John Gulager

(In French, On Cable TV, January 2022) While Feast is definitely not aiming to be more than a good old humans-against-monsters movie, it does have a certain confidence in its intentions, and doesn’t forget to laugh about its generic premise. Wisely limited to a single night, it’s a film that follows a bunch of strangers in an isolated night as it’s attacked by human-eating demons. There’s nothing new to that premise, but the film shows early on that it doesn’t mean playing the material straight or serious. Intertitles and freeze-frames help introduce the characters, often leading us to narrative red herrings. The special effects work is not that bad despite the film’s low-budget, and while the actors aren’t particularly good, they are directed with a certain energy by John Gulager. The script eventually becomes too self-aware for its own good, but it can be relied upon to keep the plot pieces going from beginning to end. The film has no compunction about doing unexpected things, but that intention eventually gets away from its effectiveness during the third act, as various curveballs end up damaging the pacing rather than enhancing it. Still, as far as cheap monster movies go, Feast does a little bit better than usual thanks to some self-awareness and a crew that understands that when you don’t have much of a budget, an attitude and wittier words don’t necessarily cost much more.