With a title like Bottom Feeder you'd almost expect some outrageous adult film but instead, thankfully, we get this entertaining creature feature from writer-director Randy Daudlin that makes for solid viewing and has an undeniable 80's vibe right on down to it's silly, comic book-like plot and decent practical effects rather than cheap-looking CGI. It joins fellow Canadian production, The Mad, as one of the more pleasant low-budget surprises to cross my path that I went into with low expectations - which is made even more surprising when I realized they were both made by the same company, 235 Films.

Right from the get go we know this is going to be a goofy time. We meet Deaver (Richard Fitzpatrick), a disfigured and badly burnt millionaire who hires a doctor to inject him with the highly experimental A-12 serum. After getting his medicine, Deaver sends in his thugs who proceed to shoot up the good doctor, inject him with some A-12, and dump him in some tunnels.

Along comes maintenance man Vince (Tom Sizemore, taking time out from gambling, prostitutes, and homemade porn) who's been hired to enter an abandoned hospital and explore the tunnels underneath to clean out derelicts and other undesirables. It's just too bad they're the same tunnels our quickly mutating doctor was tossed into. Tired of a diet of rats and dogs, our rat-like physician has decided to start making a meal of Vince's crew and Deaver's hired hands when they all find themselves trapped down below. There's also a sub-plot where Vince and his buddy scheme to steal equipment and sell it, but it doesn't cut too much into all the human chomping going on.

Despite the films limited sets (there's only so many dark, grey corridors you can see before you get tired of it), a fairly low body count, and some unintentionally amusing effects where I was chuckling more at our creatures rat-like features than being at all frightened of it; I didn't mind Bottom Feeder at all. It motors along at a decent pace and when they take out Mr. Rat, P.H.D.; they take him out good - even if the final scene was a bit of a groaner. It's not as over-the-top as The Mad and doesn't try for humour as much, with the only comic relief coming from Jamaican hobo Sarge (Philip Akin), but it makes me want to check out 235's other genre contributions such as Dead Mary and The Cradle.

On the acting front, Sizemore is busy playing his gruff, tough-guy he usually does and doesn't make much of an impression doing so. He's a competent enough hero, just not a very memorable one. Fitzpatrick does what he can in his so-so looking burn make-up and the rest of the cast handles themselves fine but the show basically belongs to Wendy Anderson who brings out the bad-assery as Krendal.

If you happen to see Bottom Feeder playing on your local movie channel or can either buy or rent it for cheap, and you also happen to be a fan of somewhat cheesy monster flicks, then don't hesitate on picking-up Daudlin's debut feature. It doesn't try to be anything more than a campy good time and it pretty much delivers in that area. Daudlin's past work in effects (which includes the "Friday the 13th" television series and the Robert Englund starring, Heartstopper) is beneficial here as he doesn't want to pile on the cheapjack CG that litters tons of movies of this ilk - most of those airing on the Sci-Fi Channel - which helps make it a pretty fun throwback to creature features of the past. (Chris Hartley, 8/6/09)

Directed By: Randy Daudlin.
Written By: Randy Daudlin.

Starring: Tom Sizemore, Wendy Anderson, Richard Fitzpatrick, Philip Akin.