Dark Feed (2013): Out now on DVD

Dark Feed (2013)
Directed by: Michael Rasmussen, Shawn Rasmussen
Written by: Michael Rasmussen, Shawn Rasmussen
Starring: Dayna Cousins, Evalena Marie, Jason Beaubien, Jonathan Popp, Michael Reed, Rebecca Whitehurst

Dark Feed (2013)

(15) Running time: 86 minutes

Directors: Shawn Rasmussen, Michael Rasmussen

Writers: Shawn Rasmussen, Michael Rasmussen

Cast: Evalena Marie, Michael Reed, Jonathan Popp, Dayna Cousins, Jason Beaubien, Rebecca Whitehurst

Reviewed by: Matt Wavish

The Rasmussen Brothers made a name for themselves after writing John Carpenter’s The Ward, and now have made their directorial debut with Dark Feed. Serving as both writers and directors, The Rasmussen’s first effort is a fairly straightforward mental hospital horror yarn, that offers up little or no surprises with a pretty awful cast, and a slow, soul crushing pace.

Dark Feed see’s a group of low budget filmmakers enter an abandoned psychiatric hospital to shoot a new horror film, and the writer of the film has joined them to see how his story is converted into a movie. We are given the full background treatment of the hospital during the opening few minutes, so what comes later is not really a surprise as weird things begin happening. The opening scene of a girl ripping her lip ring out also indicates that things will turn nasty as the film crew also suffer from whatever evil lurks within these walls, and so the expectation is that the film will deliver on its slow build up through interesting characters. See, usually in films like this where you are in a confined set with minimal characters to serve the story, you have to at least make one of them interesting enough to keep the viewers attention, but sadly Dark Feed offers none of that level of intelligence.

The characters simply appear on screen, and the intentionally bad acting for the low budget film being made is hard to tell apart from the actual bad acting from the cast anyway. Scenes from the film within a film look no different from what we are actually watching, and the bad acting is what really lets this film down, along with some pretty weak writing in parts. A lack of music doesn’t help the film move forward, and what is clearly seen as an attempt to make a sophisticated horror is lost. Lines are delivered badly, and even attempts at comedy here and there fall flat on their face. The joker of the pack seems to be the special effects guy, but his witty dialogue misses the mark by a mile, and only his appearance delivers a slight chuckle.

However, the cast is helped by the fact the girls are all attractive enough to hold your attention, and we do get horrors most prized possession: the shower scene! We also get the female star of the film spending most of her time in a sexy nurses uniform, and this, and a menacing journey in a lift, is some of the few things worthy of your attention here. The said lift scene is pretty intense, and even though it rips off the over-used J-horror lift scene, it works. In fact, the films setting and atmosphere is what wins the day here: the setting itself is dark, and looks like something you’d dream up in a nightmare. Cold, damp and dark corridors, an abandoned swimming pool used for experiments, a sinister library dripping weird black stuff from the ceiling: the design is impressive. The atmosphere too is murky, claustrophobic and often intense, and when the nasty stuff eventually kicks off, if you are still awake, it delivers some shocking, gorey and impressive moments which are boosted by the dark mood.

Sadly though Dark Feed is not very good, and the main issue here is the bad acting and poorly delivered script. It is clear that the Rasmussen’s have a talent, and might need a bigger budget or better support to really allow their skills to shine, so here’s hoping that their next film delivers what Dark Feed merely hints at. One for the horror fanatic who has to see everything (like me!), but a poor show that will not win The Rasmussen’s any fans. My advice, wait for their next film which will hopefully be much better than this bore fest.

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