Feed (2020) is a killer new short film that is written, directed, and edited by Will Lee. According to his IMDb page, Feed is this filmmaker’s freshmen effort, and yet I was seriously impressed with this shortie — within three and a half minutes Feed hits comedic beats, composes effectively creepy sound design, and gives one hell of a good jump scare.

Feed stars Noelle Filippone as Naomi, a young woman awaiting the arrival of her friends at a seemingly empty house. Upon arriving there is a cryptic note but since it is cut off, there is nothing that can be deciphered. After accidentally turning on the TV, Naomi attempts to shut it off but is unable to, finding that the TV seems to be broadcasting or filming her. As she watches the screen, she soon finds that she is not alone.

For someone who considers themselves to be a foreseer of impending jumpscares, and in any case, is numb to their pandering intentions, the jumpscare in Feed pulled quite a scream out of me. Watching Feed is like the first time watching Mama or Lights Out, infamous horror shorts that also played with lighting and shadow to create the menace behind their respective movie monsters. While paying homage to YouTube short movie greats, Feed gives these shadowy-figure-films a modern update with millennial characters and techno-existential substance.

On the surface, feed is certainly frightening, but in retrospect, I also found that this short is layered with questions of our relationship with technology. The word ‘feed’ may have multiple meanings in this film, one, with the monster who of course wants to feed, but also ‘feed’ as in a live stream feed. I thought the movie might be making a metaphor, saying that turning oneself into a video opens one up to being consumed (or fed on) by others, or, that our connection to technology feeds off of us. Metaphor or not, Feed is a well-produced horror film that features one slimy and long-toothed monster that is way scary – hats off to the film’s makeup effects artist Caroline Colino.

Whether it is a metaphor for being consumed by viewers or literally by a monster, Feed makes a great creature feature horror short. Starring a very small cast, seamlessly integrating practical use of technology, cultivating a great atmosphere, and a well-written script are all things that can be celebrated about this film. It is definitely worth a watch, especially for fans of the aforementioned classic YouTube horror shorts.

MOVIE RATING — 7 out of 10 ☠️