Feast

Introduction

The documentary series Project Greenlight was developed by Eli Holzman, produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Chris Moore and ran for three seasons. The idea was to create a contest where the best screenplay gets healthy financing and a guaranteed theatrical release. Feast was selected in season three and, after a short theatrical run, was released on DVD in the US in October 2006.

Directed by John Gulager, Feast begins in a Texas bar where a man bursts in carrying a monster's head. A caption introduces him as the hero, while he declares he's there to save their asses, but he's attacked, accidentally shooting another customer in the foot as he is pulled through the window.

The man's wife arrives and explains they are surrounded by monsters and must barricade themselves in to survive.

Video

This is a really clear transfer, with decent visual effects and plenty of blood! You don't get to see much of the monsters, but when you do they're pretty impressive.

Audio

It's a nice, punchy Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, with clear dialogue and good use of the surrounds that creates atmosphere and jumps.

Extra Features

Horror Under the Spotlight: Making Feast is an 11-minute 'making of' with interviews and behind the scenes footage.
The Blood And Guts Of Gary Tunnicliffe shows the involvement of the British effects wizard and includes interview footage.

Blood on the Cutting Room Floor is four deleted scenes and an alternate ending, which I preferred to the one on the DVD.
Outtakes - some funny, some not.

There is also the theatrical trailer, which explains the origins and purpose of the monsters - something which is not explained in the film itself.

Skippable trailers for Donkey Punch, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane and The Orphanage precede the main menu.

Conclusion

Feast is basically Night of the Living Dead meets Aliens, with the monsters influenced by H. R. Giger's designs and a group of strangers under siege is straight from George A. Romero's 1968 zombie classic.

John Gulager pretty much finds where the limit is and then goes a little bit further - just when you think there's enough gore, something even bloodier happens! This isn't strictly speaking a horror comedy, but in the sheer excess there's a comic element and some fairly funny lines. Some of the amusing lines are on the captions that introduce the characters, telling their names, a fun fact about them and their life expectancies.

The only members of the cast I was familiar with were Clu Gulager, Henry Rollins and Jason Mewes (playing himself and dying early on) - the rest were unknown, but acquit themselves well.

This isn't the most accomplished or original film you'll see, but it's damn good fun and I enjoyed it from the first minute to the last. With so many horror sequels and remakes around, it's good to see something fresh on the menu.