Together with Sundance Film Festival, the South by Southwest Film Festival is a good thermometer to measure what might be a few of the horror films to take into consideration every year. Taking place in the early months of the year, and focusing mostly on independent films, the festivals serve to add some titles that rarely will get big commercial distribution but they are little jewels that every avid horror fan must-see. And Welch language horror film The Feast (2021) is one of them.
The film could be included in the folk-horror subgenre so much in hype right now thanks to the recent classics The Witch (2015) by Robert Eggers and Midsommar (2019) by Ari Aster. Or, as some start to categorize The Feast (2021), eco-horror. The movie follows a young woman serving privileged guests at a dinner party in a remote house in rural Wales. The assembled guests do not realize they are about to eat their last supper.
This is the debut feature film by Lee Haven Jones, a filmmaker BAFTA Awards nominated and winner for the TV series The Indian Doctor (2010–2013), 35 Diwrnod (2014–), The Bay (2019–), and Doctor Who (2005–). The screenplay has been written by Roger Williams, the creator of awards-winner crime and mystery TV series Bang (2017–).
The star in The Feast (2021) is played by Annes Elwy, BAFTA Cymru Award nominee as Best Actress for her role in Little Women (2017). Together with her, Nia Roberts, Julian Lewis Jones, Steffan Cennydd, Sion Alun Davies, Rhodri Meilir, Lisa Palfrey, Chris Gordon, and Caroline Berry also star.
After its premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival, the film has been part of several international film festivals including Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland, Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea, Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada, MOTELX – Lisbon International Horror Film Festival in Portugal, Beyond Fest in the USA, Sitges Film Festival in Catalunya, BFI London Film Festival in the UK, Fantasy Filmfest in Germany, or Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece, where it has achieved a good collection of awards and nominations. Now, it is scheduled for a release in theaters and on digital in the USA on November 19, 2021, by IFC Films. Watch here the trailer for The Feast (2021).
