Review: ‘Eat Your Heart Out’
What wouldn’t a boy would do for the ghoul of his dreams?
Jeffrey (Jack Dillon) is a lonely guy in a world apparently full of superficial women more concerned with themselves than anything close to resembling a relationship. Even prostitutes won’t give Jeffrey any more thought than he’s willing to pay for, right up until he meets Pandora (Melissa Bacelar). She’s everything Jeffrey’s ever wanted and more, enough to earn her very own stalker (Joshua Nelson) making his way through the New York underground with an unknown agenda. After Pandora lets Jeffrey in on a few of her secrets, he’s left with a tough decision: what is true love really worth?
We’ve reviewed previous material from producer/writer/actor Joshua Nelson, specifically 2005′s Aunt Rose (originally called No One Gets Out). By comparison, Eat Your Heart Out is a much more professional production in both look and feel, mixing stock New York skyline footage with modest sets and a storyline that manages to explain any shortcomings in the budget. It looks like the real money turned up in the special makeup effects, nearly all of which are satisfyingly gruesome enough to sell the story being told.
With the exception of an opening-sequence bloodletting, the pacing for the first half hour tends to drag a bit. Aunt Rose had a similar early pacing issue, one we suggested resolving by helping grandma out of her chair and into action sooner. Eat Your Heart Out finds its stride as the second act begins and manages to hold it until the end. To the script’s credit, there are a few red herrings as well as an almost Japanese-cinema lack of a full explanation by the end, a device that keeps us guessing because it refuses to lay down any specific monster-centric rules. The only exception is the sequence finally introducing and subsequently torturing the enigmatic and aforementioned “Mama,” but for some reason the scene falls flat, as if it was building up to something bigger or better that just never happens.
The real meat of the story forgoes “What constitutes a monster?” and instead dives right into “Can you help who you love?” It’s a nice change of pace and might have been even better supported with a few additional but lighter music cues; if there was ever a couple that deserved their very own love theme, these two are it. But don’t worry about it too much, because everybody is essentially doomed in these kinds of movies whether they die or not. And the ending? Not surprising but satisfying for all. Bon app?©tit!
(a two and a half skull recommendation out of four)
» Dig around in these buried remains...
- Review: ‘Aunt Rose’ (No One Gets Out) 5/8/2005
- Review: ‘Avatar’ 12/22/2009
- Review: ‘Silent Hill’ 4/22/2006
- Is Your Weekend Cursed? 2/25/2005
- Review: Saw II 10/30/2005
- Review: Boogeyman 2/7/2005
- Review: ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’ 6/15/2008
