Eighteen months after the Project Greenlight fright film FEAST wrapped (yes, that would be 2004), director John Gulager and co. returned this week for five days of additional photography in preparation for the Dimension film’s September release, and Fango was there. This writer is greeted warmly by actress Diane (Harley Mama) Goldner upon arriving on the set (“Did you just get here? You just missed the ‘monster cock’ shot!” she laments), and FEAST co-writer Patrick Melton quickly offers a seat behind the playback monitor.
“The goal has been to enhance every monster-attack action sequence,” says Melton of the mayhem that unfolds. “The principal photography period was simply too rushed and many setups weren’t fully exploited, so this has been our chance to really up the ante in terms of the extreme gore, scares and shock value…as if there wasn’t already enough.”
In addition to Melton, Gulager and Goldner, animated FEAST co-scripter Marcus Dunstan is on hand, as are actors Krista (Tuffy) Allen, genre fave Clu (The Bartender) Gulager and a blood-drenched stand-in for actress Navi (Heroine) Rawat, with director of photography Tom Callaway and creature designer Gary Tunnicliffe returning as well. Says Tunnicliffe, suited up as one of the film’s rather well-endowed creatures, “It gets caught in a doorjamb! Did you see it?” (This writer did see “it,” but isn’t telling.)
The team is shooting on soundstages in Sylmar, CA as well as the far-flung desert locale of Agua Dolce (one word: explosions!), and Melton says, “John’s goal has been to end each shot with as much blood splattering on the camera lens as possible. It has been quite poetic. And with the tone being what it is, the additional shots should make for a more jovial experience—like, ‘Holy crap, they did what?!’ ” (Given the EVIL DEAD/DEAD ALIVE-esque sensibility of the carnage on display, Melton’s description is entirely appropriate.)
Despite the horror community’s marked interest in the film, FEAST will receive a disappointingly limited theatrical release, as Melton explains: “FEAST will be in 100 of the nation’s top markets, and show at two theaters [per market] at midnight on Friday [September 22] and Saturday [the 23rd, with no further screenings scheduled]. Strange indeed.” Genre fans should make sure they get their rears into theater seats for this brief chance to see FEAST on the silver screen. Following this “here today, gone tomorrow” theatrical engagement, an unrated DVD streets October 17, and “should be a much more splashy and wild affair,” notes Melton, complete with all the over-the-top carnage the MPAA will most certainly disallow. First, though, Melton reveals that “the world premiere is going to be Tuesday, September 12 at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas,” an establishment owned by FEAST co-producers the Maloofs. “Come down and see [Project Greenlight creators/FEAST executive producers] Matt Damon and Ben Affleck vomit in their popcorn!”
You can visit the film’s Myspace page here, and look for detailed FEAST coverage in Fango #257, on sale in September.
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