(Canada/Denmark, 83 min.)
Dir. Boris Rodriguez, Writ. Boris Rodriguez, Jonathan Rannells, Alex Epstein
Starring: Thure Lindhardt, Georgina Reilly, Dylan Scott Smith, Alain Goulem, Paul Braunstein, Stephen McHattie.

Fans of B-movie splat-n-chuckle mayhem will spill their
brains over Eddie: The Sleepwalking
Cannibal. A fun flick for the Midnight Madness crowd and for late-night
zombies everywhere, Eddie is a silly
spoof of (and addition to) the legacy of schlocky Canadian horror films. This Canadian/Danish
co-pro, shot in the snowy hills of Ottawa, spills buckets of red syrup all over
the winter landscape and the result is a bloody fun time.
The mayhem continues when Lars is stuck in an awkward
situation at school. A mentally-delayed student named Eddie (Dylan Scott Smith)
loses his aunt and requires a guardian. The pickle of the matter, as the
school’s principal (Alain Goulem) explains, is that Eddie’s wealthy aunt will
entrust a fortune to the school so long as Eddie is looked after. Lars makes a
good attempt at small-town niceties and agrees. As soon as Eddie moves in,
however, Lars discovers that Eddie’s condition has some nasty side
effects—namely, cannibalism.
Eddie’s midnight snacks trouble Lars at first, but they soon
feed his own deranged madness. The crime scenes of Eddie’s cannibalism inspire
Lars to start painting again, and his mad little spatter paintings, which we
never see, become an instant success. Buoyed again by fame, not to mention the
affection of his fellow teacher Lesley (played by Pontypool’s Georgina Reilly), Lars continues to cannibalize the
townsfolk so that he can be stirred to produce more art. Lars’s fanaticism and his obsessive drive
givs a surprising bit of braininess to this snowy gore-fest. The film makes
little sense otherwise, but perhaps that’s the point.
Like the host on the radio says during the fateful drive
that brings Lars to Koda, the artists in the region seem to be feeling a little
uninspired. Quoting Jack London, the host advises listeners, “You can’t wait
for inspiration; you have to go after it with a club.” The host bookends this
blood-splattered little ditty, and by the film’s end it seems like Eddie has really heard the call of the
wolf and has pummelled inspiration relentlessly. Eddie even nibbles on it a bit, as shown by the
filmmakers’ fun approach to grindhouse horror.
Even though the premise of the sleepwalking cannibal
stretches itself a bit thin, Eddie
provides a good one-note joke that sustains itself surprisingly well for 83
minutes. Discerning viewers might dismiss Eddie:
the Sleepwalking Cannibal as a disposable monster movie, but Eddie provides kitschy fun for anyone in
the mood for a blood-soaked snowball fight.
Rating: ★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal is available to rent or own on DVD
or iTunes.