From an early age, South Yorkshire native Liam Regan took influence in 1980s horror films, particularly Troma movies. After buying a copy of The Toxic Avenger Part II from his local Blockbuster, Liam decided filmmaking was his passion. He got to live out his dream by working with Lloyd Kaufman on Return to Nuke ‘Em High Volume 1. After working on Return to Return to Nuke ‘Em High Aka Vol. 2, Regan went off to found Refuse Films. He made the short film Confessions of Peltzer, which premiered at TromaDance 2012. Regan expanded the short into a feature film, My Bloody Banjo, winning Best Horror Comedy at the Weekend of Horrors. He returned to Troma to help write Lloyd’s latest film, #Shakespeare’s Shitstorm, before moving on to his next feature. In September 2022, Eating Miss Campbell premiered in the US at the GenreBlast Film Festival.
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Synopsis
Beth Connor (Lyndsey Craine) is a 17-year-old goth vegan attending Henelotter High who’s perpetually stuck in a horror film. She can only escape if she kills herself, but she wants to do it in a memorably gruesome way. Meanwhile, Tusk Everbone (Justin A. Martell) and Nancy Applegate (Annabella Rich) hire Mr. Sawyer (Vito Trigo) as the new headmaster. At an assembly, Sawyer announces the “All You Can Eat Massacre,” an eating competition where the winner gets a handgun. Whoever wins the gun can kill themselves or shoot up the school, so Beth enters, hoping to end it all. However, things go awry when she develops a craving for human flesh and a crush on Miss Campbell (Lala Barlow). To make matters worse, Campbell is a psychopathic killer picking off the students and staff. Will Beth’s suicide be successful, or will her appetites consume her?
Review
The opening minutes of Eating Miss Campbell, where Beth talks directly to the camera, tell you what to expect. This film will be a self-aware horror-comedy that pokes fun at the tropes and conventions of the genre. But rather than just being a horror comedy, this movie also tackles some issues of gun violence and gender equality. Specifically, the theme of almost glamorizing school shootings is an excellent satire of news stations constantly publicizing such tragic stories. This film should come with a warning as there isn’t a single thing some people won’t find offensive. It takes dark subject matter like teacher/student relations, gun violence, and misogyny and twists them on their heads. Writer/director Liam Regan adds references to everything from Heathers and Mean Girls to Child’s Play 3 and Scream. Even the Rugrats-inspired opening credits add to its live-action cartoon vibe.
Tone-wise, this movie is like a combination of 90s Nickelodeon and the splatter films of Peter Jackson. With so much blood and viscera spewed everywhere, this will no doubt satisfy any gorehound’s lust for carnage. To help offset the chaos, Lyndsey Craine gives an outstanding performance as the straight person reacting to all the insanity. Her snarky attitude and dry wit help make her endearing when this character could’ve been annoying in someone else’s hands. Lala Barlow also shines as the outwardly bubbly yet internally vicious Miss Campbell, and her scenes with Craine are gold. This movie doesn’t look cheap for a low-budget horror comedy, with its moody lighting and solid practical effects. Admittedly, the occasional CGI blood splatter hurts it, and some of the gags don’t land, but it’s still wicked fun. Overall, Eating Miss Campbell won’t appeal to everyone, but genre fans will love it.
Special thanks to Liam Regan for providing a screener link to the movie: https://twitter.com/refuseliam.
