Night Feeder (1988) Reviews

• Low Budget, Shot on Video GOLD

  brettgrimstad9072015-11-16

  "Night Feeder" should not be as good as it is. Filmed on video by artists who previously only worked on New Wave music videos in the San Francisco music scene of the 1980s, this tale of murder, drug use and the post-punk underground drips with atmosphere, ambition and a bizarre verisimilitude that makes the gore-soaked ended all the more shocking. The plot revolved around a series of murders where the victims have one of their eyes removed and most of their brain sucked out through the hole left behind. Somehow, a street drug and a New Wave band (both named DZS, pronounced disease) are involved in the killings. The plot is almost secondary to the atmosphere though. Filmed in actual clubs and with actual fans, this is a snapshot of a scene that existed and will never exist again in the late 80s. An actual band "The Nuns" plays the roll of DZS and though most of the actors are clearly amateurs, even the strangest performances ring true thanks to the odd nature of the scene itself. Lastly, the gore and creature effects were overseen by an effects designer who had previously worked on David Cronenberg's "The Fly". One of his teachers was a producer on the film, so he agreed to help out. If you like 1980s shot on video horror, this is one of the best I have seen. The fact that it was previously only available on VHS in Poland for the last 27 years is a travesty. Thank you Bleeding Skull Video for making this amazing film finally available for everyone to experience.

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• Justifiably obscure

  ofumalow2015-11-23

  I was more than usually interested in this because it was shot amidst the late 1980s San Francisco punk scene, and I was in that scene (although not involved with this film, or even aware of it being made that I can remember). Yet even given that personal curiosity value, AND loving schlock horror movies, this was a chore to actually sit through. It's got the qualities of many shot-on-video, meant-for-the-VHS-market horror movies of the era, but unlike such camp classics of that little niche such as "Boarding House," it's just tongue-in-cheek enough-- and just well-made enough--to avoid providing many unintentional laughs. But not tongue-in- cheek or well-made enough to be actually witty or stylish. It's just mildly snarky in serving up turgid doses of blood and breasts (if you don't think those things can be dull in themselves, then this movie will be a revelation for you), with lots of talky boredom between. The Nuns play in a couple scenes (as fictional band "Disease"--there's also a fictional recreational drug called "DZS"--but frankly that's just bad New Wave music. The leads have a sort of soap opera-actor sheen to them that's in contrast to the variably campier/more inept supporting turns. Technically, the movie suggests some personnel had some expertise (probably in theater lighting, maybe doing low-end music videos etc.), but not any feature-film experience to clue them into how to pace scenes, let alone a whole movie. I kicked up my rating one star because (SPOILER SPOILER) the mutant-monster effect at the end is sort of cool if not exactly convincing. But otherwise this is a curio that's not really much fun, beyond the sheer novelty of seeing something that basically went unseen for nearly 30 years-- supposedly the only exposure it ever got until now was (weirdly) VHS release in Poland.

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