FEAST III: THE HAPPY FINISH

Trapped on the roof of a building just as the monsters are about to break in, the protagonists of the previous adventure manage to face the threat and take refuge in the prison where Hobo, Bozo's uncle, is locked up, that is, the guy responsible for the death of Biker Queen's sister. But the walls of what was considered the safest building in the city do not contain the assault of the monsters for long, and the protagonists, after being saved by a Prophet, will go to take refuge in the sewers. Made in conjunction with the second chapter, with which it forms a whole, "Feast III – The Happy Finish" is the conclusion of the splatter-grotesque trilogy started in 2005 as an experiment and become a cult saga among genre enthusiasts. The team is the same as in the previous films: John Gulager in the director's chair, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan on the script, and actors from the first and, especially, the second film. The final result does not differ much from that of "Feast II", that is, triviality and gratuitous vulgarity, splatter and disgusting scenes with the addition of a touch of craziness. "Feast III" has a major flaw: it simply appears as a "drawn-out" ending of "Feast II", an appendix that must draw conclusions without absolutely knowing where to go. This feeling is mainly given by the fact that "Feast II" had no conclusion and "Feast III" has no beginning, they are two parts of a single work, and this is seen not only in the narrative continuity, but also in the practically identical style; and this is not a given fact to be taken for granted since the team is the same, considering that these two films differ substantially – in terms of performance and intent – from the first beautiful film. Moreover, this third episode lasts very little, about 75 minutes, but excluding the long summary of the previous episode placed at the beginning and the ending that drags on during all the closing credits, we have a film that actually lasts a little more than an hour, which makes us think that either they poorly divided the two parts or, in fact, this "Feast III" is just a stretched-out broth. The level of vulgarity and disgust remains rather high and the sole initial scene in which a monster cleanly severs the head of a character, eats it, and then evacuates it with m.d.p. careful of the "detail" is a clear message of intent. Fortunately, however, they allow themselves to indulge in real splatter more decisively compared to the previous chapter, with more varied and bloody deaths. To this, we must add the usual array of immediately cult scenes, such as the anal rape and subsequent childbirth of one of the characters and, above all, the attempt to cauterize a wound performed, according to the character himself, "à la Rambo". Moreover, Gulager must have understood the misstep in setting "Feast II" in broad daylight and in too many different locations, so he backtracks and confines the action of "Feast III" almost exclusively to the dark and in a single place (the city's sewers); thus, among other things, there is the possibility of keeping the creatures in the shadows as much as possible and therefore making them appear more threatening to the viewer's eyes... as much as this is now possible given the direction taken. As usual, John Gulager proves to be quite skilled behind the camera, always attentive to the right framing and the original visual solution. If on the one hand in this film the expedient of night vision is introduced for the darker scenes (style "The Descent"), on the other hand we have the poor idea of using for a long sequence – which, by the way, would be the final duel – an unbearable intermittent light effect that puts the viewer's patience to the test by making them understand practically nothing of what is happening on the screen. The characters that populate "Feast III" are those already appeared in the previous chapters, with the addition of three new entries that would have been nice to see in action for a longer time, given their bizarre charm. These are a macho cowboy who seems to have a solution for everything, a prophet with the ability to keep monsters at bay, and a martial arts expert with the explanatory name of Jean-Claude Seagal. Some words could be spent on the ending, but, to avoid spoiling the surprise, it is perhaps better to limit ourselves to saying that it represents a boomerang effect for the film. It will surely put in a state of extreme joy those who appreciated the ironically-demencial vein of coarse grain acquired with the second film, but it might probably be irritating for everyone else. It is evident that in doing so the complete madness and anarchy that resides behind these two sequels is emphasized, but it is also true that the whole thing takes on greater force a clear (and for some aspects annoying) taking of the viewer for a ride. "Feast III" is therefore neither more nor less than what "Feast II" was, over-the-top entertainment for splatter enthusiasts, a fun and silly pastiche that sometimes underscores the flaws of the chapter that preceded it, sometimes corrects them, and other times adds new ones. But the first "Feast" was really something else.