught off guard about a horror movie’s presence; I scour the internet on a daily basis for movie news and articles so any whiff of an upcoming horror flick of my liking would usually reach my radar. Cut to my friend Ben Otis; a close friend since our Jr. High school days and a fellow pop culture geek. Of course we bonded over the usual collection Geek-centric flicks but where my expertise gravitated towards horror flicks, Ben was becoming quite powerful in the realm of video games. Imagine my surprise then when Ben suggested having a movie night because he wanted to introduce me to a horror flick! I was simultaneously intrigued and surprised because I had never heard of the flick he wanted to enjoy with me. The title Feast was intriguing enough and after some research my curiosity turned into exciting anticipation.
The winner of the third season of Project Greenlight, the TV contest to find the next big filmmakers, Feastwas produced by some pretty big names like Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and the legendary, Wes Craven. I was still confused on how I never heard of this flick since it was backed up by some serious celebrity cred but I was more than delighted to have it handed over to me by a great friend. What followed was a force of entertaining horror that was school book Feartastic Vault. The tempo of this movie is fast, gory and fun. From the opening minutes you already know what kind of movie you’re getting into as the wide range of stereotypical characters hanging in a dive bar gets their night interrupted when stranger bursts into the scene warning them of danger…only to be decapitated in satisfying form just moments later! The style of the movie just screams fun as each character is introduced through a freeze frame caption with all the usual horror movie tropes (i.e. the hero, drunkard, the female bad-ass, etc.) but then tries to flip it on its head by making the audience guess who the hell is going to survive this night! The creatures of terror were designed beautifully; you don’t quite know whether they’re aliens/monsters/mutants but all you do know is that they’re fast, they’re violent and at times, completely disgusting.
The characters are stereotypical by design which makes the flick quite fun because you’re constantly trying to see which character is going to die next and even more importantly, HOW they’re going to meet their demise. I’m telling you now, there are some things that happened to these characters that I DID NOT see coming and I was enjoyed every bloody second. I always appreciate the horror flicks that are set up in one setting and where characters have to work together (begrudgingly) to find a way out of the massacre!
Not going to lie, the two follow ups to Feast were not as great but it did deliver the tone of the same frantic, high energy horror fun as the first one but they seemed to be merely copies instead of trying to elevate the first and best flick. To me however, what I always appreciated about Feastwas the fact that it was brought to my attention from a friend who threw me in for a loop with a horror flick that constantly makes my list for the best films to watch with a group. It ticked off every box in what belongs in the FearTastic Vault and the reason it’s one of my proudest entries is because I wasn’t the one who who placed it there in the first place.
Friends. They’re important. Just like horror flicks, they make life FAR more interesting when we take interest in things they bring to the table. Thanks Ben!
Happy Holidays my ghoulish mob, I’ll be home soon!
Life is FAR more interesting when we take interest in things that scare us.