Gravy

Released By: Shout Factory
Released On: October 6, 2015
Director: James Roday
Cast: Michael Winston, Jimmi Simpson, Sutton Foster, Lily Cole, Sarah Silverman
Year:2015
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The Movie:

In a strange opening scene that reminds me of how much I really hated Tears For Fears' "Sowing The Seeds of Love", a convenience store customer by the name of Anson (Michael Weston) flirts with a bunny costume-wearing cashier (Sarah Silverman) in a bizarre ritual that involves weak bladders, the need for punctuality, and the dancing of jigs. Bordering slightly on comedy but maintaining a strong foothold in the land of the weird, it sets the tone for the next 100 minutes of James Roday's Gravy, a Halloween tale of cannibals, unlikely romances, and Mexican food.

A costume/send-off party is wrapping up at Raoul's, a Mexican cantina-flavored restaurant, and the stragglers are momentarily caught off guard by a costumed couple dry-humping in a corner booth. Too much booze on this Hallow's Eve? Nay, nay, this is simply a distraction put on by the Peter-Panned Stefan (Jimmi Simpson) and Catwoman Mimi (Lily Cole) to draw attention from Anson the Clown welding the doors of the establishment closed from the inside. A hostage situation? It certainly appears to be, when the party-goers are subdued and tied to chairs, with the captors exuding a threatening menace...and then the licking starts. In a series of somewhat grotesque close-ups, the hostages are subjected to intense tonguing, which is finally protested loudly by the inept security guard, Winketta. For her troubles, and to illustrate the seriousness of what is about to go down, Catwoman Mimi rips Winketta's voice box out with her teeth, savouring it deliciously.

No, this is not a regular hostage situation at all. Stefan, Anson, and Mimi are at Raoul's for one reason; their annual Halloween cannibal cookout. And with the reluctant assistance of Raoul's master chef Yannick, each of the hostages will be transformed into a delicious meal. With no pre-determined order of processing, the terrified clientele of Raoul's are forced to rely on their wits and cunning to stay out of the oven a little longer, with those skills including, but not being confined to emerging victorious from a game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. While some of the hostages give up the ghost rather quickly and become culinary works of art, others develop unlikely relationships with the cannibals and with each other to fulfill their survival instincts. As the menu choices narrow, a boxing match, a disco bloodbath boogie, and an oversized labia come into play, muddying the waters of who the victor will be.

Horror comedy is a tough nut to crack, and there are scads of examples of films that have either gone too far one way or the other, or sat squarely in the middle and failed horribly. Once the first half hour of Gravy was up, I was fairly convinced that this was going to be the case; every character was a smart-assed know-it-all with a funny retort to another funny retort, they all moved in quirky ways, and each overpowering song (including a nutty cover of Alice Cooper's Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever") played during the carnage was a novelty track of some sort, drawing attention to the idiocy of the film in a "Man, somebody's trying WAY too hard for an instant cult-classic" way.

However, James Roday really has something going here; there are some genuine moments of extremely clever directing happening in Gravy, and having a huge and talented cast play very unique to each other characters helps Gravy maintain throughout the running time... the heaping helping of gore that it serves up doesn't hurt, either. Curt Smith (one half of Tears For Fears... he apparently gifted the song, "Sowing the Seeds of Love" to the film, even though it's presented in the credits as "Showing the Seeds of Love") provides the score here, and while I found most of it annoying, it works well in the context of the film. Though there are plenty of moments of eye-rolling stupidity, there's a lot to like, and by the time the film reached its enjoyable bookend, my earlier exasperation had (almost) done a 180. Nobody should be going into Gravy expecting a serious film that dabbles in any genre, but it was enjoyable and entertaining. What more can you ask for in this day and age?

Video/Audio/Extras:

Shout brings Gravy to Blu-ray in a 2.35:1 transfer that looks fantastic. The majority of the action takes place in the dim cantina and the atmosphere is presented perfectly, with detail in the murk remaining sharp and clear. There's a good balance of colour to be found here as well, and a lack of visual issues that usually present themselves in such murky settings.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track was a bit of a mixed bag for me, with almost unnoticeable use of the surrounds, but a serious issue with the volume of the music compared to the rest of the track. When the novelty songs kick in, even though it's nice to have a bit of a boost in sound when you're trying to create heightened action environments, the sound is overpowering, prompting a mad grab for the remote. Aside from that, dialogue is clean and center, and dynamic range is well-presented.

What is Gravy? (5:56) is the first extra on the disc, made up of clips from the film and interviews with James Roday and the cast, and with Roday and co.'s attempts at humourous answers, you can be sure that this is NOT what Gravy is.

An EPK (6:23) gets you a little closer to What Gravy Is, with a more serious look at James and the cast as they go behind the scenes of the film, interspersing it with clips from the movie.

A commentary, featuring James Roday, Sutton Foster and Jimmi Simpson is worth a listen as they discuss the actors in the film, Curt Smith's score, each other's toes and other anecdotes from the film, though there are some long gaps of silence included as well.

A Trailer for the film is also included.

The Final Word:

Gravy is not going to be for everyone. I can picture hordes of horror fans hating it for trying too hard for that earlier-mentioned cult status. It's not your run-of-the-mill film, and the level of gore presented will prevent it from being appreciated by most fans of comedy. But it's entertaining, there's some funny stuff, and a girl in a Catwoman suit. So hey, why not.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!