Live Feed

Director - Ryan Nicholson (Gutterballs, Famine)

Starring - Kevan Ohtsji (Godzilla, The Butterfly Effect), Taayla Markell (Dark Angel, The Twilight Zone), and Stephen Chang (The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone)

Release Date - 2006

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "They will all pay the price"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Sometime ago the world lost filmmaker and acclaimed effects artist Ryan Nicholson.  Nicholson became an icon in the world of horror after directing horror hits Gutterballs, Torched, Famine, and several others.  Not only was he a notable filmmaker but he had spent years making props and special effects for Supernatural, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Scary Movie, Finale Destination, and so on.  He was a man of many talents and will be missed.  Sometime back I started reviewing Unearthed Films' releases of his works starting with Gutterballs and Famine.  Not too long ago UF released his 2006 film Live Feed and was kind enough to send a review copy my way.  I want to thank MVD and Unearthed for sending this one over for review.  

     The film follows a group of twenty-somethings as they travel abroad.  This trip would be anything but normal when they witness a street butcher slaughtering a dog.  A secret love triangle among some of of the friends causes some animosity but things take a dark turn when they uncover hidden cameras in their room and soon they discover something sinister is going on in their hotel room involving the local organized crime.  

     Before Unearthed started releasing Nicholson's films I had only seen Collar.  It was a fun and brutal horror flick.  However, I was really excited to check out the others.  Gutterballs and Famine both showed just why so many horror fans love Nicholson's films.  They were vulgar, gritty, and fucking bloody.  Sadly, Live Feed just wasn't as fun as the other films.  There wasn't just one thing about this one I didn't like.  Instead, there was several aspects of this indie production that made it unenjoyable for me.  The acting in this one is fair.  The cast really does do they best they can but there characters are very unlikable.  You want to watch them die which makes the story somewhat fall apart.  The story for this one feels too much like Hostel which was released a year prior to the release of Live Feed.  Both films feature twenty-somethings traveling abroad who find themselves in the middle of a underground organization that solely functions on exploiting and killing people for entertainment.  Live Feed does mix it up and includes organized crime but it doesn't do much to make the story entertaining.  Finally, this film is bloody, which is to be expected from Nicholson, but it's not as gruesome as the other films of his that I've reviewed.  In fact, I was very let down by the lack of gore.  I was expecting another gory hit but found myself given rather lackluster kills.  The effects are top notch but the kills are nothing memorable.  Overall, Live Feed was a big let down.  It had unlikable characters, a very familiar story, and not as bloody as I was hoping.  Nicholson has a signiture style and this just was not it.  The film does look good on blu so collectors will want to grab it but I wouldn't recommend it for a first time watch.