Seven friends are tricked into eating burgers made of human flesh.
A horror based around a creature that hunts and feasts on cannibals. It's quite an original and creative premise, that helps to build up some curiosity within the viewer in the first act. The Young Cannibals has three sets of opening scenes to introduce the antagonists, introduce the central protagonists, and to bring in the other meat for the metaphorical grinder (...I mean protagonist's friends).
The three scenes have drastically different tones, from survival horror to crime thriller (think about Guy Ritchie's films like Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) to family drama. It's not until all of the characters come together that the extent of the premise is revealed and the film picks up the pace as a slasher horror flick.
There is a certain amount of suspension of belief required to truly enjoy the film as it is full of plot holes and easily rectified problems. This isn't totally surprising from writers and directors Kris Carr and Sam Fowler, with The Young Cannibals being their first full feature film. Script issues such as characters knowing information that they weren't present for, personalities suddenly changing to force conflict into the film, or the central protagonist not being properly developed.
The very slow reveal of information around the central protagonist is detrimental to the audience's enjoyment of the film as this is the one character that they need to properly connect with. In this case, there is visible conflict and contentious issues abound, but without any reveal until later in the film, there is no idea on who the viewer is meant to root for. Especially in slasher horror films, a strong emotional investment is make-or-break.
The direction of the film is quite interesting. There are some clear influences from the likes of The Blair Witch Project, Predator, and The Descent to the point where the original premise starts to be let down by tropes that we have seen many times before. The lack of overexplaining in relation to the creature works to the film's advantage, with the lack of "boundaries" and limitations adding suspense and mystery.
The creature itself has an interesting character design and has a somewhat nautical twinge to it. It still has an unreal texture to it, but for a low budget film, the amount of practical effects and gore incorporated is impressive. The cinematography itself is well-executed with some great depth of field, and intense, tight close-ups.
The real flaw to the film comes from its one-dimensional human characters, who bring nothing exciting to the story after they are introduced. Despite an around-average runtime for a horror flick (100 minutes), it still feels like it drags in the final act. Without any other form of character development to fall back on, the amount of time the audience is willing to sit and watch these characters being hunted is pushed to the absolute limit and then pushed well beyond that, with three potential spots for the film bypassed.
The bones of a good horror are certainly present; an original premise, good practical effects, and a surprisingly engaging score. The script simply could have done with a few more revisions and the direction could have had been more original, rather than trying to replicate the style from other successful films.
Still, a good effort with a solid foundation, for a debut on a budget, shot straight out of film school.