Ask the best chefs in the world and they will say that 'presentation is everything'; it's an old adage that I really wish director John Gulager had applied when serving up The Happy Finish, the final chapter in his Feast trilogy. Style and attention to detail are in short order, the film being dished up with all the finesse of a pig farmer with a slop bucket; if it was the third course in a meal, it would result in a severe case of indigestion.
Like Beluga caviar, Marmite and Spam, the film's main ingredients—extreme gore, female nudity, offensive humour, rubbery monsters, and random perversion—are an acquired taste, but Gulager's scatter-shot approach results in a chaotic mess that even seasoned fans of trashy horror will be hard pushed to stomach. There are one or two tasty morsels on offer—some decent effects and a couple of genuinely funny gags—but these are completely smothered by the irritating editing, half-baked ideas, unlikable characters, moronic moments, and truly bizarre directorial choices (an entire scene lit by a strobe?!?!) all of which serve to kill the appetite quicker than a short, curly hair in your mashed potato.
Like Beluga caviar, Marmite and Spam, the film's main ingredients—extreme gore, female nudity, offensive humour, rubbery monsters, and random perversion—are an acquired taste, but Gulager's scatter-shot approach results in a chaotic mess that even seasoned fans of trashy horror will be hard pushed to stomach. There are one or two tasty morsels on offer—some decent effects and a couple of genuinely funny gags—but these are completely smothered by the irritating editing, half-baked ideas, unlikable characters, moronic moments, and truly bizarre directorial choices (an entire scene lit by a strobe?!?!) all of which serve to kill the appetite quicker than a short, curly hair in your mashed potato.