After directing the cult horror film The Dead Pit (1989), Brett Leonard had the opportunity to direct a movie with a much bigger budget in the Stephen King adaptation The Lawnmower Man (1991). The success of that particular movie led him to the high-profile studio films Hideaway and Virtuosity, both released in 1995. After directing music videos and TV movies, Leonard went back to his horror roots. He delivered Feed (2005), which pulls no punches and delivers a villain with a taste for something audiences just weren’t ready to witness.
Australian cyberporn investigator Phillip Jackson (Patrick Thompson) discovers a disturbing website that shows a man excessively feeding obese women so they gain weight. He suspects it might be connected to a series of disappearances and begins to investigate. His obsession to uncover the truth plagues him until he loses his job and girlfriend.
Philip heads to the States to confront the site’s creator, Michael Carter (Alex O’Loughlin). Michael claims he’s liberating these women from society’s harsh standards, but there’s a sinister motive behind the scenes, and he’s determined to learn the truth.
In the opening scene, Leonard captures his audience with images you won’t soon forget. For those who don’t know, feeder (or feederism) is a fetish where an individual will eroticize weight gain and feeding. To each their own, but using it as a catalyst for a serial killer is pretty brilliant. I’ve never seen anything like it before, and how it’s presented here is disturbing.
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The effects work, including the fat suits, are practically done and look fantastic. Alex O’Loughlin and Patrick Thompson are wickedly good with one another, and the final act is really tight and suspenseful. However, the ending didn’t quite work for me. Both characters are deeply flawed, two different people on opposite sides of the law, but deep down, are they really that different?
Unearthed Films brings the gross-out classic to Blu-ray in an extras-filled package. It includes an audio commentary by Leonard, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, the “U.S. Cut” of the film, additional deleted and extended scenes, outtakes, an interview with Leonard, interviews with Alex O’Loughlin, Jack Thompson, and producer Melissa Beauford, Feed in Philadelphia: The North American Featurette, behind-the-scenes footage, infomercial, photo gallery, and the original theatrical trailer.
Feed might not be perfect, but it’s an obscenely gross thriller that takes the cat-and-mouse formula to a whole other level.
Check out the trailer on YouTube.
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