![[box cover]](../../reviewimgs/b/bottomfeeder.jpg)
Bottom Feeder
What can be great — legitimately great — about low-budget exploitation films is the enthusiasm and insanity that is often on display. When watching a lost '70s classic of the exploitation age, even the regional films showcase people who really want to make movies and often end in bizarre tangents that make them indelible. And that is obviously what people like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez were interested in when they undertook their drive-in double-feature Grindhouse (2007). Unfortunately, it now takes great artists to deliver inspired exploitation to the masses. Currently, cheap fare is likely to be something like Bottom Feeder (2006). Perhaps it's because low-budget filmmakers view their craft as "audition" pieces, or simply as work — nobody involved has that "let's put on a show" attitude, which might make something like this special. The thought process is too formulaic, so perhaps it's the fault of screenwriting books or executive producers who offer financing if it's only the same as it ever was. Whatever or whoever's to blame, it's sad that so little vital comes out of this market. There's certainly no life in Bottom Feeder, which offers Tom Sizemore… and little else. The plot concerns a scientist working for wealthy, creepy burn victim Charles Deaver (Charles Fitzpatrick) — a way-too-long opening sequence shows that he's evil by making the scientist take his own medicine. The result of this experiment is that the doctor becomes a rat-man when he doesn't get the right proteins to eat and must gorge himself on the nearest vermin. Sizemore stars as a garbage man who unintentionally goes with his coworkers into the creepy underground lair where the rat-man now resides. Also on the trail of the rat-man is the evil rich guy's killers, led by Miss Krendal (Wendy Anderson), who later has to team up with Sizemore and his cleaning crew to escape the rubber suit chasing them. Calling Bottom Feeder a bad movie is like labeling a grossly obese person as overweight — as such, detailing the bad acting or hackneyed plotting seems secondary. Having Tom Sizemore in the cast does add something, since it reveals that the talent gap between someone with his experience and amateur actors is legion. Sizemore's personal problems are best reported elsewhere, but fans will recognize this film as the one he was shooting during his reality TV series "Shooting Sizemore." Genius Entertainment presents Bottom Feeder as an "unrated edition" in anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. As this is a DTV effort, the transfer is immaculate. Extras include a "making-of" spot (28 min.), the theatrical trailer (which may be stretching the definition a bit), and bonus trailers. Keep-case.
—DSH
