Unearthed Films: Feed (2005) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Unearthed Films

American film director Brett Leonard is probably best known as an early purveyor of virtual reality/internet/computer related horror in the beginning of the 1990s having directed The Lawnmower Man in 1992 followed by both Hideaway and Virtuosity in the same year of 1995.  Ten years later, history repeated itself with the director doing two films again in the same year this time for the Australians: the Marvel Comics movie Man-Thing and today’s Unearthed Films transgressive shock horror release Feed.  

Very much a product of the 2000s with herky-jerky editing and a then-electrically charged regard for the internet and fear of modern technology, the film is perhaps best remembered as a singular grossout with a cover and premise so foul you’re likely to leave it on the shelf.  Still, good or bad Unearthed Films saw fit to bring this very digital video looking film production to modern moviegoers and fans of the boutique label eager for an old fashioned cheap sick thrill.
 
Australian cop Phillip (Patrick Thompson) works as a detective in cybercrime for Interpol but is left shaken by a real-life case in Hamburg, Germany involving castration and cannibalism, fueling an already tense romantic endeavor with his girlfriend.  Immersing himself into his work with Nigel (Matthew Le Nevez), the two begin investigating a website dedicated to fat fetishism and particularly feeders leading them towards an Ohio based businessman named Michael Carter (Alex O’Loughlin) and his morbidly obese captive Deirdre (Gabby Milgate) who livestreams feeding sessions to mercurial subscribers on fringes of the dark web. 


Taking on the form of a Hardcore or 8mm investigative thriller where our protagonist hobnobs with pornographers trying to get closer to the truth while getting in over his head as well, Feed in between the obscene precursor to My 600lb Life or The Whale mostly functions as a crime scene investigation piece.  All fine and dandy except the film takes a twisty turn in the final act that renders the whole thing just downright mean.
 
At once from the man who brought ‘virtual sex’ into the world via The Lawnmower Man and trying really hard to be the next Se7en or The Silence of the Lambs by way of Demonlover or fear dot com, Feed is the horror movie equivalent of Super Size Me.  Just watching it diminishes any hunger you might’ve had.  A movie that piles on feeding horrors to a degree that manages to outgross the likes of The Greasy Strangler or Captivity which featured feeding horrors of a funnel tube of disgusting junk being funneled down the victim’s throat, Feed is a 2000s equivalent of an aristocrats joke.  


While Patrick Thompson and Alex O’Loughlin give decent enough performances in what is ostensibly a B-movie with O’Loughlin giving the trademark villainous speech about his place in the world as a compassionate feeder, the one who goes above and beyond the call of duty is Gabby Millgate as the poor obese woman.  Best known for her roles in Muriel’s Wedding and Babe: Pig in the City, under fat makeup and prosthesis she endures more than most actresses should be asked to deal with for a movie.  With scenes of gross fat being forced down her throat spilling all over her face and mouth, you just feel bad for this woman even though in the back of your mind you know it is make believe thanks to the Nick Nicoladu Make-Up Effects Group. 
 
Mean, crude and maybe even somewhat lowbrow, Feed is the kind of thing you take a long hot shower after viewing.  Enough to put you off your food for a good while, Brett Leonard’s gross out vomitorium in the form of a crime thriller comes to blu-ray stacked with tons of extras including but not limited to a director commentary, deleted scenes, an alternate ending and even a shorter ‘friendlier’ US cut.  Fans of this, if there are any, will find themselves feasting (no pun intended) on the plentiful extras being doled out here and in the time-honored tradition of Unearthed Films it comes housed in a collectible slipcover.  


I’ll be honest, this movie made me feel bad, like I was gawking at a burlesque show at something I shouldn’t even know about.  The less said about fringe websites like these, however catchy the premise may be, the better.  Yes feeding and fat fetishism is a real world phenomenon.  No this isn’t the right movie about that topic.  As it stands, ‘Fat Bastard’ makeup or not it is kind of a grim 2000s geek show more interested in gawking than making sense of any of it.

--Andrew Kotwicki