Feed Me! Interview

YOU. ARE. WHO. YOU. EAT.

While my favorite horror movie of the year isn’t holiday fare, tis the season for feasting and what better time to watch Feed Me. My reaction post: “I’m calling this the best damn horror movie of 2022. With a respectable running time of 96 minutes, it’s a gory, cannibalistic romp slash haunting, with hints of black comedy and a surefire cure for the recent genre slump.” Void of fluff or standard tropes, Feed Me is a no-frills tale about the depths of despair or assisted suicide by gruesome means. Available on Amazon Prime, Feed Me has won 18 awards from various film festivals during its international promotional blitz, which included a screening at L.A.’s Beyondfest. I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with writers/directors Richard Oakes and Adam Leader in an interview where this Mad Monster’s awkward enthusiasm took center stage after some minor technical issues.

Phantasm420: I’m so sorry! Richard Oakes, Adam Leader. It’s a rather unorthodox setting. I was so determined to have this interview, I’m about to start work in about 15 minutes. I run a Halloween store. But I love your movie, I absolutely love your movie! It is my second favorite horror movie of the year. *At that time, Black Phone was my top* So I just wanted to have a few minutes to talk with you guys and really, I don’t know, just pick your brains. Welcome to Mad Monster!

Richard Oakes: Who was first?” (While I didn’t answer at the time because of headphone issues, at the time my favorite horror movie was The Black Phone)

Phantasm420: I can’t even hear. It’s on there. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get tickets to Beyondfest to go to the screening there. Uh, how did you like your Beyondfest experience?

RO: It was amazing.

Adam Leader: Incredible.

Phantasm420: Isn’t it?!  I’m from LA and it was my 6th year going. It’s like movie mayhem. Cinematic just insanity and I’m such a fan. Did you get to attend any other screenings? Other than your own of course.

AL: We got to go to- we saw Hellraiser, and we went to Dash another XYZ film, which was…

RO: Thats a great movie

AL: Yeah, that was really good. Relly good.

Phantasm420: Thats awesome! Um, I actually, I had a wish list, and I got an email, and somebody sent me the trailer for Feed Me. And I read the synopsis and I thought, I’m like wait is this suicide by cannibal? Oh, you had my attention that day. I am crazy about- it’s an absolutely proper horror film. Horror films these days, there’s like this, they’re like this lengthening them and making them longer to I don’t know, legitimize them but yours is a very nice hour 36 minutes and a la Coscarelli- Sorry, I’m Amanda AKA Phantasm420. And so, my favorite horror sci-fi is Phantasm. I love it because it just gets right to the point. There’s no frills, there’s no filler it’s just hey lets, you know – comedy, drama, grief. I have every intention of being Lionel for Halloween.

(laughter)

Phantasm420: I didn’t know what I was gonna be-

RO: Oh my gosh.

AL: Yes!

Phantasm420: I’m going to be Lionel for Halloween. We have the hat downstairs. we have the wigs. I’m gonna tag both of you.

RO: Oh please. that’d be amazing.

Phantasm420: I mean, he’s one of my favorite favorite characters. I’m just curious cause I know we only have 15 minutes together, so um, how fun was it to write dialogue for him? And just write his character and Neal, I think he did an impeccable job. I loved his performance. Is that exactly what you were after?

AL: More! It was beyond what we were after. He really took that dialogue from the script and just made it his own. Because there’s only so much you can put onto a page, you know and that was great. The whole writing the script part was incredible, and it was fun. and it was happy, sad, angry, anxious. you know, it was really, it was a very personal or emotional experience but for Neal to then take that and elevate it to the bizarre batshit depth as well to his character that he did. Like not just the funny side, the depth was something truly special that we’d not seen before and it was really, it was really something special.

Phantasm420: I love the manifestation of the trauma; it took me back to one other performance that I absolutely adore which is Vincent D’Onofrio in The Cell. Just that kind of twisted, and like intensity and I love that movie as well. I took so many notes! You guys interviewed with my friends PVD Horror like last week

RO: Yeah, that’s right.

Phantasm420: And so, I watched that to research and learn a little about you guys before we got here. So, um, but he’s got quotes like, “Well f**k me you taste great!” That’s amazing. I love that and then his, of course his bouncing baby boy announcement that also is something really…I hope my enthusiasm-you can tell I, it’s such a great movie! Such a great movie. Was there anything that you wrote that didn’t make it into the movie? Or like are we gonna see some sort of special features some time or is it exactly what you envisioned?

RO: Well, there’s, the original cut was 2 and a half hours long so you’re saying like, you know, we got to the point, but we only got there in the edit. So, it came out a lot longer than we anticipated cause the script was only, what was it? A hundred pages long. Something like that. So, you know, on paper it should’ve been an hour and forty, but it came out at nearly two and a half hours long and we did a bit of screenings with a few people in the industry, got some feedback and they were like “It’s great, but the beginning is kind of takes too long to get to Lionel” you know what I mean? It was a lot more about the grief and Jed cause we were worried that people wouldn’t buy into this decision, so we were like, “Let’s really hammer the crap out of Jed” at the beginning, Everything goes wrong: he lost his job, things were just falling apart. and then they were like, “You don’t need that. People get it. You know, he’s lost his wife, just get to Lionel.” (laughter) Do you know what I mean? And we were like, we think we agree, do you know what I mean? So that’s most of what kind of went on the cutting room floor. But we also had a bit more of a dating story with Lionel. Like, a lot of failed dates before he got to Hannah or Alex.

Phantasm420: Yes. “See you tonight, I love you” or however he says it. Yeah, I love that. His date, it’s uh…(laugh)

RO: Yeah.

