6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
When a diverse group of strangers find themselves trapped in an isolated tavern, they must band together in a battle for survival against a family of flesh-hungry creatures that lay siege. 'Feast' is the winning film from the hit series 'Project Greenlight,' created by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Chris Moore.
Starring: Balthazar Getty, Henry Rollins, Navi Rawat, Josh Zuckerman, Judah FriedlanderHorror | 100% |
Thriller | 31% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
BD-Live
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Fans of a certain B-movie ethos were giddy with excitement a week or so ago with the long awaited release of the theatrical version of the Tarantino-Rodriguez putative double feature Grindhouse. These same fans probably didn’t notice, at least for the most part, the release a couple of weeks before that of a little film that was part of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Project Greenlight series, Feast. Feast indeed often plays like the long lost sibling to at least Rodriguez’ half of the Grindhouse double bill, Planet Terror. Instead of flesh crazed zombies, we’re instead “treated” to flesh crazed aliens, hungry little (and big) critters who descend upon a desert bar where a handful of people are holed up trying to figure out how in hell they’re going to get out of Dodge (or, alternatively, to their Dodge parked several feet away outside) without becoming the evening meal. Feast is alternately hilarious and horrifying, in the best grindhouse tradition, never taking itself very seriously at all, while delivering at least a few thrills and chills along the way. If it’s often decidedly juvenile in both approach and subject matter, that, too, is part and parcel of the grindhouse experience and shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise to anyone who frequented second run movie houses back in the day.
Feast serves up a fairly satisfying Blu-ray with an AVC encoded image in 1080p and a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. This is a film which, in the best grindhouse tradition, fairly screams low budget, and so we have an often low contrast and overly soft image that may not have the ostensible "damage" of Planet Terror, but which still comes nowhere close to pristine hi-def imagery, no doubt intentionally. The film is often rather dark, and some detail does get lost in the murkiness. Colors can be alarmingly vivid, especially the goo and guts that populate Feast's many graphic segments. Close-ups reveal some very nice detail, and some of the makeup effects are extremely effective and well presented on this transfer. If you come to Feast with suitable expectations, this is a fine looking Blu-ray which properly reproduces the film's gritty, lo-fi look to a tee.
Feast offers an often extremely effective lossless soundtrack via its Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix. While the dialogue portions of the film sport excellent fidelity and often very nice and apparent channel separation, it's in the action and attack sequences that the film really comes alive. When the "tyke" alien bursts into the bar suddenly the surrounds are filled with squiggly, slimy sounds and a host of great effects as the humans freak out and begin shooting willy-nilly to get rid of the damned thing. As is typical with films of this ilk, there's excellent use of LFE to amp up the anxiety level, however subliminally, of the audience. Fidelity throughout Feast is top notch, with dialogue crisp and clean, though often very busy, as in several segments actors talk over each other in their excitement. There's some really good use of different ambient spaces here, too. Notice the nice separation and reverb difference when Bozo (Balthazar Getty) is alone in a room with one of the aliens and several others are on the other side of the door. It's the attention to detail like that which makes this such an enjoyable sonic romp.
Several good to excellent supplements make a fitting dessert for Feast's main course:
If you're a fan of Grindhouse, I can wholeheartedly recommend Feast as a fun and funny companion piece. Even if you've never seen the Tarantino-Rodriguez double feature, you're sure to have seen the many films Feast parodies, sometimes brilliantly so. This is lo-fi filmmaking at its most basic level, with several laugh out loud moments interspersed with a lot of blood and guts. What more could you ask for? Recommended.
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[•REC]⁴: Apocalypse / [•REC]⁴: Apocalipsis
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