September 10th, 2015 - Flesh Feast (1970)


It's hard to really even know where to begin with Flesh Feast. It's a big clunker of a movie that isn't compelling or scary in any way, and just doesn't make much sense. And there isn't enough "badness" to keep things entertaining. Director Brad Ginter struck semi-intentional gold a couple of years later with Blood Freak, but Flesh Feast doesn't have any of that film's bizarreness or strange religious overtones to help it along. There are a couple of fun moments - especially towards the end when the big bad is revealed - but to get there you need to take a long, slow road of nothing.

So here's the story as I could piece it together. But please note: Flesh Feast is the kind of film that is just very hard to pay attention to - it looks bad, has no interesting characters, and tension/horror is practically nil. You could at least hope for some cheap gore in a Blood Feast (in name) rip-off, but there's hardly any of that here. So *SPOILERS* I guess. Doing a synopsis is the easiest way for me to get through this entry. Flesh Feast is so flat and forgettable that it's hard for me to even know what to say.

A reporter has followed some shady secret society-type bad guys into the airport after an international flight. The reporter calls his boss from the airport to say he's got a lead on a crazy story, but is killed by some guy disguised as a custodian (via knife on a mop handle) moments later. So the boss and his assistant decide pick up on the story and see what's up. Meanwhile, the secret society dudes have a connection with a doctor (Veronica Lake) who is doing research using maggots to potentially reverse the aging process. They bring along their second in command, and when the procedure is a success, they bring in their leader... Hitler! But the doctor may have an ulterior motive for helping out the Nazis... revenge!

So that spoils just about everything, but really "Maggots eating Hitler's face" is about the only thing Flesh Feast has going for it. Other than the kind of sad story of Veronica Lake - a legit Hollywood starlet in the 40s and early 50s whose career was derailed by alcoholism and mental issues. This was to be her self-financed comeback film. But it didn't work out. (Mostly because the film is god-awful.) She died in 1973.

And that's about all I can say. It's a tough one to get through - it's really poorly shot and poorly edited, and the whole film has a washed out look that makes it look way older than 1970. The acting is stiff, and the story doesn't make any sense... some of the synopses I've come across mention cloning, but I didn't catch any of that. Essentially, anything a movie *could* do poorly, Flesh Feast does. Usually, with an old cheap horror flick like this,  you'll luck out and get an least an entertaining character, or some weird directorial choices, or some cheesy effects, or *something* to enjoy. But sadly, there's none of that to be found here.

I would   definitely not recommend   this film.

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