Bite (2023)

"An Everyday Story of Suburban Folk"

That's a play on the tagline for Pete Walker's superior 1974 FRIGHTMARE by the way, for those who didn't spot it, and while director, co-writer and co-producer James Owens' film isn't really up to matching that classic, BITE is still an entertaining, and extremely gory, timewaster if you fancy a bit of eccentric suburban grue.

Nina (Shian Donovan) and Yaz (Nansi Nue) plan to go straight after their scheme to rob an illegal dog-fighting ring goes wrong. However, they plan to do one last job at a house where they know £3000 has been stashed in a biscuit tin. It also happens to be the house where Nina recently spent four nights with no memory of what happened after she was given a lift by Beryl (former child star Annabelle Lanyon probably best known for Ridley Scott's LEGEND as well as Harley Cokeliss' DREAM DEMON) who lives there with her husband Gerald (Stuart Sessions). Unfortunately for the girls Gerald has a basement full of semi-dissected corpses and the family has a penchant for eating human meat.

Starting off like a gloomy, brutal crime picture, BITE soon changes gears and, once we're in the house of horrors it starts to feel a bit like an episode of Inside No.9, albeit one where it's difficult sometimes to tell if the humour is intentional or not. The film is pretty rough around the edges but in its favour are a couple of decent performances and the fact that it's never dull. There's the sense that Owen knows his horror and has gone out of his way to homage both Tobe Hooper's TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and Herschell Gordon Lewis' BLOOD FEAST and if you know those movies you'll be able to spot which bits I mean. The ending peters out a bit but if you fancy something cheap and cheerful with some jolly throwing around of blood and body parts this might fit the bill on a quiet evening. Here's the trailer:

BITE is out on digital from Bulldog Film Distribution on Monday 27th October 2023