Eat, Brains, Love Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Eat, Brains, Love Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf March 23, 2023

Director Rodman Flender found some cult success with 1999’s “Idle Hands,” which came to life on home video, making contact with stoner crowds happy to see the marriage of wild comedy and gory horror. Flender aims for the same genre cocktail with 2019’s “Eat Brains Love,” which tries to replicate the “Idle Hands” experience, offering broad antics and extreme violence, with the helmer coming up short once again. There’s commitment to the art of physical effects and makeup work, and that’s interesting, but the rest of the picture veers into obnoxiousness, mistaking aggressiveness for cleverness.

A viral outbreak has exploded, with the sick turned into hungry zombies who need to feast on flesh to survive. Unfortunately, this viral menace is only transferred through sexual contact, putting the government on the case to contain the problem, establishing an agency devoted to the detection of “necrotics.” Cass (Sarah Yarkin) is part of the team, with the young psychic capable of detecting the undead, using her skills to follow leads with her partner, Tom (Jim Titus). This instinct brings the pair to small town America, pursuing Jake (Jake Cannavale), a high school stoner, and Amanda (Angelique Rivera), his cheerleader classmate, with the students newly changed by the virus, feasting on a cafeteria of kids. Now on the run, Jake and Amanda try to understand what’s going on, bonding as they deal with hunger pains and survival, while Cass remains in hot pursuit, drawn to Jake and fearful of Alastaire (Patrick Fabian), her superpowered boss, who has special plans for the zombies.

“Eat Brains Love” has a kooky title, and that’s about it for doable cheekiness in the feature. Screenwriters Mike Herro and David Strauss refuse to make something sinister, going broad instead, aiming for silliness with Jake, who’s a teen pothead with limited sexual experience, remaining lustful towards Amanda, but timid about approaching her, fearing the wrath of her jock boyfriend, Chazz (Ty Headlee). Jake is a dimwit who lives for weed, failing to take anything seriously, preferring to live life in a haze. Of course, there’s an emergency situation going on in the world, and one of the many strange choices made by the writing is how everyone basically ignores what appears to be a global emergency. There’s a zombie apocalypse happening, and the characters don’t seem to be aware of it, and it seems like a situation everyone would be paying attention to.

Instead of exploring a crisis, “Eat Brains Love” tries to be cute, with Jake and Amanda dealing with their feelings while learning more about their cravings. They eventually meet Summer (Kym Jackson) and Grace (Kristin Daniel), with the couple learning to live as the undead, creating a plan to eat animals, and when that doesn’t work, they target evil people for a food source. There’s another enticing direction for the story, with Jake and Amanda going after vile humans, but the screenplay treats it as a goof, and Flender gets a chance to stage plenty of gross-out sequences involving feeding rage.

The other side of “Eat Brains Love” remains with Cass, who’s trying to understand her purpose as a psychic hunter, learning more about her targets, with Jake becoming something of an obsession for her. There’s the usual government villainy in play with Alastaire, who’s not interested in helping to save humanity, exposing more humdrum writing and routine direction from Flender, who really enjoys the visual of Cass’s milky eye powers, which, due to budget limitations, don’t really come to life in an exciting way.

Eat, Brains, Love Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.40:1 aspect ratio) presentation represents a return to disc for "Eat Brains Love," which was previously issued in 2020. The release offers some compression issues, with banding periodically encountered. Detail is acceptable, with the HD-shot feature delivering some sense of skin particulars and plenty of ripped flesh during gore sequences. Decorative additions are appreciable, offer a dimensional sense of classrooms and living spaces. Exteriors retain depth. Colors are comfortable, with more aggressive hues on fashion choices, while greenery is consistent. Skin tones are natural. Blood reds are distinct, offered emphasis throughout the viewing experience. Delineation is satisfactory.

Eat, Brains, Love Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix offers a basic understanding of dialogue exchanges, with voices sounding crisp and emotive. Zombie uprising sequences are also clearly defined, exploring vocal rage. Scoring supports with sharp instrumentation, joined by soundtrack selections, which maintain a larger presence, giving beats some mild low-end response. Surrounds push out musical offerings, along with quieter atmospherics.

Eat, Brains, Love Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director Rodman Flender.

• "Herpes of the Dead" (30:38, HD) is a video conference conversation about the making of "Eat Brains Love," featuring director Rodman Flender and actors Jake Cannavale and Angelique Rivera. Audition stories are shared, technical challenges are identified, and production anecdotes are recalled. Co-stars are also celebrated.

• Behind the Scenes (5:49, HD) is a brief look at the production, mixing on-set footage with interviews, covering the history of the zombie film, fictional battles involving zombies and Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson, and some makeup appreciation is added. Participants include actors Jake Cannavale, Angelique Rivera, Alex Stage, Patrick Fabian, Sarah Yarkin, Jim Titus, and Ty Headlee.

• Image Gallery (11:00) collects BTS snaps.

• Outtake (:18) offers some brief goofiness.

• Video Essay (14:14, HD) is created by Samm Deighan.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (1:33, HD) is included.

Eat, Brains, Love Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Eat Brains Love" wants to be lively, investing in uninspired sarcasm and juvenile, coarse humor, which never takes flight, sold by a forgettable cast. It's a short film, which is welcome, but it's also one without an ending, concluding with a set-up for a sequel that's never going to be made. It's a disrespectful move for the endeavor, rewarding the patience it takes to make it through the viewing experience with a promise for additional adventures with unlikable personalities and their weirdly low-stakes journey into zombiedom. I'm not sure many people will be delighted with this development, even "Idle Hands" fans.