My quick rating – 4.5/10. Thankfully, Feed wastes no time establishing that its vampires are not here to play nice. We open in Ireland in 1897 with a couple of blindfolded men dragging a bloody body through the forest before dumping it headfirst into a hole. The only problem? Bloody doesn’t necessarily mean dead. Soon enough, everyone is screaming for their lives, one unfortunate bastard gets taken down by a sword-wielding kid, and said kid casually brushes his teeth with the man’s blood. And then we get the title – Feed. Subtle? No. Effective? I’ll give it that.
Fast-forward to the present, where five young adults head off to a forest retreat. Naturally, some of them are already socially obsessed and irritating enough to make you wonder whether the vampire is actually the victim here. I spotted Orla (Grace Collender) as the final girl almost immediately, especially once she started having strange visions. Let’s see if I was right.
The movie then gives us an intervention designed to get Orla back ON social media so she can help her supposed best friend sell shit. Because apparently nothing says friendship like dragging someone into the woods to fix their engagement numbers. And that best friend is a real bitch, by the way.
Things get considerably more interesting when a naked, seemingly insane woman wanders into the picture with some seriously creepy eyes. The vampire’s ability to control people telepathically is a nice touch, and the effects mostly appear to be practical, which I always appreciate. There is some CGI later on, but thankfully nothing that made me want to claw my own eyes out.
There are still plenty of moments where the writing starts asking questions the movie really should have answered itself. The sun clearly affects the vampire lady, for example, so when the survivors are literally standing at the front door, I’m wondering why nobody thinks, Hey, remember that giant ball of vampire-killing fire outside? Also, I have absolutely no idea where the previously naked vampire woman acquired a trench coat, but apparently even ancient vampires have access to emergency outerwear.
Feed isn’t terrible. It has some decent atmosphere and practical effects. I did find their vampire gimmick interesting. And enough bloody nonsense to keep things moving. The characters occasionally make decisions that seem specifically designed to help the vampire with her evening plans, but that’s hardly unusual in a horror movie.
It’s not exactly a revelation in the vampire department, but you could do considerably worse with an indie vampire flick. Just don’t expect the influencers to suddenly become less irritating bFeedecause they’re being hunted by the world’s first vampire. If anything, that seems to make them double down.
