It gets a little lonely on the road, so I decided I’d settle into a motel with a movie about love and devotion and happiness, so I picked Feed.

Feed (2005) is the heartwarming tale of the kind of love that blossoms on Craigslist and fetish websites, which in turn is investigated by every major law enforcement agency on the planet. Now, I’m all for doing whatever you want with your body, and putting whatever disgusting thing you want to into whatever disgusting orifice you feel like; I mean, I can do things with a length of garden hose and a can of easy cheese that’ll curl your toes, but when it gets into those strange murky areas where people will die or kill someone just to get their rocks off, it gets a little squicky.

The flick opens with a man in an advanced state of nekkid holding a plate full of burgers and fries over a bedridden obese woman wearing lipstick and little else, and touching himself in a manner that usually requires going to confession afterward. He forces her to say “Feed Me!” like a doughy Audrey II, then shoves the burger into her maw while waxing poetic, if you know what I mean and I think you do.

Then, the film breaks away to a home in Germany being subject to a raid by a cybercrime unit being led by Detective Jackson from…Australia… Not sure how the jurisdictional laws work out there; but he leads the charge and goes in to find the stove full of pots and pans, one of which contains a bit of male anatomy being sautéed. Cut to upstairs, and there’s two men in the bathroom, one snacking (literally) on the other. The bloody fellow starts screaming about how it’s his body and he wants to be eaten… Yikes.

Jackson goes home and has a violent love affair with his girlfriend, but is now haunted by the memories of the Germany raid and starts searching for his next case, which happens to be a website featuring the voluptuous lady Deidre that we met in the first scene. She’s a Gainer, and has just reached her goal of 600 pounds, and is worshipped. Her Feeder, Michael, who is also the admin of the website, keeps track of her vital signs, and we see that there are bets placed on the site for how long the various members think she will live. This is a problem for Jackson, who investigates the site further to see a memorial page to the last featured lady, Lucy, and videos of her with a tube and funnel in her mouth being force fed something that looks really gross, then dying.

He ends up travelling to America against the wishes of his superiors, and stalks the owner of the site. He finds the priest who runs the boy’s home where Michael lived for a while, and then we meet Abby, who conveniently knows a lot about Michael, and invites Jackson out for a Whopper.

From here the movie gets a little preachy; Michael places lots of emphasis on the “what is beauty?” argument and talk of outrageous standards in America of thinness and overall appearance, and showers his big beauties in devotion, love, marinara, whipped cream, and barbeque sauce. Jackson thinks its flat-out murder, and also thinks the whole thing is just nasty.  Jackson has his own demons, though; but Michael ends up drugging him with a doughnut while crowing his catchphrase, “Consumption is Evolution,” and for reasons I don’t understand injects his belly with…something. Jackson wakes up and does a Rambo job on himself, then it’s on like Simon Lebon.

Michael is one creepy sumbish, let me tell you. He’s the textbook pretty-boy psychopath; we get informed by flashback that his mother was bedbound, and he had to care for her in much the same way that he takes care of Deidre, so a whole crazy Norman Bates vibe gets added to the mix. We also discover that Michael is married to a very pretty skinny lady, so now it’s a question of, is he really REALLY into this, or is he just an unsub with unlimited income and multiple homes?

The wife says he’s doing God’s work, so now we have the fetish plus a thriving oedipal complex with a side of religious weirdness. Jackson kidnaps her and shows her what her husband is really up to, which throws her into a full-on speaking in tongues rapture type frenzy, and he kidnaps her and tracks the bad guy down.

While all this is going on, Deidre is being fed a weight gain mix of bulking agent, eggs, and the rendered blubbage of the previous occupant of her bed, Lucy. I had to stop a moment and collect myself, because that’s just nasty.

Jackson finally arrives for the ultimate showdown, and he and Michael chase each other around for a while, the whole time Deidre is wavering between having a massive coronary and screaming for Jackson not to hurt Michael, to get out and leave them alone. Jackson finds Lucy’s corpse in the living room, and Michael’s dad in the den, being starved to death. The fight travels back upstairs, and Michael forces Jackson to feed Deidre the Lucy chowder, which ends badly. Deidre continues to go nuts, which sparks a minor Michael freakout in which he reveals he killed his mom and cut the fat off of her body, but Deidre doesn’t care about that, even when Michael holds a pillow over her face and smothers her a little. Just a little, though, it’s alright, she still loves him!

