Conall Pendergast's Kill Them and Eat Them is a very self knowing, grade Z, mutant/mad scientist comedy horror film. It's about a mad scientist (like there are any other in movies like this) known as Dr Gore who is experimenting on humans and turning them into mutants! Super low budget gory mayhem and bad acting ensue!
This is the second full length outing from filmmaker Conall Pendergast, his first being the even lower end Flesh Freaks. Thankfully this film is a huge step up in terms of just about everything. As where Flesh Freaks felt incredibly haphazard in hindsight, KTaET actually shows some filmmaking skills, even if they are on a "next to nothing budget" with actors that act all over the place and with splatter that makes one want to laugh more than cringe.
Regardless, I enjoyed this movie a lot more than Flesh Freaks from the onset. Although the acting is all over the place, the actors that seem "in on the joke" make a lot of their material work on the level one would expect from an old HG Lewis flick. I half expected some of the actors to literally wink at the camera. I bet making this was a lot of fun.
The soundtrack and sound editing in general are much better in this film as well. I can actually make out what everyone is saying and dialog doesn't fade out from scene to scene. And I really don't know what I think of the sludge metal soundtrack. The music itself is fine, some of it even outright jamming. It's just the way it's implemented that makes it sort of jarring. I actually like Metal being used in film for soundtracks, but I typically prefer it actually written as a score more than just some song tossed in to add effect.
The gore and splatter effects, and general make up and creature effects, are absolutely hilarious. Initially we only get one mutant at the beginning that reminded me of the Elephant Man. But as the movie progresses, we get an assortment of hilarious monstrosities with giant goofy grotesque heads and giant monster claws. And as for the splatter, again, it's a huge step up from the prior film. The splatter elements were present in Flesh Freaks, however mostly condensed to the films last half. This movie attempts to keep things more interesting by having something weird or gruesome happening every few minutes. It's constantly entertaining and usually pretty innovative.
Like most grade Z flicks, I am not trying to sell this as some excellent film. What it is though is a competently made grade Z film. It does exactly what flicks like this should do, entertain for dopes like me. What more could I ask for?
