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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Ryan Nicholson
Kevan Ohtsji
Taayla Markell
Rob Scattergood
Stephen Chang
Supplied By : MTI Home Video
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Aug. 25, 2006
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| PLOT When a group of friends go away together for a peaceful vacation they find themselves at the mercy of a brutal killer, leading to a nail-biting race to save their lives. |
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| THE REVIEW LIVE FEED tells the story of a group of friends who are vacationing in China and stumble into a terror that would see them fighting for there lives. At a karaoke bar, one of the friends spills an alcoholic beverage on a Chinese man, that left the gentle man quite upset - what the vacationers do not know is that they have just ruffled the feathers of a Chinese mafia boss. Since being kicked out of the bar for disturbance, the group seeks refuge in an old porn theater that doubles as a motel. They expect a night of relaxation and love making but what they get instead is one night in pure hell. As fate would have it, it turns out that the theater is owned by the crime boss they ticked off earlier, and they run an operation in the theater in which they trap unexpecting guests and torture them in the most brutal ways imaginable - all while filming it from various cameras located in the motel. The Boss of the operation loves this and gets his kicks watching the demise of others and often kicks back and eats the body parts of many of the victim.....which are prepared by a personal chef no less. After seeing LIVE FEED, I can find but one word to describe it, and that word would be "bizarre". The store presented by Ryan Nicholson is fantastic and the filming location Vancouver BC was transformed well and seemed as if it were actually in China...the look of the film is both gritty and unique. With recent films like HOSTEL being released, while watching LIVE FEED, you can't help but to notice the similarities of the two. In both films there are brutal scenes of senseless, unimaginable torture and both feature a huge, mysterious guy wearing an apron brandishing weapons - But if you thought HOSTEL was gory.... then you must see this - LIVE FEED, is hands down, the winning in that department, as the film is helmed by someone who is actually a makeup effects artist himself and knows his strengths to the fullest. There could not have been a better setting for torture than that of the old porn theater. The theater is rather crampy and small and the lights don't work well at all so basically it is very dim and mysterious - not to mention the bathrooms are covered in filth, all the while the walls are coved in pornographic clippings.....once the killing starts you know that, that is one place you would not want to be... To be honest, the acting in LIVE FEED was below average.... I did not fully connect with all of them. The one character that I did enjoy was Miles, whom is portrayed passionately by Kevan Ohtsji. The character of Miles, has a brother whom was a Japanese Detective on assignment in China to investigate the crime boss in question's involvement in a venture with the Japanese Yakuza - his cover is eventually blown and he is killed at the hands of the gang...Miles has his own agenda and that is to extract revenge and also save the group from harm. What it boils down to is that LIVE FEED is not a film to be watched for some incredible acting, the film has a feel of one of those 80's martial arts films, such as one starring Don "The Dragon" Wilson or something, but it further pushes the boundaries with some gruesome over the top gore, the hounds will eat this one up like a fried human leg! |
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| GORE
METER 7/10 Very well done gore I must say....it is a little bit exaggerated, but let me tell you it's a whole lot of fun. Also the eating of one's body parts is enough to turn many stomachs.... |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 5/10 The score is decent and since the film is set in China, you get a lot of Chinese influenced tracks.....it has that synthesizer 80's feel to it. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM To be honest, after I watched the trailer for LIVE FEED, I didn't think i'd receive it all that well. I didn't enjoy the acting for the most part like I said but there was just something about this film... it is gritty, raw and ultimately unique. If you love 80's throwback cinema and crave gore, i'd definitely have to mark LIVE FEED down on my recommendations list! This DVD will be released on October 3, 2006. |
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