Feed

"Feed", to adopt a food metaphor, left me hungry. The premise of this film is excellent - it's the first movie I've been aware of that tackles the bizarre subject of feeders.

Sadly, the strong cast is let down by sloppy direction. The film just isn't very cohesive. In the right hands, this could have been a very tense affair and a memorable cult movie. As it stands, the film lacks tension and any element of the fear factor. At the end of the day, it's okay but instantly forgettable.

The film scrapes a "7" as the subject matter is interesting and the acting is very good....it's just a shame that butter-fingered director Brett Leonard manages to drop the ball. In the right hands, this could have been a simply excellent film.

I just got to see this movie at the Fantasy Film Festival in Nuremberg and I was pretty astonished how many people actually wanted to see it. Cinema was nearly sold out and I think people got what they were looking for. It's a nice little thriller about a disgusting fetish. The audience gets to see everything. Puking fat women, sex with 600 pound women and some even more disgusting things that I do not want to mention here. But this movie has its weaknesses. Started from the tolerable but ridiculous "computer hacking" scenes in which "dir windows" kind of traces people all over the world, to an ending which is just not plausible. The movie tries to narrate a possibly real story and the ending seems to be misplaced. But as the topic said it's fascinating to see how far humans can go, although the movie exaggerates this a bit too much in my opinion. Acting was quite okay, story has its flaws, but all in all, I'd recommend this movie, because this is one of the movies you will certainly talk about after-wards. 6 of 10, not only for breaking some taboos.

Phillip, Australian cyber crime officer, searches the seedy side of the internet, seeking illicit porn and snuff sites. After his last assignment in Germany, arresting a man wanting to eat himself and his accomplice. Phillip finds a site for Feeders and Gainers, where people (the feeders) feed food to the gainers, making them overtly overweight unable to move. Running the site, Michael Carter has his latest woman to feed, Deirdre, with an abundance of food for her to beg for. Without authority, Phillip flies to America to track Michael and stop this disturbing act.

At a time when Australia is rebuilding its film industry; with great films Look Both Way, Wolf Creek, Little Fish and The Proposition, it was only a matter of time for a movie like Feed would make its way out of the woodwork. Feed is a twisted, very twisted, film on humanities consumption and the amount of food we're eating. With our society so concerned of being thin, Feed spins that notion on its head, where bigger people are more beautiful; while taking it to the n'th degree with Dedrae weighing over six hundred pounds.

Like many films of this caliber, the hallmarks of a small budget are easily seen, yet isn't that the 'charm' of these films; rough camera work, corny dialog, overblown acting and a plot that doesn't completely make sense. As Feed starts off interesting, it takes a turn for the worst. Dropping the psychological mind game Michael was playing with Phillip, Feed turns into a chase film, becoming tedious with an overly drawn out ending. Its the move into familiar, predictable territory, where it was so unfamiliar to start off with.

Like before, the acting is so overblown. Patrick Thompson's tormented cop verges idiotic, gruffing his way along. Alex O'Loughlin fails to evoke a creepy vibe for Michael. The best acting came from Gabby Millgate, donning the fat suit while repeating "Feed Me".

Does Feed put you off food, no; Morgan Spurlocks documentary Super Size Me had more of a revulsion towards food.

The basic plot: cyber investigators from Austalia stumble on a fetist website about women who literally get feed to death of their own volition.

This movie will have a limited target audience. Fans of gross out movies will enjoy it, but there is no way an average person who pays to see movies like King Kong, The Transporter or Pirates of the Caribian will enjoy this. This target audience is a little more...less mainstream.

It's gross. At times it's hard to stomach 600 pound naked women being force fed then puking. It's a different kind of gross from movies like Cannibal Holocaust, Salo, Hostel, Se7en. It's more disturbing simply because of the subject matter, rather then the gore. But at the same time, I watched the whole thing, so I guess it wasn't bad.

Both the acting and direction were a pleasant surprise, I was expecting a mid range B movie, but got a real movie instead.

Two things I would have done differently...1. Dwell a little on the 'fans' of the fetish in question (they weren't even addressed), and 2. either more of the cannibal issue from the start of the movie or take that scene out completely or tie it into the force feeding later on.

I did stop eating though when I was watching it. A perfectly good tub of Orvil movie style popcorn, thrown away. So I suppose it accomplished what it set out to do.

I won't rate this movie though. I will only say, it was well done overall, and if you think you can stomach the subject matter, seek it out and watch it.

Well first of all - to correct the previous comment - the cop wasn't SENT to America, he in fact went over there to investigate it for himself, without his boss even knowing.

He was in danger of being fired if is boss ever found out. That was in fact part of the plot; so how the previous poster failed to notice that I'm not too sure.

All in all I enjoyed the film; I liked the (at times jerky) camera-work and lighting - as the previous comment mentioned, a lot of filters were used (like the blue one) but I think this added to the film's atmosphere.

A few things were a bit unbelievable, and the ending was rather odd (shan't spoil it for you)...but all in all, a fairly good movie.