Feast of Flesh is from Argentinian director Emilio Vieyra, also known for the X-rated The Curious Dr. Humpp. It's on the same Something Weird DVD as Night of the Bloody Apes, and as I was looking for something "Feast" related (Thanksgiving and all), it seemed like a good fit. And like Humpp, Feast features weird masks and a lot of sexuality - although nothing here is explicit, I assume it would still get an R-rating. The scenes with nudity are more uncomfortable that titillating - there's a sort of drugged/hypnotized thing going on in those scenes, but it's never graphic. And Feast plays like more of a creepy mystery rather than an outright horror film. It's confusing at times, but it's quirky enough to be kind of a fun watch.
My Synopsis: People are turning up dead with syringes stabbed deep into their chests. Witnesses claim to have seen a guy with a creepy mask disposing of the bodies. The local inspectors get on the case, and have a number of suspects. But the only things they know for sure are that drugs are involved, as well as some weird (apparently hypnotic) space age lounge music.
Elaborate Genre: Vaguely Psychedelic Giallo-esque mystery
Overall: Kind of confusing, and occasionally non-sensical. But like a good giallo, it's got an enjoyable enough tone that you can look past the storytelling defects. It's not as weird as Dr. Humpp, but it's still weird enough to be fun.
The biggest problem with Feast of Flesh is that it throws too many characters at you in the opening act, without really establishing who is who. You are kind of left to your own devices to figure out what is going on. Eventually you figure out who is important to the plot and who is just part of the army of random side characters, but for the early parts of the film you are kind of left floundering and confused. I'm not sure if there is another cut of the film that could even this out, or if the English dub just leaves something to be desired. (It's Argentinian title "Placer Sangriento" - "Bloody Pleasure.") Or maybe it's just a poorly put together, confusing script. But it makes Feast of Flesh depend much more on atmosphere to carry the load of making it watchable. Luckily, between the creepy masked guy:
the lounge music, the gratuitous nudity and the bizarre beach hippie bar there's enough weirdness here to carry the load. For instance - why does the killer wear monster gloves? There was a little bit there where I thought it was actually a shitty monster and not a guy in a mask.
Oh, and if there's a fetish out there for open mouth kissing a person with a mask on, Feast of Flesh has got you covered.
Even though it's not a long film by any means (it's listed as 70 minutes), it kind of feels like it at times. The action is pretty equally divvied out - you see mask guy up there dump a body on the beach, then you get some kooky credits, then go right into his lair. Which is really just a swingin' pad where he has women do drugs and then makes out with them, or something. (And finds time to hypnotize them - I don't know why? They walk outside when they hear the music, for what it's worth.) So Feast of Flesh is not shy on showing you the bad guy. But it feels slow paced at times. I'd guess it's because it never really bothers to introduce you to some of the characters, so you don't always know what's going on. You just kind of have to figure out how they all fit in and know each other.
Also, you never really get a good answer as to why any of this stuff is going on. I mean, you get a reason for the murders, but it never explains the hypnotic music angle. It feels like there's an elaborate ritual being staged or something, but Feast of Flesh just sort of ignores that element of the story. There are two possible, and equally likely explanations - (1) it doesn't make any sense, or (2) I was doing a bad job of paying attention. Thanks Beer! I would guess it's a combination of both. The reviews on imdb say there's a scene where the cops give a woman LSD as a truth serum, which is kind of funny. I didn't catch that (just some business about not using people as guinea pigs), but it gives you a good idea of the mentality of Feast of Flesh.
At any rate, I had a good time with it. The conventional aspects of it are pretty by the numbers as far as a mystery/thriller goes (maybe less than the numbers in terms of coherence), but the black and white photography looks cool, and there's enough exploitation goodness/weirdness to keep you occupied. It's not top shelf, but it's fun enough.
I would recommend this film.
No comments:
Post a Comment