Many things can be said about the Polonia Brothers, but it cant be said that they never tried to think a little outside of the box when it came to their work together. The original Feeders was a bizarre ultra low budget tongue in cheek sci fi movie, that felt like the cinematic equivilent of an old banger of a car that was held together with prayer and bubble gum, that could collapse any minute, but had a distinct charm and charisma to it that made it lovable, if not a bit underplayed.

Well; a few years later the Polonias returned again with a sequel. And whereas most film makers might want to continue to develop the plot they’ve already created, maybe try to ground the work a bit more with some additional lore or deeper context. These guys decided ‘Hey! y’know what our killer alien sci fi movie needs to REALLY kick it up a notch? CHRISTMAS.’

And so, we have ‘Feeders 2: Slay Bells’, and its a film with a plot somehow even MORE out there than the first entry.

The plots a bit of a weird one, becuase we pick up with John Mcbrides Derek, whos now being interrigated after the events of the first ‘Feeders’ movie…But; this is totally unconnected from the actual FILM. Hes just here to essentially fully recap the first movie in dribs and drabs across the runtime, essentially cutting in to add context or background where its appropriate. Beyond this? he has absolutely nothing to do with this movie.

Instead it’s Mark Polonias time to shine as Alan Parker, husband and father of the Parker Family, a lovely little suburban household just about getting by, and as LUCK would have it, its December 23rd! ALMOST Christmas. and the family are busy decorating the tree, wrapping presents, and getting festive…When, seemingly at random; THE FEEDERS ARE BACK! and this time they’re planning a full scale invasion! some recon feeders beam down from their mother ship and set up camp in the Parkers basement. and while Alan spots the mothership in the sky on the night of their landing, he writes it off as a helicopter, before returning to bed.

And from here the film kind of forks into two plots, one being the Parkers prepping for Christmas, including Alan working and getting grief from his boss, while also having the occasional unsettling vision. While the Feeders begin to explore the houses in the neighbourhood, and well…they feed on the residents.

This goes on for about 50 minutes of the hour and 13 runtime, until late on Christmas eve Night, when the feeders attempt an attack on the Parkers! leading to all out christmas warfare between humans and aliens…AND SANTA…Independence day showed the earth under attack from aliens. Feeders 2 will make you FEEL it.

And basically? this is a vast improvement over ‘Feeders’ in almost every capacity. and I think the biggest reason for that is down to one simple factor, they decided to film across two indoor locations for the vast majority of the film over shooting outdoors.

This had a LOT of benefits, filming indoors means they had a lot more control over the conditions of the shoot, meaning we get a LOT more creative lighting and colour work that looks fabulous, more coherent and staged direction, thats open to experimentation, while also clearly trying to produce something somewhat professional, the cinematography is much more thought out and staged. with even the occasional nice tracking shot and experimentation thrown into the mix.

The edit is a LOT sharper than the first film, and the introduction of more computer generated effects that, in my opinion, are handled a lot better this time around, help really bring a richer and bigger budgeted effect to the film. Dont get me wrong, this is still unmistakably SOV, with the rickety-ness that comes with it. But this is upper tier SOV in my opinion, a stronger work that is much more standout that your typical ‘Two teens running around with a camera in the woods shooting cool things’ fare…

The script is probably the only thing thats truely a bit wobbly here, and the main reason for that is the scourge of SOV…filler. the core plot of the film is daffy in the best possible way, totally eccentric and a littered with nuggets of genuinely bizarre visuals and narrative points. But in amongst the good, is a whole HEAP of people having inane discussions, random wandering around, and scenes that feel repetative and arnt particularly that interesting. it just about takes the film over to feature runtime. But the end result is a bit of a mixed bag. I adore the more bizarre moments of on screen chaos and the wonderful dialogue moments. But im less enthused about discussions about christmas presents, or extended scenes from the Feeders POV of them wandering around a garage.

Mercifully; there is more good than bad here. The performances are the perfect kind of dry and awkward to appeal to’bad movie’ hunters and the acidically cheerful christmas midi soundtrack crammed into this thing really helps tip it fully into the kind of manic, goofy self aware christmas sci fi horror film that I never truely knew I needed.

‘Feeders 2’ wont win over the ‘real’ movie crowd, but in many ways it isnt a film for them, this is a lumpy, messy, but quite high quality for SOV little movie for fans of the bizarre and inexplicable. I really had a soft spot for it, and could easily see myself revisiting it over the festive period. and I highly encourage you to check it out this christmas too if you havent seen it already. No need to watch the first film because about 80% of it is recycled into this movie in one way or another.

Its a hoot of a film, thats more than earned its reputation. and is definitely worth your time.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/feeders-2-slay-bells/