The first Feast film was a fun throwback to the gory monster on the rampage films that popped up in the 80s. This next installment seems to promise to continue the gruesome fun, but a kill that’s supposed to be funny just left me cold and ready for the film to be over.
Not that it doesn’t end on an unknown note since a third sequel is coming.
Biker Queen (Diane Goldner) drives up to the ruins of the bar assaulted in the first Feast looking for her sister Harley Mom (Goldner again, who just happens to be director John Gulager’s wife).
She finds the Bartender (Clu Gulager) miraculously survived the events of Feast (it helps when your son is the director of both films) and he details how Bozo (Balthazar Getty, not appearing in this film however) used Harley Mom as bait for the beasts and that caused her death.
Biker Queen knocks out Bartender and goes in search of Bozo to extract her revenge. The monsters have moved to the next town and that’s where Bozo was headed as well. The beasts that attacked the bar have also moved onto this town as well.
The town also contains two miniature Mexican luchador wrestlers, Thunder (Martin Klebba) and Lightening (Juan Longoria Garcia), and Honey Pie (Jenny Wade), who left the people in the bar for dead and went on the run. When all hell breaks loose our characters meet up and try to stay alive as well as get into the safest location in town – the jail. Unfortunately, Hobo (William Prael), the town meth head who was locked up at the time, has locked himself in and not letting anyone inside.
Feast was featured on the third season of Project Greenlight and turned out to be a fun little throwback to those gore filled thrill-fests where unknown monsters attacked a group of archetype characters. They were so much archetypes that they weren’t even given names.
Feast 2 continues that conceit, save for Greg, but gives them a little video montage telling about their characters. My favorite from the first film was probably Bartender and he was obviously a fan favorite as he survived the first film and shows up for more (again having your son directing doesn’t hurt either).
They throw in another two Gulagers to the cast, with Greg Gulager’s son playing the role of the baby.
I guess I need to get to the bit where the show lost me by mentioning the baby. I was okay with the film though I did think the characters were much less likable than those in the first film up until that point. The butch biker gang chicks seem to not care much for their own and even less for some of the characters they encounter making them unlikeable in my opinion, even if two of them strip down for the finale.
It’s when we get to the baby scene that the film really lost me. I’ll not spoil it for you but the slow motion was excruciating. I sat with a frown for a time after the particular scene. It really made me dislike the film. Your mileage may vary.
I think the screenwriters wanted an “anything goes” attitude as a similar scene occurs in the original, but they didn’t have to do it to a BABY. It was a deal breaker for me. I know it’s only a movie and the cast probably had a ball making it one of their family members, but I didn’t like it. Another annoying thing is the film just stops, setting it up from the third part.
Feast 2 is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary with director John Gulager, writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunston, producer Michael Leahy, and actors Diane Ayala, Diane Goldner, Clu Gulager, and Tom Gulager.
Next is the 12 minute “Scared to Death Twice” which details the making of the film and the 5 minute “Meet the Gulagers” that shows the familial connection in the films.
I had high hopes for Feast 2 and when the credits finally rolled I had those hopes dashed a bit. There are some good bits in there, but the one scene that annoyed me soured me on the film. There’s “no holds barred” but when it gets too unbarred it just lost me. I think it’s supposed to be funny but I wasn’t laughing. I hope the third sequel is better.
Feast II: Sloppy Seconds is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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