FLESH FEAST (1970)

 "HI CHRIS!  BOY, AM I GLAD TO SEE YOU.  THINGS ARE STARTING TO GET INTERESTING AROUND HERE!" 

Yeah . . . . not really in THIS movie!  For years and years and years I've wondered at Veronica Lake's final film and what on Earth it could be like.  I know the general opinion is that it's awful.  But I never count my maggots before they're hatched.  Having now finally watched FLESH FEAST at long last I can now report that everybody was correct.  Bizarrely produced by Veronica Lake herself along with her director Brad F. Grinter (who directed and appeared as commentator in the craptacular Grade-Z 'were-turkey' film BLOOD FREAK).  Grinter (in BLOOD FREAK) has got to be one of the sleaziest-looking polecats I've ever seen in a film . . . . and I love him for that! 

Brad F. Grinter - the man himself from BLOOD FREAK

How on Earth (other than "needs must") Veronica Lake got hooked up with Grinter is anyone's guess but since she only had 3 years to live I expect it was "from hunger" as they used to say back in the day.  FLESH FEAST looks Grade Z (especially in the atrocious DVD print I watched

THIS DVD -- which IS the same cover as the VHS tape

which looks like all those obscure kung fu movie videos we used to watch i.e. taken from a multi-generational VHS copy) which was appropriate for the film itself. 

Veronica Lake plays scientist Dr. Elaine Frederick who is experimenting with a bevy of maggots that specialize in eating human flesh specifically.  She's got a great reason for doing this which we have to wait through about an hour of 'nothing-much-happening' before we get the admittedly spectacular finale of the film.  There's really not much else to say about the film other than there couldn't have been any second takes.  The only thing else I could say would be to spoil a half-century old horror flick but I don't think that's really an issue so SPOILER Dr. Frederick is recruited to resurrect a clone of Adolf Hitler and durned if she isn't successful!  Of course, we learn that Dr. Frederick's mother died in a Nazi concentration camp and she only agreed to resurrect the shit in order to strap him down and let her super-maggots eat his face off!  Now, as bad as this film is, it's kinda hard to hate it with a payoff like that!  And it's only slightly longer than an hour so what the hey.  And credit where credit is due:  Veronica Lake, the only one worth watching in the entire film, really goes for it full throttle at the end when she's finally gotten her revenge and can give her best cackling, mad scientist performance.  Brief but delightful.  So if you're a fan of grindhouse horror movies, it's got everything you need:  a faded Hollywood star slumming it, editing that was done with a hatchet, thespians who studied at the Barrel-Bottom School of Acting and that spectacularly great twist ending.  So, there ya go.