Phantasm420: That was so much fun. Ok, so lemme see. I have pages of notes that I just was writing while watching and listening to your other interview. So, um I wanted to also ask (blah blah blah while perusing my notes-long pause) Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry, I’m flustered.

RO: That’s all good,

AL: Just so you know, like, we’re pretty stoked right now and we’re extremely flattered that you enjoyed it so much. So, like, we are like (bowing motion) thank you. Seriously thank you.

RO: And if we do run out of time, hit us up on Facebook and we can chat longer later. It’s fine.

Phantasm420: Absolutely! cause it’s like, I take it from what I saw in this movie, that I’m talking to 2 genuine horror fans. and I am a diehard horror fanatic and so I feel that this movie was made by people who also love horror. I mean, is horror your primary genre? Your go to.

RO: I’m back and forth with it. I think Adam’s definitely more the horror. I come from more creature features, back in the day. I grew up on The Blob and Alien and all those kinds of ones. I love creature features. And then a few others as I’ve gotten older. but I also went into more thrillers and stuff. so that’s where we like psychopaths and stuff like that. But Adam’s like the BIG horror fan. He’s covered in horror tattoos.

Phantasm420: Nice, nice! I think you can see my uh my sweater here. I’m a slasher fan, myself. So, now are there any cannibalism movies that you guys are like fans of? For example, I love Motel hell. That’s my favorite, like, cannibalism movie. Or like say something like Parents. Are there any other movies? I mean, of course the most popular one is gonna be Texas Chainsaw,

AL: I was just gonna say, I think that Texas Chainsaw, like the original, is just – it’s so, it’s definitely one of my favorites cause it’s just so bizarre. The family are so bizarre. Like, the murder side of it is kind of just standard and its normal. But the whole eating thing and the grandpa and like, it’s just weird. and weird is scary! You don’t need a jump scare to be scared, do you know what I mean? And you know also, in more recent times, well very recent times, Dahmer is just amazing, the series is just unbelievable. So well done,

Phantasm420: Oh yeah. Lionel’s interior decorating skills are on par with Dahmer what we saw recently in that miniseries, and I really like that too. And I wondered also if part of what Lionel, like, is Lionel really into the veal taste of people or is he kind of a la Dahmer, trying to keep somebody with him? That’s what Dahmer talked about.

RO: It’s more that I think, because Lionel’s arc is that he doesn’t like himself and he wants to be someone else. And you know, he has a bit of that dialogue saying, “you are who you eat” and that’s what he wants. He wants to be someone that he admires, which is Jed.

Phantasm420: Yes! Yes, yes. (lost in my notes) Oh no, that was it! I wanted to ask, since we did cover Texas Chainsaw Massacre, what I saw is what I believe d to be like an easter egg or maybe a small ode to Texas Chainsaw with the dinner table scene. And just how he’s sitting across, and obviously Jed is incapacitated – without saying too much – are there in fact easter eggs to other like movies or franchises or anything?

AL: I think dotted around there might be some very very subtle hints, without giving too much away cause we like people to kind of interpret it for themselves, but you can definitely see a parallel in terms of the dinner table and the opposite sides of the Texas Chainsaw thing for sure. And maybe one more little thing, earlier on in the movie Lionel opens a drawer with some Polaroids in it and you know, if you know, you know, Polaroids. Yeah, if you know, you know,

RO: Yeah, there’s a few death scenes that are homages to other films that we’re fans of as well there. but yeah, don’t want to go into detail with them. we do like to sprinkle a few homages, whether it’s homages to specific films or film styles and things like that. Like Fight Club was a big inspiration for the look of the film with paper (inaudible).

Phantasm420: Thats awesome! Let’s see, I know you guys have been asked like kind of the same questions over and over as is the interview game when you have a movie coming out. Is there anything that you would like for our readers slash viewers to know? Welcome to Mad Monster by the way! And if you like creature features, we also actually recently acquired Famous Monsters of Filmland, so definitely stay tuned to that if you like those old school monsters. But is there anything that you’d like to tell us or would like to know about this movie? And congratulations by the way! I wish I could rent a theater to show all of my friends. I have been bragging about this movie, I’m like, “I can’t tell you guys much but, you know, it’s ‘assisted suicide'” as you call it.

AL: I think what we feel, and I guess you’ll see it when -for those of you who haven’t seen it yet- you’ll see it, it’s evident when you see the movie that Rich and I are completely wearing our heart on our sleeve in this. We spent enough time doing things for other people in fear of you know people not liking what we do or playing it safe, that we thought Feed Me is gonna be exactly who we are: our personalities, our drama our trauma our whatever and our sense of humor. You know, first and foremost most importantly put into this it’s us as filmmakers saying this is what we do and we’re doing it for ourselves and it seems to be working as well, which is great. Thats a bonus. People seem to be receiving it well, which is fantastic. And it’s us just being honest and going screw it man, let’s just do us.

Phantasm420: Absolutely! And kudos to the practical effects. The effects and just the gore and just everything that we see is just so phenomenal looking. I really, I guess I had more I wanted to say hence all of the notes but I’m really just so excited to talk to you guys and to introduce people to your movie and promote it and get everybody to watch Feed Me. Which of course is coming to digital and on demand on the 27th. I had an interview scheduled with you guys before but because of the Beyondfest game and this Halloween life that I live unfortunately I couldn’t make it. But I’m really so excited to be here with you today, even for a few minutes. And I absolutely am gonna be hitting you guys up to talk about this more

RO: Yeah, do it. I feel like there’s more to be said and you’re a great person and seem-, we love people that are hyped about the film, and we hope to talk to people like you so it’s awesome.

Phantasm420: Yes absolutely! and I’m sorry, I feel like I spent more of our 15 minutes gushing!

RO: Thats fine. (Everyone is laughing)