Bottom Feeder (DVD)
Starring Tom Sizemore, Wendy Anderson, Richard Fitzpatrick, Philip Akin, Joe Dinicol
Directed by Randy Daudlin
Distributed by Genius Products
Da-na-nana-nana … Da-na-Da-na-nana-nana … Da-na, Rat man! Da-na-nana-nana … Da-na-Da-na-nana-nana … Da-na, Rat man! What’s that? Oh, I guess I better stop doing the Ratusi long enough to write this here review about Genius Products’ latest creature feature, Bottom Feeder. What can I say? I was just caught in a moment of blissful cheesiness. That, folks, is exactly what we have here. But before we get to the fun, let’s talk plot, shall we?
A group of maintenance workers headed up by a depressing looking Sizemore (What happened to this guy?! In Natural Born Killers he was a cinema stud! In this film he looks like the uncle of “One Day at a Time”‘s wisecracking superintendent, Schneider) break into a facility to steal some left behind swag. Little do they know that they have accidentally stumbled upon the trial grounds for a healing serum. Let me back up a bit.
A nearly killed burn victim millionaire is seeking the cure for his malady, so he enlists the help of a team of commandos to secure this new miracle drug from its creator. To make sure the drug works, the good doctor is maimed and then left to rot in the aforementioned abandoned facility, but not before he is injected. The intention is simple: If the team comes back and the doctor has healed himself, then the rich dude has his cure-all. If they come back and he’s dead, no harm/no foul. The last thing anyone expected the serum to do is meld the doc’s genes with that of a rat he ate in a moment of madness. Of course the creature collides with the team, a homeless guy with the worst Jamaican accent ever (think Jar-Jar Binks bad), Sizemore’s thieving clean-up crew, and the commando team who we later find out is comprised of government agents looking to acquire the means to make the perfect soldier.
In-between all this we’re treated to an Asian knife fight(!), random beheadings, and all the bad dialogue one could hope for during a really bad B-movie. Know what? Bottom Feeder, while far from a good movie, is pretty entertaining. In fact, it’s very reminiscent of the good old monster movies from the Fifties and Sixties. Nothing makes sense, the storyline is paper thin, but the characters are likable and the monster is a dude in a cool looking rubber suit. I probably enjoyed this beautiful mess of a movie way more than I should have.
On the supplemental side of things we get a brisk featurette that opens with director Randy Daudlin stating, “I’m a monster guy. This is my monster movie.” That being said, it’s pretty apparent here that no one was trying to reinvent the wheel with this film. They just wanted to keep it rolling. I can respect that.
While certainly not a defining moment in terms of our genre, Bottom Feeder does enough right to keep even the most jaded viewer at least semi-entertained. My advice is to pop some popcorn, invite some friends over, break out the brews and other assorted party favors, and just have at it. Even with all its shortcomings (and there are plenty), this little flick ends up a little higher up on the genre food chain than its namesake implies.
Now then … Back to my dance …
Da-na-nana-nana … Da-na-Da-na-nana-nana … Da-na, Rat man! Da-na-nana-nana … Da-na-Da-na-nana-nana … Da-na, Rat man!
*shakes ass furiously and with great vigor*
Special Features
The Making-of Bottom Feeder featurette
Trailers
2 1/2 out of 5
Special Features:
1 out of 5
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