Live Feed

"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.

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!

This is one of the worst films I've seen in years!! You could randomly pluck 5 people off the streets and they could act better than anyone in this film. Absolute waste of time watching it. I only gave it a 2 as I like gory films but this is just plain rubbish. The acting (and I use that term VERY loosely) is abysmal, someone please tell me that the 5 main actors in this were making their first ever film?? Don't waste your time watching this. Hostel was a better film by some way. I cannot believe that someone has spent money making this, I hope for the producers sake it only cost $50,000 to make - it looks like a school project, made by kids who haven't got a clue. Did this even make it to the cinema??

I watched the Unrated version of this film and realised about 30 minutes into it that I was never getting my time back. I persevered to the end hoping that the dialogue would improve, the martial arts would look realistic eventually, the special FX would actually look special. I was so wrong. I love Horror, I am a complete gore hound. I number some of the eighties splatter flicks amongst the greats of the film world. This however was not made in the eighties, if this film had come out in the early eighties the FX could be forgiven for looking so bad. It wasn't so it hasn't got that defence. The dialogue is terrible with so many bad lines I was wincing at the writing rather than squirming at torture. I don't like Hostel, never have, I thought it was over rated, over hyped and I felt nothing for the protagonists, however it shines as a beacon to greatness next to this garbage. The back of the cover for Live Feed promised a twist you would never see coming, I'm still waiting for the twist that was promised.

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.