“It’s very likely the tomato paste has AIDS in it.”
Red Letter Media, the production company behind all of the classic internet movie reviews of the “Star Wars” prequels that even garnered Simon Pegg’s unabashed endorsement releases their first feature film entitled “Feeding Frenzy” a trashy horror film very much in line with the company’s humor and even features their company mascot Mr. Plinkett as an ominous villain as a nod to fans who followed their brilliant video reviews so adamantly every year.
For those still not aware of their online celebrity status, Plinkett is merely a bizarre menace in the shadows, but Red Letter Media knows their audience very well. Serving as a throwback to the rubber monster movies of the eighties like “Critters” and whatever else that branched off of it, “Feeding Frenzy” is very much a full on display of the comedic talents of the Red Letter Media team as they manage to stage a variety of hysterical and awkward comedy scenes leading in to the inevitable discovery of gut munching balls that look very much like shaven Krites.
Ron Lipski is the inept Jesse Camp, a put upon hardware store worker for “Plinkett’s Real Value” Hardware who is constantly picked on by his boss Plinkett who makes him his work slave and threatens to reveal his big secret to everyone if he doesn’t comply with his demands. Jesse happens to harbor a crush on local girl Christine, an equally inept college girl who is in a relationship with a man who has a talent for making some of the most idiotic but hilarious analogies imaginable. Most of the first half of the movie is typical Red Letter Media with Rich Evans stealing the show as Plinkett the perverted stroke victim who can barely work his chair and gets his jollies off of killing hookers.
Not prone to just deliver a straight forward monster movie, directors Bauman and Stoklasa allow the cast to improvise whenever necessary giving way to some ridiculous but gut busting scenes including Jesse’s botched serenade to Christine, a mix up involving the word caulk, co-worker Carl’s refusal to take anything going on in this horror seriously, and the random pillow fight between three buxom roommates that carries on for a good three minutes uninterrupted. In the meantime, writer Stoklasa knows how to throw some great one-liners and sneaky movie references at the audience prompting some raucous laughter, and keeps his premise firmly entrenched in comedy with the gut munching balls wreaking havoc in saps who let them in to their house.
The monsters are quire well done with some solid gore effects giving way to some gruesome carnage that their endless appetites make way for, and the cast pulls off some top notch performances, particularly Gillian Bellinger as the shrill love interest Christine, and Stoklasa as the apathetic Carl who even in the midst of limbs and blood shed can’t seem to muster up enough emotion to stop the monsters. Red Letter Media has a talent for just some of the most random humor imaginable, and sight gags pop out of nowhere allowing the audience to grasp them instead of treating them as simps and holding out hands through the jokes. The origin of the monsters is about as convoluted as you can expect with a climax that just sideswipes the audience with its erratic chase sequences and an ambiguous source of our mega monster, but “Feeding Frenzy” is not about being normal and routine. It’s an off the wall original horror comedy, and one that really will appeal to fans of schlock masterpieces in the mood for toothy balls, and dead hookers.
The DVD features 16:9 Anamorphic widescreen as well as some rather great extras for fans of the film including a hilarious commentary including both directors who explain the origin of “Feeding Frenzy,” and make it clear to the viewer who Mr. Plinkett is, how he was born, and how this is not an attempt to cash in on the success of their Phantom Menace movie reviews. Most importantly the tone with the directors is frank as they make it clear they don’t take this movie or the premise entirely seriously, so they hold no delusions about its quality nor do they try to pass it off as high class cinema. But they provide some interesting anecdotes about the filmmaking process and their grasping with their fame with the Star Wars reviews, and their struggles to make the best film they possibly can.
We also get a twenty one minute Behind the Scenes featurette exploring the mini-budget shoot behind the film where directors Stoklasa and Bauman recall working on the film and how a simple exploitation movie turned in to a passion project. We get three Deleted Scenes that were initially shortened or cut from the final product, and a ten minute hilarious outtakes reel. We also get four trailers for Red Letter Media Productions and a fascinating look at the creation of the “Feeding Frenzy” cover art. Cook yourself up some pizza rolls, kick back with some friends and gaze in awe at “Feeding Frenzy” an original and daring horror comedy with great performances, a sharp script, and a sheer sense of tongue in cheek humor that fans of Red Letter’s outputs will especially love.