The final showdown is full of yelling and more preaching from the book of Michael, until Jackson takes matters into his own hands and shoots…

Deidre!  HE SHOT DEIDRE! What the hell? Did M. Night Shyamalan have something to do with this? Holy crap that was NOT what I expected! The screen goes dark, and there are two more shots.

We come back to a sunny home, Jackson biddy-bops into the kitchen and there’s Abby! She’s making sandwiches! She’s also gained a bit of weight since the last we saw her. Jackson kisses her on the cheek and says he’s going out for a bit, and she hands him a bag of sandwiches and tells him not to be late for supper.

Jackson travels back to the farmhouse and into the room where the rotting corpse of Deidre still lays in bed. He opens the doors to the balcony and sets up a chair and table. He sits and takes a bite of his sandwich, then offers a bite to Michael, who is strapped to a wheelchair and has wasted away to skeletal thinness. Jackson makes him say the famous words, “Feed Me,” and the movie ends. The credits roll to a bizarrely peppy techno song about how we love life and should shake it up and cool down.

Feed definitely delivered, for most of the film I was disturbed and definitely grossed out. This is not one for the family for sure; there is full frontal nudity of both the guys and gals, and scenes of high intensity aardvarking.

5 beasts; every major character in this movie is despicable, and the German cannibal guy is scary as all getout.

1 gallon of blood, mostly in the German Cannibal scene.

Sautéed wangdoodles, exploitation-fu, sponge bath-fu, gratuitous self abuse, marinara-fu, barbeque sauce-fu, whipped cream-fu, cookie-fu, burger-fu, ill-fitting lingerie, 24 hour streaming webcam-fu, pay porno site-fu, bad internet detective-fu, hot raunchy aardvarking, breast-biting, doughnuts roll, bellies flop. 4 stars.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going for a jog and I’ll meet a man in a bar like the good lord intended.

Tagline: The Dead Shall Rise and Walk the Earth

Year: 1980 Runtime: 93 min

Director: Lucio Fulci

Writer: Lucio Fulci (story & screenplay) Dardano Sacchetti (story & screenplay)

Starring: Christopher George, Catriona MacColl and Carlo De Mejo

This is one of those movies that makes you scratch your head and grunt, “HUH?!?”

First and foremost, as the name suggests, this is a zombie film. Fulci, like Romero, knows his way around the genre. At least one would think. Both men have done their fair share of films in the genre, not to mention they were friends. Besides, it’s not a very complex style of film.

Zombie Types

There are different forms of zombies. Voodoo, nuclear waste, government bacterial/viral research gone awry and sacrilegious to name a few of the most popular.

This film falls into the last category. The zombies are released when a priest hangs himself in a cemetery. What’s more, for some reason, a troop of monkeys is also released. We never learn wither they’re from—the local zoo or hell. Regardless, if you listen you can clearly hear their calls. Oooooooo, spooky. Nothing sets the mood like night, fog and the wild calls of monkeys.

Zombie Characteristics

Most zombies have fairly straight forward attributes. They moan, they move slowly (or fast in more resent films), they are decaying, they eat brains, they infect others by biting them and they are killed by destroying their brain/removing their head.

Fulci’s zombies follow the established convention in but one aspect, they move slowly. Otherwise, they sound like Aslan after a swift kick in the love spuds, they can teleport, they look like they’ve got monkey-poo smeared on their face (maybe that’s why the monkeys were cut loose), they only scalp their victims (pulling off the backs of their heads), their bite does not infect others and they can be killed by stabbing them in the stomach with a pointy stick. Alternatively, they can be killed in mass when Suicide Priest is stabbed in the crotch with a wood picket.

Zombie Infection

How does one becomes a zombie, you ask? Normally, as noted above, by being bitten. Yet Fulci changes the game significantly. There are two ways one can become a zombie.

