Feast2SloppySeconds

Feast II: Sloppy Seconds (2008)

If ever a movie proved the old adage about catching lightning in a bottle. See Feast II should be a fun little movie. It is written by the same guys (Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan), directed by the same director (John Gulager), has a couple of reoccurring characters, and goes for the same gross out humor that the first did. They even added some cool new characters like the girl biker gang (lots of nudity!) and a tag team of midget Mexican wrestlers. Hell this thing should have been comic and horror gold, but it is terrible. So what happened? For one the movie is trying way too hard to be cool. Again they introduce the characters by their code names. This was funny the first time, but not so much the second time around. The first movie had a really funny joke about the monster’s dick. This movie is like that guy at a party that says something really funny and keeps going back to it. Again and again you either see the monster’s penis or have a character referring to it. Hell they even to an impromptu dissection of one of the critters. Seemingly just so they can poke various organs so that bodily functions happen all over them, including a disgusting bit with the monsters wang. I’m a guy that still laughs at fart jokes, but everything is only funny in moderation. Where the first movie takes it just far enough for the joke to be really funny, this one spends way too much time on a couple of jokes. The result is a stupid, boring movie that lacks all the charm of the original. Oh and one more thing. I don’t have kids. In fact I’m not particularly fond of children at all. But the bit with the baby and the monsters isn’t funny and has no business in a movie that is being played for laughs.

In spite of what I consider to be an awful script I do actually like the characters and the cast that portrays them. The female biker gang is an awesome addition and is tied in nicely with the first movie. The actresses that play the gang are fairly decent and more importantly look nice in leather. The Mexican midget wrestlers are the best characters in the movie and have all the funny lines. I don’t like them bringing back Clu Gulager’s character, who was clearly killed off in the first movie. But he is the director’s father so there you go. He does do a good job and reminds us all why he is a legend. Also returning is Jenny Wade in the role of Honey Pie. This makes more sense since the last time we saw her she was making good her escape. Still for a movie that is supposed to take place immediately after the first her character has become a bit of a badass.

It is also really apparent that this movie suffers from a much smaller budget. The Feast movies rely on the gore as a big part of the appeal to fans. There is much more CGI used, including for some of the bullet hits and blood splatter. I hate it when they substitute easily done practical effects like squibs with postproduction CGI. This always looks bad and Feast II is really hurt by it. All of the kills, with the exception of Grandma, are CGI heavy and because of that are ruined for me. If that weren’t bad enough much of the rooftop scenes are obviously shot on a set with a CGI created sky! Damn it why do that?

I’m a huge fan of the first movie, but was let down by this direct to DVD sequel. It isn’t worth buying or renting. Trust me and do yourself a favor, just pop in the original and skip this terrible sequel.

1 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer