Robyn Candyce
While the “cannibal” film has been an essential part of the horror genre for decades it’s hard to find one that displays consistency with being gory, psychologically disturbing, hilarious, and action packed. You never stumble across one that contains the aforementioned and also has a good story and an “A +” cast, with a well-designed production (the makeup, costumes and scenic design were all done really well) while being shot on a low budget in a small time frame. “Gravy” written by James Roday (Psych) along with cowriter Todd Harthan, and directed by Roday, is an addition to the “cannibal” film category which manages to add all those factors together, delivering a horror film that is funny, new and anything but subtle.
The film tells the story of a group of friends and co-workers including Kerry (Sutton Foster, Younger), Cricket (Molly Ephriam, Last Man Standing), Hector (Gabriel Luna, True Detective), and Winketta (Gabourey Sidibe, Empire) who are working at a windowless restaurant Halloween night when, at closing time, three stragglers Stef (Jimmi Simpson, House of Cards) Anson (Michael Weston, House M.D. ) and Lily Cole (“Snow White and the Huntsman”) refuse to leave. The trio turns out to be a triad of vicious cannibals who are participating in a feasting tradition. The cannibals take the restaurant employees hostage with no hope for escape and terrorize them not realizing how resourceful the employees can be when their survival depends on it. Sarah Silverman is also featured in the cast.
Last week I had the pleasure of having a phone conversation with Roday about his work on the film. We spoke about the positive side of taking ten years to make the movie, awesome fight sequences and the impact of “Psych” and the “Psychos” on Roday’s life. To hear the conversation click on the play button below, “Gravy” opens in theatres in New York and California on Friday, October 2nd, 2015.
