"Eat" is pretty much the one-man-project of a bloke named Jimmy Weber, and he clearly has A) a sick & twisted sense of humor, B) a hatred towards all the typically fake Hollywood glamour and C) a rather negative perspective on human behavior in general! The ideal personality to make a low-budgeted and independently spirited horror movie, in other words! "Eat" is an admirable and, at least for the largest part, entertaining B-movie with an original premise, vivid acting performances and a handful of truly grueling and nasty make-up effects. Moreover, it's an unpretentious little gem that doesn't take itself too seriously and I, for one, was relieved to see such a simple horror flick amidst all the wannabe-shocking backwoods/murdering rednecks movies nowadays. Novella McClure is a thirty-something actress with cute blonde looks and a catchy-sounding artist name, but the painful truth is that she hasn't scored a half-decent acting role in over three years. She struggles financially, but luckily has a motherly type of landlady. Her wild friend Candice takes her out clubbing but they only drink at the expense of random men they encounter, which also brings them in hazardous situations. Purely out of stress, Novella starts nibbling on a little wound on her thumb, but the bad habit turns into a disturbing and uncontrollable craving to eat her own flesh! Isn't that "food" for psychiatrists? Weber's script foresees a few very ingenious and unpredictable twists, and you genuinely feel empathy for poor Novella as she continues to sink deeper into misery, but then unfortunately it goes downhill during the last 10 minutes. The ending of "Eat" is disappointing, and surely Jimmy Weber must have considered more suitable and realistic conclusions to his wicked idea? Nevertheless, I can recommend this peculiar "cannibal" film, at least if you have the stomach for it! The scenes in which Novella feasts on herself are guaranteed to make you shiver, even despite the jolly and playful music score.
