Review by
Sue Finn
Directed by: Adam Leader, Richard Oakes
Starring: Christopher Mulvin, Neal Ward, Hannah Al Rashid,
Samantha Loxley
After the unexpected death of his estranged wife Liv, Jed (Christopher Mulvin
– committed) struggles to cope with her loss. Tormented by the things he
wished he hadn't said and the things he wished he had done, he spirals in
shame and regret.
Shortly after the funeral, he makes a connection with a man called Lionel
(Neal Ward) who had gatecrashed his wife’'s funeral and who now
offers him a chance to "escape the weight of the world."
The assisted suicide Jed has in mind however comes with strings to satisfy
Lionel’s appetites, because Lionel is a cannibal and he intends to slowly
eat Jed, bringing about both their desires.
Inexplicably, Jed agrees, and so begins a very random, almost ridiculous,
almost sweet bromance between the eater and the eatee. Until Jed decides
maybe this isn't what he wants after all, and things get even darker.
I'm assuming we're not meant to take any of this seriously, because from
the very beginning it's not believable. There are no drugs that you can
inject into a vein that would just numb a hand. There's no way someone
could have their entire arm ripped off and less than an hour later be
taking selfies with no pain relief onboard or medical intervention to
replace the massive blood and tissue loss. There is no way this person
wouldn't have died of shock and blood loss several times throughout the
film. There is no world where police help themselves to a person's dinner.
There's no world where police aren't alerted to the foul griminess of
Lionel's home from the second they enter it, looking as it does like the
den of a serial killer. There is no world where the random coffee shop
owner is attracted to Lionel and pursues him like he's a catch.
There are some surrealistic parts to the movie. I particularly enjoyed how
Jed is haunted by his late wife, who often sports the same injuries that
he himself has incurred, but the script isn't given enough space to
breathe; the emotions and connections between our two leads whiplash from
friendship to hatred at breakneck speed, which robs it of any
believability or investment in the story. Even a horror comedy needs to
have characters that act in a believable manner.
As Lionel, Ward gives us an outrageous performance; it lacks any subtlety
or real progression and is so over the top that I can't decide if it's
intentionally cheesy and weird, or if it's bad acting. I think I like it,
but with his exaggerated accent, super fake wig of a hairdo, and eclectic
dress sense, the character himself comes across as almost too "eccentric
in plain sight" to be real (though "weird" would be the word, "eccentric"
is for rich people, and Lionel certainly isn’t rich).
Based on THAT true story about the German cannibal who successfully
advertised for a victim, this is one odd movie. It's almost obscene that
this is based on a true story about someone who had people who cared about
him and mourned him, and it's presented here as a horror comedy, so I will
choose to think of this effort by Adam Leader and
Richard Oakes as a separate entity. As a horror comedy it's not
exactly laugh out loud, but it's oddly and occasionally amusing enough to
keep you entertained, and it has a nice satisfying finale.
This is nicely and confidently directed, the underwater shots are
beautiful, and I especially enjoyed the shot at the beginning with police
walking across a dark field towards a house with the strobing vehicle
lights behind them lighting up the word "POLICE" on their backs as if
highlighting who they are. Some of the compositions are also lovely, and
it would be nice to see what these directors can do with some quality
material that doesn't rely on shock value or garish exploitation.
One small word of advice - best to watch this one on an empty stomach.
Feed Me is on US VOD now. A UK/ROI
release has yet to be announced.
