Psychological horrors are not uncommon, but they usually miss the mark and misdeliver the psychological aspect and deliver something rather uninteresting and frustrating. However, when they’re done right they sit with you for months and months continually getting you to re-examine everything you’ve seen and want to dissect it in the greatest way possible. Lee Haven Jones and Roger Williams, both direct and write respectfully, that exact feature in The Feast, a psychological horror done right that truly sits with you for a very long time.
The movie tells itself in separate chapters, each building itself up further and more intensely than the last making audiences believe there is something truly sinister about to happen or something is about to go down. Cadi, played by the amazing Annes Elwy, is invited to help prepare and prep this dinner party for this well-off Welsh family in the country side, and it’s clear that not only is she out of place, but something more lurks beneath her demeanor. As the film slowly starts to show its hand more, the audience gets sucked into this psychological thriller as things start to slowly progress and make their presences known. Surrounded by a cast of characters consisting of Gwyn played by Julian Lewis Jones, Guto played by Steffan Cennydd, and Glenda played by Nia Roberts everyone brings their A game to support the mystery and psychological mystery that lays within The Feast.
What makes this psychological horror work on such a level of lasting impression is the brilliant direction by Lee Haven Jones and writing by Roger Williams. There is no easter eggs planted to make the audience clue into what is happening before they want to reveal the twists, they reward the patient viewer who navigates their way through the maze that is made. As well the performances from the entire cast are superb, but that specifically of Annes Elwy is sublime. She brings a level of horror, character change, and sheer brilliance to the role that leaves audiences wanting to see more of her work and will follow her career whether it be in the foreign mainstream or the more Hollywood, she is a force to be reckoned with.
The Feast manages to provide the very rare slow burn psychological horror that cannot be shaken, the horror that sits with its audience and lingers with its audience for long after the credits end. There is so much to discover and to be blown away by in this marvellous psychological thriller that needs to be seen to be believed. Pick your poison, sit back and let your mind be taken away by the mysteries and madness that is told in The Feast.
