Empty calories

>> Top of the Food Chain isn't terrifically filling

by MATTHEW HAYS

Winnipeg-based director John Paizs drew a good deal of attention for his 1985 feature Crime Wave, a highly unusual oddity which star critic Gerald Peary was prompted to call "the funniest Canadian film ever made."

Sadly, the history of Canadian film is littered with stories like that of Paizs. After Crime Wave, everyone expected some kind of major followup. And though active in TV, including involvement with episodes of Kids in the Hall, Paizs hasn't followed up with a feature of note--until now.

Top of the Food Chain is a bizarre and quirky film, a self-conscious ode to the campy sci-fi films of the '50s and '60s, infused with sexually charged and absurd plot twists. The populace of the small town of Exceptional Vista are besieged by a mysterious, stalking gang of aliens, who can apparently take on human form and who gobble up humans for their supper. Campbell Scott, playing the handsome scientist type, shows up to help the townsfolk investigate. Fiona Loewi is the beautiful gal-about-town who works with Scott to solve the crime, while Tom Everett Scott is her overprotective brother.

I really wanted to like this movie. I love this kind of stuff: I was a huge Twin Peaks fan, adore old Roger Corman movies (X--the Man with the X-Ray Eyes and Little Shop of Horrors are among my favourites), and certainly count myself as a Campbell Scott aficionado (this actor is underused, for sure). But Paizs and screenwriters Phil Bedard and Larry Lalonde seem to be trying way too hard to carry off that surreal edge which is supposed to carry the movie.

There are comic misunderstandings, obligatory screwy small-town types and even an incestuous twist between Scott and Loewi. But none of it really congeals into an intriguing--or particularly funny--whole. Instead, we're left with a group of talented actors in unusual circumstances, left to try and figure out what the magic formula is to rid themselves of the alien monsters.

Rather than making me want to root for this low-budget Canadian feature, watching Food Chain made me want to root for a rerelease of Crime Wave--a film that got some praise, but never really got the kind of widespread response it deserved.

Top of the Food Chain opens Friday, March 10.