Eager beaver rookie cop and hardcore horror fan Danny Bannerman (a fine and appealing performance by the attractive Elisabeth Moss) spends the night in an isolated precinct with savage cannibalistic serial killer Duane 'Eater' Mellor (a frightening portrayal by the hulking Stephen R. Hart), who plans on making Bannerman his next "meal." Director Stuart Gordon, working from a tight and engrossing script by Richard Chizmar and Johnathon Schaech, relates the absorbing plot at a brisk pace, creates and sustains a spooky atmosphere (having the story occur on a bleak snowy evening further adds to said eerie mood), milks plenty of tension from the claustrophobic police station setting, delivers a few icky moments of fairly nasty gore, and pulls off a neat little dark surprise twist at the end. The sound acting from the capable cast helps a lot: Moss impresses as a strong and spunky damsel in distress, Hart with his long stringy hair, deep rumbling voice, and towering height makes for a genuinely scary and unsettling psycho freak, plus there are solid supporting contributions from Stephen Lee as obnoxious jerk Marty Steinwitz, Russell Hornsby as the sympathetic Sergeant Williams, and Pablo Schreiber as the antagonistic Mattingly. Alwyn Kumst's grayish cinematography provides an effectively gloomy look. Bobby Johnson's rattling score does the heart-pounding trick. Worth a watch.
Review of Eater