First, Suicide Priest can cram a handful of wormy monkey feces in your face. Secondly, Suicide Priest can use his “evil eye” on you. This is particularly interesting because it causes one to cry blood and vomit up one’s intestines. And, as a nice final touch, if you happen to be a white women, it also performs a negro-plasty, turning her hands into those of a black man. I can’t help but pick up on a slightly racist undertone here. I mean, black hands do the dirty work? The phrase “cotton-pickin’ hands” comes to mind.

Whereas Fulci took some interesting liberties with the genre, the characters are a mostly boring lot, with the exception of the Rent-a-Center Bob Ross, psychologist. This guy isn’t fazed by anything. I’m sure psychologist face some pretty horrible stuff in their day-to-day affairs, but this guy is cold as ice. Here’s but a few of the things he’s a witness to but just blows off:

• random dead bodies appearing/disappearing
  • monkey-poo faced zombies
  • walls bleeding
  • teleporting Suicide Priest
  • Suicide Priest’s hex vision causing bleeding eye syndrome
  • millions of meal worms blown into room, particularly into his face, porno money-shot style

The ending is most perplexing. Bob Ross and Mary, the one woman with the hero’s death exemption, make it out of the tomb of Suicide Priest and find little John-John, the child with the hero’s death exemption, waiting with the police. Overjoyed that someone has survived John-John squeals and makes a bee-line for them. His run goes slo-mo and Mary starts screaming blood murder. Yet, there’s no zombies or Suicide Priest lurking about. The only thing I can figure is she’s freaked because she realized she’s John-John’s only living friend and might have to adopt the brat.

Opening a coffin with a pick-ax to save the person inside from being buried alive Self-inflating blow-up sex doll. Rent-a-Center Archie Bunker patron at local bar. Painting of a “happy little” rhinoceratopus.	10 BLOOD 10 Buckets. Coming out of eyes, throwing up intestines, scalped victims. 0 BREASTS This is the biggest HUH?!? of them all. You should stop on a pair of breasts with every other pan of the camera. Lucio, what were you thinkin’?!? 10 BEASTS Loads of Monkey-poo faced zombies. 9.0 OVERALL

Check out the trailer for “City of the Living Dead”

Tagline: “The Rider” must destroy the evil Omega Force.
Year: 1983 Runtime: 92 min
Director: David Worrth
Writer: David Worth

Starring: Robert “The Exterminator” Ginty, Persis “Star Trek” Khambatta and Donald “Halloween” Pleasence

Italian. Post apocalypse. Motorcycle with more plastic additions than Joan Rivers’ face.

Normally I wouldn’t need to say anything else ‘cos surely you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you’ve seen Mad Max, you’ve seen all the post apocalypse movies. This movie is interesting because somehow, despite it’s Ultra-Low budget of $13.68, David Worth got some “name” actors.

Robert “The Exterminator” Ginty

I know that Italians liked a tough, slow-talkin’ hero, but Ginty is slow like that “special” cousin you were forced to include in whatever games you’re playing when his family came over for the holidays. At best he’s a Rent-a-Center Barry Bostwick, though, truth be told, I’m just being nice. His delivery is the auditory equivalent of maple syrup passing through a coffee filter. I had to tweeze my lengthier nostril hairs to keep awake whenever he said anything.

Persis “Star Trek” Khambatta

She’s the exotic love interest, which I suppose works. She’s no Bea Arthur, but I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eating samosas. She is out of place though. See, her father, whom she’s on a mission to save, is as white as a mayonnaise sandwich. Plus, she comes from a group of toga wearing Greek wanna-bes.

Donald “Halloween” Pleasence

Original Doctor Evil. Seriously. The only difference in Pleasence’s character and Mike Myers’ is Pleasence doesn’t have the monocle scar. Also, he wears a glove on his left hand to accent his “Bob Dole” arm.

Finally, I would be remiss if I left out Speedcycle

This is the high-tech ride that The Rider rides. It’s graphical user interface is a 3” TRS-80 screen that displays everything it says. I suppose it was necessary to do so, for the viewers to understand what it was squeeking, because the voice unit sounded like Orko on helium.

Roadside Attractions:

• Within the first 10 minutes of the film, The Rider, the super bad-ass, is shot three times, once in the head.
• To add insult to The Rider’s injuries, promptly after escaping the headshot, Speedcycle, in auto-pilot, drives head on into a cliff.
• Healing flashlights. They can remove even the toughest of Louisiana Hot Sauce Blood applications.
• Gratuitous cars driving off cliffs and exploding.
• WORST. SHOTS. EVER. Watch the trailer clip below to see exactly how people can miss even while driving point blank close to one another.
• Cave C.H.U.D.
• Cave C.H.U.D. are the bouncers for Club Utopia, a spandex and stud club.
• Mega Weapon: a huge dump truck, painted black, with a useless anti-personnel flame thrower set about 12’ up.
• Warriors style gangs: Kung Fu Dudes, Nazis, Femmes, Hill-Billies and 80’s Punks.

Demonic muppets take over a Canadian farm house rented out by Satan and only John Mikl Thor can break their lease on evil. In what  arguably might be Canada’s worse export since Celine Dion, Rock n’ Roll Nightmare takes big slabs of steroid fed beef and tries to stuff them in sequined jump suits much to the horror of it’s viewers. John Triton (Thor) is one such metal meathead whose love of rockin’ out is only matched by his love for Weight Gain 2000. He drives a pimpin’ van to a secluded farmhouse where baked hell spawn have already killed a family and stuffed them in the oven like spare frying pans. Along for the ride is his slow witted band and some newly weds celebrating their honeymoon, but they just end up washing all the band’s dishes and getting eaten by a greasy skinned hellbeast. If only they’d gone to Niagara Falls instead. After a few ear bleedin’ rehearsals, midget demons start running all over the farmhouse chewing on people’s neck and causing a ruckus. John seems oblivious to that fact since he’s been  busy writing bad love songs and  grooping his girlfriend in the shower…a difficult scene to endure considering Thor had the bigger breasts.

After the rest of the band members are picked off, John is left alone to face off with Belza “Bub” in a cage match show down when he suddenly transforms himself into a glamrock angel in a speedo whose supposed to send Satan back to his netherworld, a Hell apparently even worse than Quebec. it’s revealed that all the band members including a handful of groupies were just made up in John’s thick head in order to distract the demons and get the devil to reveal himself. This also begs the question, who was John ardvarking in the shower with earlier? Shudder as you ponder that possibility.

Barry Goodall says get your studded leather thong on and get ready to jam with Rock n’ Roll Nightmare…oh, and always have some talcum powder on hand to avoid schaffing. Now that’s a real Rock n’ Roll nightmare.

Roadside Attractions:

- Deadly ninja demon starfish
- Phallic muppets with nicotine addictions
- Overcooked oven demons
- Coffee luggies
- Extreme hickies
- Keyboard transvestites
- Deformed dog faced dwarfs
- Studded thong battle gear
- Monster cop a feels
- Possessed chicken drum sticks

if I was in a Canadian metal band I’d probably have to imagine groupies in my head too.

I managed to make it out of the trailer park for a while; I was going stir crazy under that house arrest! You have no idea how pesky those little ankle bracelet trackers can be! Luckily, with the aid of some cooking spray, a pie cutter, and a drifter, I’ve squirreled free and have been on the road for a little while. You have no idea the bother one tiny little missing persons report will bring you! Pat just won’t let it go no matter how many times I tell her that Bert has gone night fishing and I don’t know when he’ll be back. Granted, this trip is a bit longer than
usual, and his car is in the driveway, and the boat is at the dock, but I try not to meddle in his affairs. And yes, I had the carpet ripped up and replaced with E-Z-Kleen Linoleum and bought more than the usual share of bleach and quicklime on our credit card, and the meat tenderizer is missing from the utensil drawer…but that…that shouldn’t raise any eyebrows! Not here at The Lost Highway, anyway.

So that’s where I’ve been, on the road with my dark glasses and my hair all cut off! I’ve broken the mold a bit and have been checking out some newer flicks, some BRAND-SPANKIN’ NEW, and I have to tell
you, that bad movies are timeless. This one I have for you today is a doozy!

The Inheritance (2011) is a thriller that begins with three carloads of people complaining about their family reunion in the dead of winter. The ground is covered in snow, and everyone is whining and complaining about crazy Uncle Melvin (The incomparable Keith David) holding the reunion this time of year. We meet in turn the family: Tyrone, Simpson, Lily, Karen, and Henry. Joining the party are Simpson’s boss Martin, and his wife, Julie. Everyone has their butt on their shoulders until they arrive at the old plantation house and mess around on the snowmobiles after getting a gift from dear Uncle Martin, a box full of champagne and reefer.

Everyone gets messed up; Martin and Julie go upstairs and we get a scene of them making the sign of the epileptic platypus while the rest stay downstairs and have a talk about why they’re all here and basically how much money they’re going to ask their family for. They refer to their family as “The Elders,” which is strange at best, but hey, it’s a family thing. Then they start playing around with the various drums while Simpson reads aloud from a tattered old book.  We know something supernatural is happening because we go into slow motion and Lilly performs an off the cuff ceremonial dance in the living room, then starts flipping out when the words, “THE FLESH IS THE STRENGTH” appear, written in bloody snow on the window. That’s when everyone calls it a night, and Martin and Julie get murdalized.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d pretty much just up and leave if I awoke from a dead sleep to one of my aunts or uncles just sitting there staring at me. This family, no, they’re not surprised at all, but jump out of bed for the festivities. And, how, what festivities!

The Elders have moved all the furniture from the living room except for some fur rugs and sigils drawn on the floor, and 5 chairs. The Elders are decked out in ceremonial African garb, they seat the cousins, and Uncle Melvin proceeds to tell the family history…in fantastic flashback!

Back in the days of slavery, their family was all on this plantation. A slave named Chakabazz survived a lynching. Turns out he was a healer and a prophet. He offered them freedom, wealth and power if they sacrificed their firstborns to him. The family brought the children, 3 boys and 2 girls. He does some spell  in his cabin,  all the kids start screaming, and all but one is killed. The one left alive is The Vessel, meant to start the family line over again. Chakabazz tells the adults that they must pay him tribute each generation, “Do not forget me, for I shall not forget you.” Nobody has much to say about this story aside from Simpson, who laughs and insults The Elders, and who is silenced with a slap across the face by Karen. Everyone disperses after a very creepy moment (one of many) between Karen and Uncle Melvin, who promises to talk to The Elders so everyone can ask for their cash later on.

Everyone kinda does their own thing from here, and Karen decides to take a bath. During which she falls asleep and has some bathtub dream sex with the ghost of Chakabazz, and wakes up to none other than Uncle Melvin staring at her! That’s the universal symbol for GET OUT AND FIND AN ADULT YOU CAN TRUST! She dissolves into horrible cramps, and chews on some roots given to her by one of the other Elders, but they don’t do much for the pain, they’re basically tenderizing her insides for the propagation of her family line via more freaky ghost relations.

From here it’s a mess; everyone comes under attack by African warriors, they can’t decide whether to stay in the house or in the car, Lilly drives away only to crash, then the remaining four run back into the house, Lilly’s mom makes a surprise appearance and screams about them not going to take her baby, at which Uncle Melvin laughs creepily and that’s the last we see of her. Everyone else hides in the car, and they try to drive off until they come across Lilly’s car, then find the body of poor Martin in the back and start running through the forest. Simpson breaks a leg and is being dragged by the rest on a makeshift litter, and they stumble across a bonfire and a full-on ritual.

The Elders summon the spirit of Chakabazz to come and take his sacrifice, and soon all we’re left with is Henry and Karen locked in a room in the main house. Henry is busy writing an email to tell the story of what’s happening, when Karen, all hopped up on Chakabazz, takes an axe to his cranium. THEN THE MOVIE ENDS!! OH, CURSE YOU, ABRUPT AND SORTA AMBIGUOUS ENDING!

Through all of this, the tragedy is that the story is awesome, but the movie was ploddy and boring in parts; too much plot got in the way of the story. It’s still worth a watch once or twice!

We’ve got 3 breasts, 1 beast, and 5 quarts blood; head-hacking, creepy uncle lurking, bathtub nookie, drunken ritual dancing, root eating, leg snapping, knife-fu, throat cutting, head on a stick, hatchet-fu, face slapping, spirit summoning,  cannibal ghost relatives, 6 dead bodies.