Evil Feed (2014)

Evil Feed (2014)
Directed by: Kimani Ray Smith
Written by: Aaron Au, Jana Mitsoula, Kimani Ray Smith
Starring: Alain Chanoine, Alyson Bath, Bishop Brigante, Carrie Genzel, Curtis Lum, Derek Gilroy, Laci J Mailey, Terry Chen

Asian restaurant the Long Pig sits unmarked in a dark alley. Its specialty meat is people. Catering to select customers it provides them with a wealth of entertainment before serving them specially prepared human product. All of this is overseen by new restaurant manager Steven (Terry Chen) and his beautiful girlfriend and hostess Yuki (Alyson Bath). After her sister and kung fu master father are taken, Jenna (Laci J Mailey) is kidnapped by the employees of the Long Pig. Her friends go after her but they may find themselves served up for dinner.

Some of Evil Feed’s posters seem to try to be making it out as a gory slasher in the vein of You’re Next with its blood style font and pig mask wearing axe murderer but it is actually a horror comedy leaning much more towards the comedy. From its opening five minutes that include buckets of blood, silly character names, a half-naked woman and elongated blood gag, it pretty much lets you know what you’re in for for the next hour and a half.

Subtlety isn’t part of Evil Feed’s make up. With its over the top acting, fountains of blood in the style of Manga films, and childish jokes, it just slaps you in the face with its silliness. Its jokes are pretty lowbrow and silly but luckily this appeals to my childish sense of humour so I was laughing at the character name Phat Phuk, its erection and fart jokes, the scenery chewing acting and line readings, its references to films such as Army of Darkness and Dirty Harry and the Long Pig’s special dish, the Dickie Roll. The characters are fun to be around and even though they are mostly stereotypes it just adds to the films self-aware, silly charm, and you end up enjoying it as much as the actors seem to. Terry Chen’s Steven is particularly fun and an enjoyable central character. The film has some good fight scenes and the gore and effects are pretty good.

Unfortunately, the gag rate isn’t as high as you would hope, making it a fun watch rather than something you’ll want to revisit to laugh at time and again. It is amusing but never hilarious, producing chuckles but never belly laughs. There isn’t much in the way of plot, just some people are taken and their friends come to take them back, so the plot doesn’t exactly keep you going through the film, that’s left to the performances and the general silliness. With its attempted rape, forced surgery, general violence against women and racial stereotypes it is sometimes in danger of tipping in to bad taste but luckily its general silliness and tongue in cheek atmosphere allow it to stay on the right side of enjoyment.

It’s not sophisticated but it is over the top, silly fun. Perfect for a Friday night with a few friends.

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