Feast (Unrated Edition)
In need of some good old-fashioned gore? You'll find it by the bucketload in the low-budget monsterfest Feast, which arrives on DVD in an even bloodier unrated edition. The winning entry in the third season of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's reality series/talent contest Project Greenlight (Wes Craven is also on board as an advisor/producer), Feast is a wall-to-wall splatterthon that operates on an agreeably simple premise: A crew of motley characters is trapped in a remote location (in this case, a desert bar) by ravenous, flesh-eating monsters (here, a quartet of toothy and astoundingly fecund humanoids). The result? Lots of gruesome deaths and plenty of manic action, delivered with kinetic style by first-time feature director John Gulager. Not everything about Feast works--Gulager's drive is thwarted by the unfocused script, which favors smarmy dialogue over substance--but the effects are impressive, given the film's price tag, and the cast is incredibly game for the gory goings-on, with Krista Allen (Entourage), Judah Friedlander (30 Rock), Balthazar Getty (Alias), and Gulager's father, veteran actor Clu Gulager, among the stand-outs. The DVD includes a smattering of outtakes and deleted scenes (including an alternate ending); commentary by Gulager, the screenwriters, and two of the film's numerous producers; and a making-of featurette, which Project Greenlight viewers should find interesting solely for producers Chris Moore and Michael Leahy's attitudes towards Gulager (both were a hair's breath away from firing him throughout the production, but here, amusingly suggest unconditional support). -- Paul Gaita
