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Written by Starring Presented by 92 minutes |
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EAT
YOUR HEART OUT Review
The hooker with the heart of gold is a clichéd story that has existed since the advent of film, the girl who you can’t help but fall in love with even though she sells her body for pleasure. In the case of EAT YOUR HEART OUT, we meet one who falls for such a character, except this prostitute has a certain taste of flesh that she dishes out on men. EAT YOUR HEART OUT is the first collaboration of writer/co-star Joshua Nelson and star/executive producer Melissa Bacelar, who plays Pandora, a prostitute who uses her sexuality to lure men to her hunger, eating them in the midst of pleasure. Meanwhile, insurance investigator Jeffrey (Jack Dillon), a lonely guy living alone who is just looking for love. He strikes out badly with his co-workers, and even with past friends who don’t seem to remember who he is. His sister worries about him feverishly. Desperate, he calls an escort service and gets laid, but finds he wants more than just pleasure. When he meets Pandora, she takes a liking to him and finds she can’t make him his next victim, and a love story evolves, even as a madman hunts Pandora bent on revenge. While the gore and nudity quotient is plentiful, this is a character study and extremely well written and well paced. Writer Joshua Nelson puts extra care in his characters, and pardon the pun, are fleshed out very well. Jack Dillon and Melissa Bacelar are excellent in the leads, portraying their characters at just the right note, not overdoing it. The dialogue never feels forced or clunky, and helps in believing these characters, even if one is an undead prostitute. I thought it was good how Jeffrey, an amateur at love, shows how he falls in love too quickly and lets it get the better of him. How Pandora shows Jeffrey who she really is was surprising in its kink factor as well as its conclusion. Joshua Nelson is credited as “The Stalker,” who searches for Pandora in extremely violent ways, and looks like he’s having a fun time in the role as it is suited for him. His introduction in the torture and murder of a pimp sets up the tone very well and sets up for a confrontation that may not have the result you’d expect. Jeanette Bonner is good in a caring role as Jeffrey’s sister, always looking out for him and not believing him when he tells her about Pandora. Alan Rowe Kelly gives a funny cameo as the evil Mama, Pandora’s last pimp that gets targeted by The Stalker as he continues his search for Pandora. Shot on what looks like digital video, the film makes the most use of its location and budget, providing very good production quality. New York City is used as a splendid backdrop and is shot in gorgeous detail. This has to do with the well done cinematography of Brian Fass and the good direction of James Tucker. Some of the execution and editing was a little awkward in a few spots, but for the most part was good. The music was good, I liked the opening title music. The special effects were excellent in this film, with body parts being eaten, blood flying, bullets in the head, and other carnage by Monsters In My Closet, headed by Jeremy Selenfriend. For a low budget film like this, the effects truly shine, especially in the film’s closing moments where the relationship between Pandora and Jeffrey comes to a satisfying conclusion. EAT YOUR HEART OUT is a different kind of horror movie, one that’s not big on scares but serves as a nice character study in looking for love, especially in its metaphor of how far you would go for the one you love. The zombie curse is treated more like an addiction and shows how one would cope with it as if you were an alcoholic or on drugs. This is more of a love story, just with a lot of gore. It’s never fully explained why Pandora is what she is, as it’s not even sure if she is a zombie or not, but I like that it isn’t, because it’s not the focal point of the story. What EAT YOUR HEART OUT is about is loving someone regardless of their differences, albeit one who is undead. EAT YOUR HEART OUT: 7 Out of 10 Maggots CLICK HERE FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH MELISSA BACELAR! CLICK HERE FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH JOSHUA NELSON!
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