Once every few years, a secret coven of modern-day vampires meets to discuss the quotas and divisions of feeding territories in the United Kingdom. Gathering at a remote farm, this time they're joined by a potential new recruit/light snack in the form of Seb (Billy Cook, a new talent to look out for) Unknown to them they have been tracked by the team of Larousse (Mackenzie Crook) and Bingham (Robert Portal) but trapping Vampires is not easy, even with an army and soon its a battle of wits to see who is still standing by sun- up.
Eat Local had a cracking script from the beginning but sadly director Jason Flemyng, probably the hardest working actor in the UK, had to get the money from Johnathon Sothcott to shoot it - So the budget was clearly nowhere what it should have been. With such restrictions, the film struggles to hit its notes at times and occasionally the plot becomes lost. That aside Flemyng has assembled an impressive cast from Charlie Cox, Vincent Reagen, Freema Agyeman, Tony Curran, Annette Crosbie and Eve Myles who all perform terrifically on the side of the Vampires, while cameos from Nick Moran, Nicolas Rowe, Dexter Fletcher, Elly Fairman and Johnny Palmerio fill out the rest of the cast, often with very funny one-liners. A less respected person in the industry would not have been able to assemble anywhere near as much talent on screen. In the hands of anyone else such an ambitious project probably would have fallen foul of really poor casting and direction by Flemyng brings the elements together as well as can be expected and raises the bar considerably above anything else with Sothcott's name in the credits. The action in the film is well handled within the restrictive budget and comedy turns by Dexter Fletcher add much fun to the mix with his deadpan dialogue. Jason gives a nod to 12 Angry Men in his framing of the opening scene as the members of the Coven arrive and there are various other shots giving a wink to numerous other movies including The Great Escape. The score for the film is found a little wanting at times.
Despite all this not everything works in the film as well it should have but films are rarely if ever, made with the budget or generous shooting schedule that one would like to have. This film, however, is nowhere near as bad as some other reviewers have suggested. The cast give it their all and are clearly having a good time. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you liked the movie Tremors and other similar B-Movie Comedy Horror then this should be right up your street.
