Jackass Critics

Feed

I have been on the internet now for, oh, about twelve years, and I have seen more than my fair share of freaky stuff. I think that’s one of the scary things about the ‘net – how unfettered it can be at times. How dangerous. Welcome to the wonderful world of the internet, where almost every fetish has a website, and every deviance a fan. Welcome to the world of Feed, where a website pushes into the boundaries of what is acceptable and delves into the world of dark deviance.

A detective working in a European cyber-crimes unit has seen some of the worst humanity has to offer. His most recent case involved a man paying someone to cook pieces of his body and serve it to him, insisting it wasn’t illegal because he was eating his own body. His home life is no better, with a relationship that borders on mutually abusive and which is certainly not the healthiest sexually. It would seem that, as dreadful as it is, work is all this man has in his life. When the man comes across a website for people with a fetish for very heavy women, he becomes convinced that something is wrong here. The site features a webcam, and the image we are shown is of a woman who is so heavy she can’t leave the bed she is lying on. She seems to be taken care of though, as a mystery man feeds and takes care of her and, it would seem, covets the woman and loves her weight. As the detective begins to investigate the case further though the true nature of this website and its proprietor come to light, and while the site may be for fans of obese women, it’s also for those with a sick curiosity about what death looks like. Now it falls to the detective to unravel the mystery of this website, and the man behind it, before it causes another death.

I have to be honest, I was never a fan of director Brett Leonard’s. Not at all. Needless to say, I didn’t go into Feed with much more than curiosity as to what happened to the guy. I was thrilled, and a little shocked to find such a well made, and really, nasty movie. The film is about the idea of grossly obese people becoming fetishized, and the idea that there is a predator out there always looking for new prey. It’s a damned disturbing film for a lot of reasons. The feeding ritual alone is enough to turn your stomach, as are some of the revelations towards the end of the film, but there is more than that. The relationship between the detective and his girlfriend is just disturbing. Both of them are so emotionally abusive it becomes that sex is the only thing they have in common, and even that becomes tenuous. The detective is the perfect example of looking too deeply into the darkness for monsters and becoming one himself. He and the antagonist have something in common, as well – a very dark relationship with their mothers. This is a relationship that has tainted the rest of their lives and has crafted they way they lived and it’s interesting to ponder how little separates the two men as far as their career paths.

When watching the film I couldn’t shake the vibe that this was a familiar idea – sort of like Seven, sort of like Silence of the Lambs, and perhaps others – but the film doesn’t feel like anything more than a brother to those films. This isn’t a ripoff, it just takes what those films were doing and goes two steps further. This is an ugly world, and is shot that way, like a documentary about slums. The use of music is also really wonderfully done as the soundtrack is full of irony and the score reminds one of an Italian giallo. And this is essentially a modern giallo, just more extreme. The direction is very good, though some of the handheld work and shot choices are not always the best, the direction doesn’t hinder the film. The story is very good and it’s nearly impossible to get some of the images from this film out of your head. The acting too is superb and brings a lot of depth to the film.

This is a very extreme movie. In a lot of ways. The biggest problem I can see the film having is that it will turn a lot of people off. It’s just very intense. Some of the direction gets spotty, but it isn’t bad so much as just not always the best for the film. We also lose the detective’s girlfriend halfway through the film, as if her character just disappeared. But then, the ending sort of hopes you forget a lot of the background characters and don’t ask questions about them. The ending works, and very, very well, but it does ask the audience to buy into some things.

The DVD is PACKED. It will definitely take you some time to get through everything here and that’s a very good thing. It’s nice to see an indie company like TLA putting so much effort into a release that could have slipped off the radar. If you’re a fan of the film, you will love this disc. The sound and images are also very solid, and the sound features 5.1 DTS, which is always a great bonus.

Feed is a very good film. I was really surprised at how well I liked it. Dark, disturbing, and willing to push the boundaries of storytelling, this is the kind of movie that hardcore horror and giallo fans will love. I really can’t recommend this film enough. Grotesqueries aside, this is a very well done film about the nature of obsession and perversions and is a rare look into some of the blackest hearts out there.

…c…