Review of Feast (2005) by Charles H — 20 May 2009

The season of Project Greenlight that chronicled the making of this movie was by far the most interesting of that show's three installments. By the end of that season, I was rooting for eccentric contest-winner, John Gulager, to actually make a decent film.

Well, I recently had the opportunity to view the results and... I must say that the rookie unknown managed to meet my expectations. "Feast" is a more than adequate entry into the ranks of quality low-budget monster movies.

A cast populated with several recognizable faces (read: not quite A-list actors) just adds to the campy fun as we see them confront the unholy arrival that shows up outside their bar. Appropriately, it is a tightly cut film.

Gulager and company never allow the story to meander or become too talky, as one destructive skirmish follows another. What really allows the project to succeed, however, is that everyone involved seemed to understand that this script was as much a dark comedy as it is a survivalist horror movie.

There are several moments that are just ridiculously funny, but at the same time the makers reveal a keen familiarity with the genre they are, at times, mocking. Good parodies of this type are not the easiest to pull off, but there is enough alternating amusement and horror to second Gulager's selection as the director to make this film.