Chef Peter Grey (James LeGros) is a pompous celebrity chef who runs the kitchen at an exclusive New York eatery and proselytizes for locally sourced organics on his insufferable TV show; Bitter Feast is the tale of his fall from grace.
When food blogger J.T. Franks (Joshua Leonard) publishes a career-ending review of Grey’s work the chef goes nuts and kidnaps the critic hauling him out to his remote upstate cabin. Franks is forced to listen to his own catty reviews in which he lambastes local eateries for failing to accomplish simple tasks like frying an over-easy egg or grilling a medium-rare steak. Naturally Grey then forces Franks to attempt these tasks and the failure to accomplish them perfectly is met with less-than-subtle consequences such as a frying pan to the face.
The film is billed as comedy-horror and this initial setup makes for several darkly amusing moments. Unfortunately when Grey starts chasing after loose ends the comedy dries up and the horror left behind is a minefield of genre clichés. Still if you’ve ever craved the same feeling of looming terror while you’re cooking breakfast or home alone in the bath when the power goes out this is the flick for you.
