Bitter Feast

source: Bitter Feast

If you like movies about revenge, then this is THE movie for you. James Legros plays Peter Grey, a famous successful reality chef whose career is destroyed by Franks, an online restaurant critic. Grey captures Franks and sort of makes him see what its like to be a chef and have every little thing get criticized only with severe punishment. The ending was fairly predictable. I highly recommend watching this and no, I am in no way affiliated with the production or making of this movie or any of its cast. I liked the cast and didn't care that it was a low budget movie. Certainly the best "revenge" movie I can think of. Similar in some ways to "misery".

It's nice to see a horror movie that is not a hollowed out skeleton of mass produced clichés; and how many can boast Mario Batali as a cast member (I'm not saying he was awesome). James LeGros had his acting mojo going on many years ago. If he was in it then I was fairly confident that I would like the movie or could at the very least depend on a good performance from him. Somewhere along, he seemed to have hit a rough patch and each movie was a crap shoot. I am happy to say that he is back. I had a warm fuzzy feeling in a cold bloody horror movie. Bitter Feast is more psychological than the average horror flick, but it has nice undercurrents and satirical commentary on society today. It's a good day when you turn off the movie and wonder if you can find another one just like it...not perfection, but very satisfying.

I dislike "blood and guts" movies, and only saw this one because I was channel surfing, thought it was about a guy and his cooking show, and was drawn in by the time I realized its genre. For a low budget movie, I'm surprised at how good the lead actors were, and that even though both characters were impossible to like, they had strong chemistry together and there was palpable suspense over what would happen next. Surprisingly, the dialog was well-written, and there was some very dark comedy in there. The tasks that the captor demanded were not complicated nor incredible, but rather simply creative ways to make the critic "eat his words." Some of the negative reviews in here lament that there was not enough blood and/or guts/gore, but there was enough intensity and thrills created, without having to show every bloody detail. I found this to be a suspenseful, well-acted independent film.

This is a tough sell. A movie where both hero and antagonist are despicable (but not in that cute animated movie you may know). Of course some might have trouble choosing who the protagonist is for them. But it doesn't matter who you choose, you will have a hard time rooting or really feeling for one of them. Of course, the movie will wake up feelings in most of the viewers. Because we all have been mistreated in one way or another. And most would have wished to get back at those who don't respect them or the work they've done. This concept can be put on many other section of life or art. Even commenting on movies, you could go like: well do it better, if you can. The actors do their best (with an interesting cameo by chameleon Larry Fassenden), but the story does not seem to know where it is heading or what it really wants to tell us (a "side" story being part of that and the alternate ending confirming, that the test audience might have been confused too). The basic idea is stronger than the end product, it still might satisfy you, if you like small budgeted movies

This movie is lame...sooooo lame... The story, even though a bit original, is boring. A chef, that gets angry at a bloguer, for saying bad things about his program, and about his restaurant, kidnaps and tortures him, really bad, in order to make him suffer some regret for the "bad deeds" he has done. Stupid story, stupid actors, with stupid role play... The only good part in this film, is the death of the detective, that the bloguer's wife hired to search for him... Unfortunately this kind of crap is more and more normal, nowadays... Stay away...if you want to see torture movies, try Last House on the Left or I spit on your grave...both versions (72 and the modern one). This one is forgetful...a waste of time...

The chef takes issue with a bad review which the script writer wants us to believe ends his TV cooking career. I knew this was a revenge movie but thought, perhaps, that said revenge might have a subtler, more intellectual edge than simply abducting the offending food critic and chaining him up in the cellar to subject him to a series of arbitrary culinary tests based on a few of his previously dismissive reviews. But, no....this movie only has sadism on the menu. If the captive critic fails the test, he doesn't eat, doesn't drink and is subject to physical abuse. The flashback beginning of the film, when we see the chef as a child murdering his older brother in the woods, telegraphs the ludicrous ending. On the plus side, a handful of actors were gainfully employed for a time, but once they did their jobs and were paid, there was little excuse for inflicting this film on an unwary fast food acclimated public.

Peter Grey is a pompous, talented chef whose life is about to take a turn for the worse after an unnecessarily horrible review by blogger JT Franks. Grey's already skewed world perspective changes drastically as he resolves to kidnap Franks, torturing him with a series of seemingly simple cooking tasks. Bitter Feast gets points for originality and gloss. The film looks quite good for an independent effort and the actors really throw themselves into the roles. They actually hired actors, not faces, to flesh out the interesting script. James Le Gros especially never goes over the top but plays the role rather subtly and Josh Lucas is excellent, being sympathetic and unsympathetic all at once. The always reliable Larry Fessenden shows up as a slimy private eye trying to locate Franks. Don't expect your life to change, but if you're looking for a movie with some originality and panache, then dig in!

First, I am a huge fan on Kitchen Nightmares, Hell's Kitchen, etc. I also consider myself quite the food snob. I love to cook, but would never, ever, consider doing it as a career. All of that said, this movie is extremely clever. Not terribly original from a revenge and torture perspective, but I love the "challenges". The low budget nature of the film makes it unlikely to ever get a major viewing; however, anyone that is a fan of food and Gordon Ramsey will truly enjoy this film. Final thought, for a cost conscious film, the acting is actually quite good.

This one ranks up there with Primer in that it demonstrates that a film can be powerful on script, acting and directing alone, without a ton of money to spoil it with boring special effects. This one is an original twist on the slasher slash torture * industry delivering a somewhat mild but intriguing version about a famous cook taking revenge upon the critic who ruined his career. I would have liked to see some more original spins here and there, like the victim actually cooking a steak to perfection as challenged, for example, which would have made this tale of demented revenge much more believable, but whatever: it kept me alert for nearly two hours which is more than I can say about most Hollywood blockbusters, so I say spend your couple of bucks to rent it and enjoy.