ann hale looks at a true hidden horror gem …
Every weekend millions of people flock to their local cineplex to catch the latest horror film. If you love horror, like I do, you should, as you would before any major sporting event or party, consider pre-gaming. One film to pre-game your weekend horror experience is by checking Boris Rodriguez’s film Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal (currently in limited theaters and on video on demand). With enough blood and quirkiness to start out your night, Eddie is a release worth seeing!
Lars (Thure Lindhardt), a famous painter from Denmark, has hit a flaccid state in his art career. Not having painted anything in ten years, Lars takes a job teaching art at a school in Koda Lake, a small town in Canada. Here, Lars meets Eddie (Dylan Smith), a man who doesn’t speak and has obvious social and learning disabilities. Eddie’s aunt funds the school in exchange for them allowing him to attend classes all day. When his aunt dies, Eddie goes to live with Lars as there is a clause in his aunts will stating that her estate will go to the school if they take care of him.
On the first night, Lars finds that Eddie is a sleepwalker, but he is not just any kind of sleepwalker; Eddie eats things in his sleep-Living things. Upon finding the decapitated corpse of a bunny out in the snow, Lars finds himself painting again. The more Eddie kills, the more art Lars produces. Needless to say, Lars finds himself sacrificing people to Eddie in order to complete just one last painting, but when will it end?
This film is sure to be a cult classic. Think Fargo meets Roger Corman’s 1959 classic Bucket of Blood. It has that twisted bloody winter setting mixed with the artist willing to do anything, including murder, for fame and money.
I absolutely loved Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal. Dylan Smith captures your heart as Eddie with his sweet temperament and lovable issues. Thure Lindhardt looks like Simon Pegg had a love child with Devon Sawa. As Lars, Thure is the guy you want to hate but just can’t. Stephen McHattie and Georgina Reilly, both of whom you should remember from Pontypool, play secondary characters, but both have an important role that they do incredible jobs at.
I predict that Eddie will put Rodriguez on the map and I look forward to many more films like this one from that brilliant mind of his.
Spend the time, spend the money and see Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal. Perhaps it will help you find your inspiration.
Check out the trailer here:
