FEAST Horror Movie still MIA

It seems like years since many of us heard that the next Project Greenlight film was going to be a horror. In fact it actually has been over two years since the winning script "Feast" was chosen and pre-production set into motion.  So the question remains; how does a movie with a million dollar budget take so long for even a direct to video release? 

 

 I myself have been trying to wait patiently for what could be the next cult classic since Army of Darkness. I’ve soaked in as much news and information I can about the film, including reading an early draft of the script. My personal opinion is that if the movie came out as good as the script the horror community is going to have another winner on their hands.

 

But the news about the film has been slow as of late. And apparently with the "divorce" of  the Weinstein Co from Miramax/Dimension the movie has been pretty much put into a state of limbo. A set release date has come and gone several times. During a "recent" (back in January) interview executive producer Wes Craven himself is completely unaware when (or even if) the film will ever make it to a wide audience.

 

A few cuts of the film have been screened at festivals with apparently good reviews. An "unofficial" trailer was available at actor/comedian Judah Friedlander's web-site, but was removed shortly after. I was especially upset by this, because I missed this golden opportunity to see some actual footage of this long-awaited film. Especially after hearing that the trailer cockily mocks the films roots by referring to the film as "The Project Greenlight that doesn’t suck". A poster is available online, but for right now it’s all we have.

 

Based on the script I would say that what sets this film apart from others of the same genre is its use of characters. Each character is named after his or her stereotypical role in the movie. "Tuffie", "Bozo", "Hero". It even goes as far as giving the characters written statistics at their intro, including a life expectancy entry such as "Dead by Dawn" or "Original or extra crispy?".  But rest assured the script spares no punches and tries to break as many rules of stereotypical horror as possible. I rather enjoyed the fact that the character "Hero" dies about two minutes after you meet him.

 

The latest news is that another release date has been chosen for October of this year, although the film may only play in select theaters for special midnight showings. This however would put it in direct competition with Saw III so it seems likely they will push the release date back even further as we get closer to October. So will the film ever see the light of day, or is it doomed to the occasional festival screening? I’d like to think that with the time and effort that went into this film, that we would at least see it on the racks at the local Blockbuster. I say bring on the Feast!