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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Randy Daudlin
Tom Sizemore (Black Hawk Down)
Wendy Anderson (Just Friends)
Charles Fitzpatrick
Amber Cull (The Woods)
Supplied By : Peace Arch Entertainment/Genius Products
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : April. 5, 2007
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| PLOT City maintenance worker Vince Stoker is in the ultimate race for survival when he and his crew investigate an abandoned tunnel system and come face-to-face with a medical mutilation experiment gone horribly wrong. With time running out, it's up to Vince to find a way to the surface before they're killed by a terrifying, blood-thirsty creature that has a disturbing appetite...for human flesh. |
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| THE REVIEW In BOTTOM FEEDER, city maintenance worker Vince Stoker and his clean up crew, (which includes his Niece that that happens to on her first day on the job) are scheduled to clean up the underground tunnels located beneath any abandoned building, unfortunately they discover a genetically mutated creature lurking in the dark corridors of the tunnels, and it's ready to eat them alive! This all of course came about when a greedy Millionaire named Charles Deaver was badly burned in a car wreck - as a result scars would cover most of his face and body. Under the notion that his money can solve anything, Deaver looks to Geneticist Nathaniel Leech to strike up a deal with him. Leech has developed a serum that has the ability to cure and heal dead cells(i.e. scars, spinal cord injuries etc), and that is just what the wealthy business man is looking for. Deaver sets up meeting with Leech to discuss the serum, but the meeting is nothing more than a premeditated ambush. Soon Leech finds hinds himself locked away deep in the dark tunnel, ironically he has also been injected with his own serum. Deaver plans to keep the Geneticist locked away a few days to see how the serum progresses up against the injuries Leech sustained in the beating before trying it on himself - unfortunately they seem to have given him what we can only assume as too much of the green stuff. With this they have created a mutated monster out of the once promising Doctor, who has since morphed into a big hulking creature, who wants nothing more than to make all who cross it's path it's next meal. BOTTOM FEEDER is the newest film that features recently struggling actor Tom Sizemore. Sizemore has been dealing with drug problems for years now, and most recently has had his life documented in the reality TV Show, SHOOTING SIZEMORE that airs on VH1. Once starring in A-Films like BLACK HAWK DOWN, Sizemore's career due to the drug addiction took a decline, but this film is a true indication that his career looks to be picking up again, and as a fan of his I couldn't be more happy for him! On to the film, on first impression the creature plot line kind of reminded me of John Gulager's recent surprise indie hit FEAST, in which I loved - as a matter of fact, the two film's cover art is strikingly similar i'd say. But as the film progresses one notices that BOTTOM FEEDER has a bit of it's own originality to it. I for one loved the plot involving the human mutating into this brute force of a creature, and then later having a hero battle against it - the hero in this film is an unlikely one in the character of Vince Stoker. a somewhat lowly but happy maintenance man. When the film begins you really get the feeling that you're in for this ultra low budget creature feature - in fact the performances in the first few scenes wouldn't suggest to you otherwise. It is when Mr. Sizemore as Vince Stoker and his crew come into play that things start to look more promising at that point, even if just a little. In between this we have little sub-plots like Vince and his partner Otis selling things for a profit, to a homeless Jamaican that they find squatting in the abandoned tunnels, whom happens to have lost his dog "Sheba". Besides this Jamaican character, whose (obviously fake) accent becomes annoying pretty quickly, and some less than stellar performances than others there are some funny moments as well as a front-running performance by Sizemore(that displays why he belongs in the "big leagues" and not the minors), that make this film an entertaining one for the most part. Seeing that the film is unrated it has multiple kills in which the gore is really amped up a bit. I have to say I was highly impressed with the creature(which resembles a half man-half rat as a result of Leech eating a rat in a moment of starvation and desperation, just prior to his genes mutating),and the gore that included beheadings and out and out maulings, all of it lent a hand into turning something that could've been a low budget disaster, into something that, while I admit is not perfect, it is at times entertaining at least.... |
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| GORE
METER 5.5/10 There's not a lot of gore technically speaking, but when there is, it is executed in a highly effective manner...as I mentioned gruesome beheadings and more are to be seen here. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3/10 Decent score nonetheless, but it just seems as if it's "there" as it does very little to boost the film's tension....oh well. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM No this film didn't inspire me to stupidly quote the BATMAN theme over and over in my review, "cleverly"(or not) replacing it with "Rat-Man" as other reviewers felt so compelled to do - but it did entertain me. Not the best, but not the worst, I feel that BOTTOM FEEDER doesn't set out to do more than the average Horror flick has to. The characters, excluding a few are likeable, the creature is cool to look at, and the gore is well performed, if not much else it is just a fun way to spend almost 2 hours...i'd recommend! |
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