Portland Horror Film Festival: FIVE COURSE MEAL

 

A personal struggle I’ve faced multiple times throughout my life has been attempting to map out the world of horror to those who aren’t actively involved in it. If it were formally laid out, it’d be a tangled mess of sub-genres branching out from its generic root word. This is why I slightly shudder when strangers ask me for horror recommendations. I always follow up with questions, I have no choice but to. Firstly, what do you want to see? Here lies a cinematic universe where steroid mutated ticks devouring flesh exist alongside teenaged girls possessed by demons. The spectrum is too broad. Secondly, and most important of all, what do you aim to feel? Dread? Suspense? Nihilism? Or do you simply long to be grossed the hell out? Different strokes for different folks, my friends.

I mention these variables with purpose, as I want to provide proof that gross-out horror is very real and there absolutely is an audience for it. I do not consider myself a part of said audience, however, I do find the encounters I’ve had with it to be quite tongue in cheek. For example, I watched FIVE COURSE MEAL very shortly after consuming one, which in hindsight was an absolute mistake. I truthfully have not felt as nauseated from a viewing experience since watching Society while mowing down a half cooked freezer pizza. Totally unpleasant, which means good filmmaking in this case.

Basically, a young couple agrees to an experiment in exchange for cash. They’re locked in a prison cell-like room for 30 days and kept getting fed entrees to satiate their unrelenting appetites. Things escalate very quickly in the six-minute runtime – The gore becomes progressively more disgusting, and my stomach contents get closer and closer to expulsion. Perhaps the most vulgar display of gluttony I have yet to witness, my retinas feel metaphorically burned and I shall not be forgetting this little number any time soon.

Breanna Whipple
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