Review: Eat the Rich

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet

Eat the Rich
Directed by Kermit Merl Key
Frog Lab
www.facebook.com/FrogLabLLC
78 minutes, 2023

Over the past few years, I have seen tee-shirts that read “Eat the Rich.” While not a cannibal myself, I understand the deeper meaning of this slogan. Now let us add a little Covid and some H.P. Lovecraft, whaddya say?

This was filmed in Indiana during the Covid crisis (yes, it was real), and right away during the b-roll’d credits, lots of people are wearing masks. Cool cloth types, not the n95 medical ones. I still wear mine in crowded places, but I digress…

Senator Jim Richardson (Raymond Kester) is a right wing racist, homophobic, and misogynistic jackhole Congressman who harasses wait staff in a restaurant (for example) and uses words like “cuc” about people wearing masks, even if it is mandated. Total DeSantis-ville mentality. Less than five minutes in, and I hope some comeuppance is in store for this yahoo, as I feel about any of these morons going around annoying workers who have no say in policy and especially if they put it online. But again, I digress…

Statuesque Evie Elkins (Morgan Bow), a single mom, works in a dead-end job as a waitress for a tyrant boss and lives with her parents. Money is tight for her and her friends as well. They are Joey (Dakota Bruton) and her level-headed boyfriend Mark (Evan Lahee), and Evie’s new boyfriend Adam (Cody Alexander). They all hang out on Zoom playing Dungeons and Dragons, and complain about their fates, the mandates, and having to deal with MAGAs in the workplace, as Joey states.

Adam’s politics are as far Left as Richardson’s is to the Right, spewing a Marxist-kinda vibe and jibe, saying things like “plutocratic oligarchy.” And now he has done gone and kidnapped Richardson and taken him to a hideaway house (cabin in the woods?) with a hot tub, dragging the other three into danger with the law, and so much more. As we see in the very opening, there is something “different” about Adam. Thing is with kidnapping anyone, especially politicians, someone must end up dead, either the kidnappers or the kidnappee. Way of the world, and especially genre films.

Yes, there is some deep shit politics going on here, but it takes the side of the people who are struggling, which thanks to the Trump tax cuts for the one percent, high costs of medical care in the middle of a pandemic, and just trying to survive, this is not about power – well, perhaps it is for Adam – but more about the desperation of the working class in a country in which those in the money and power (usually the same) spew hatred towards society’s base. I do not mean for this to sound like a screed, though it is plain which political side I am on.

This is obviously micro-budget (for which I support) and it could have easily have just been a tale of a kidnapping, a la Death and the Maiden (1994), but more like SheepSkin (2013), this takes it to a horror level with a beastie (the title kinda gives it away, as does the prologue, but I will not reveal the details).

This makes me think of the flip of the attempt to kidnap Democratic Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, where in this case it is Lefties doing the deed rather than the Right’s attempt. Perhaps that almost-taking inspired this story?

When the film starts, what confused me is the added visual glitches and (sometimes literal) noise added to the film, without it being found footage. But it is not just a stylistic choice: as things become clearer, the more unnerving it gets (a good thing), the more it becomes a character, representing chaos and entropy.

Once the social strata commentary stops and the woo part of the story begins, the action certainly picks up.

The film looks good, employing some filters to give moods, or a deep blue one to represent night. It all works together well. The digital SFX are, honestly, quite cheesy looking, such as some electric flashes looking like it came from a 1980s low budget sci-fi film. Again, this is a micro-budgeter, so it is more the meaning than the demonstration.

This is the director’s first feature, and while it has some issues here and there, such as being weighed down a bit by philosophy and social commentary, the story itself is enjoyable, and just from viewing this, I can tell that there is some good work coming out of Key going forward. This is definitely a solid start.

Can be found free on Tubi HERE

IMDB listing HERE