Live Feed

The first full-length feature from FX-man turned director Ryan Nicholson, Live Feed treads similar territory to recent 'torture porn' movies Hostel 1 & 2 (and to a lesser degree, Vacancy and Turistas), and likewise fails to make the most of an admittedly interesting premise. I guess the fact that I actually rate it on a par with much higher budgeted efforts from major studios can be seen as a positive, but, considering I really enjoyed Nicholson's earlier 'short' Torched (rated 8/10 by me), I can't help but feel somewhat let down.

Live Feed sees a group of five hedonistic friends on vacation in the Far East, who become trapped in a sleazy porno theatre. There they become the latest victims of a vicious organised crime syndicate whose boss gets his kicks from watching people die. One-by-one, the petrified tourists are slaughtered by a hulking brute wearing a rubber apron and a bizarre S&M-style mask, with all of the gory action broadcast to the sadistic boss on a 'live feed'.

With plenty of nasty violence and loads of gratuitous nudity, this film certainly doesn't pull any punches, but it is let down considerably by bad characterisation, lame acting and a poor script. Unfortunately, no amount of extreme bloodletting and welcome T&A from pretty girls could distract this viewer from these weaknesses, and although I enjoyed the many brutal deaths (especially the bit where one guy gets his head twisted clean off!), I wish more time had been spent on bringing the substandard aspects of the film up to scratch.

Nicholson could be praised for achieving the same degree of nastiness in his film as self-proclaimed 'saviour of horror' Eli Roth does with his over-hyped Hostel. But since I genuinely believe that he has more potential than Roth (and certainly has more respect for fans of the genre), I regrettably give this film a rather disappointing 5/10, and hope that he fares much better with his next project, the intriguingly titled Gutterballs.

2005 gave us the very decent "gore porn" flick Hostel, and 2006 gave us Live Feed; a not so decent rip-off of Hostel. Live Feed follows pretty much the same formula as Eli Roth's earlier film, except this time the dumb kids are in Asia rather than central Europe. The plot focuses on these dumb kids, and one of them has annoyed one of the locals so they find themselves in trouble. The locals decide to lock them all in a theatre, and kill them. Despite the fact that I'd heard some less than favourable things about this film before seeing it, I still hoped that it might be at least half decent because director Ryan Nicholson previously made the very decent 45 minute rape and revenge film 'Torched', but this film falls down simply because most of it is either ridiculous or boring. The film is obviously trying to hark back to the good old days of Grindhouse cinema (which Hostel did, successfully), but it really doesn't come off. Surprisingly, considering Nicholson's previous work in special effects - not even the gore is impressive...although it is a lot better than the acting! There's not much else I can say about this film...it's bad and not in a good way. Avoid it!

"Live Feed" is one of the few films I've struggled to view to the very end. The production is amateurish in the extreme and the pace is the most torturous element of the whole affair.

While there are moments of inspiration during the uneven proceedings, the lack of any genuine suspense or convincing bloodshed leaves the viewer wondering why they bothered watching this title in the first place.

The electronic score is awful and the performances from most of the cast are just not up to scratch.

I love independent horror movies but this one just fails to cut the proverbial mustard.

3 out of 10.

Whoa nelly! I've heard a ton of mixed reviews for this...but one of my go to hardcore horror reviewers really found it to be disappointing. Man was he right on the nose! This movie was acted by pure amateurs. They HAD to have done one take, maybe two on each scene, the movie seemed soooo rushed. The script was also poor....they had lines that tried to be unique but failed. Miserably. "Get your meathooks off of me!" Oh man, I hate it when movies try to do that. It happens all the time with comedies...but, with a horror movie and with below average actors....the results are incredibly pathetic. The lines and scenarios were all very predictable. But what made me feel so negative towards this movie was, again, the damn acting. It was awful. Besides by the little Asian guy who worked the booth. I thought he was great.

The movie is about 5 stupid dumbsh!t tourist who are on a vacation in Asia. They end up at the wrong place and fall into the hands of a mafia run sex/slaughterhouse. Sounds like a cool story. But watching someone with a bad case of diarrhea is probably more fun and intense to watch. The only reason this is considered horror is because of the killing. There wasn't a trace of suspense.

I like many other horror fans were dying to get their bloody little mitts on this. But unfortunately with a HUGE capital U, the movie was incredibly disappointing. I did enjoy the ankle break and the blood effects. The flabby chicks were also so so.

Everything about this movie screams amateur. This is Ryan Nicholson's first feature length, and for the most part he failed. There's no denying he has a sick sense of humor and taste for horror. I pray his next movie doesn't play out like another B horror flick...unless he tells us that's what it's gonna be. Even after this disappointment I'm willing to give Ryan another shot. From what I've seen of him, he's a true, dedicated man to the genre. Good luck next time, because this was bad news.

First of all, this is a low-budget movie, so my expectations were incredibly low going into it. I assume most people looking at the info for this movie just wanted a bloodfest, and essentially that's all it is.

Plot? There really is none. It's basically Saw but in China and a whole hell of a lot worse. Cast? There is none, period. Special Effects? Absolutely awful in my opinion... There were cutaways and the blood was often completely unbelievable because of amounts, splatter, color, texture, etc.

I believe the purpose of this movie was supposed to be a brutal, shock film. Now it had some great potential on a bigger budget but poor scripting, poor dialogue, awful acting, what seemed like camcorder video shots, and just plain unbelievable "gore," made this movie truly awful.

There are movies worth taking a chance against some reviews, even "b-rate" movies deserve some opportunities (blood trails for example was the most recent I saw against reviews that was worth it), but this was simply awful. I hope that people considering this movie read my comment and decide against it.

I'm all for brutality and shock, but the overall unrealism and truly awful acting makes for an awful experience. Save your time/money and chance something else, you won't be disappointed.