Meatball Machine – Review

There were always two movies I’ve seen but never wanted to review. One was Visitor Q and the other is Meatball Machine, for reasons best described as I didn’t want to revisit the films in my mind. They are just really foul films that don’t sit well with me. Well, in honor of horror week I decided to let loose of this film and share with you the madness that is Meatball Machine. The movie then starts with a fight scene between two cyborg creatures, the winner eating the others heart. The film starts bloody, runs bloody, and ends bloody. The story follows Yoji who works in a factory with co-workers he doesn´t like and spends all his time fantasizing about Sachiko, a girl who works next door. One day, Sachiko takes notice of him after he saves her from his colleagues. What Yoji doesn´t realize is that he´s been sucked into a battle that he may not be able to come out of on top.

As if I need to say it, the movie is campy. However, J-Horror fans, Meatball Machine will definitely satisfy your itch for gore. This film contains ropy tendrils, split heads, eye gouging, heart bulbs, slime, eyeball drills, gooey skeletons, and a little masturbation, a transvestite, and a prostitute for good measure. Horror week has elevated my website to a mature rating for sure. The movie is well acted and as you might expect from a movie called Meatball Machine, that relies on monsters in latex…it is chalk full of crazy fight scenes. The director takes his hat off to classic horror directors such as Sam Raimi, David Cronenburg, and so there is blood and gore galore. The colors in particular are wonderfully evocative. Even the stage blood looks all too real.

Now this movie is not for anyone who has no interest in campy or cult movies, but if cult flicks are up your ally, and crazy mutant parasite aliens taking over human bodies, and then eating each other is your bag…then by all means. The main problem I found with this flick is that I thought it should have got rid of the romance story altogether and made this what the directors invariably wanted it to be: a demo reel for a career in visual effects. There is a long scene of where we see the alien host invading themselves to the human’s body in graphic fashion. It’s graphic, realistic and very bizarre. There are other surprises into how the hosts operate but I’m not going to spoil it. Sadly, the films action can grow incredibly repetitive but it still shocks and has plenty of awe.

The film brings the total alienation and loneliness of its two main leads. Sachiko and Yoji are both repressed individuals, they have had their share of bad luck in their lives. Most specifically Sachiko had been sexually abused by her own father while Yoji also has his own sad tale to tell. It bring a level of character development out that I enjoyed and was surprised to see in this type of film. It rounds out with the most bizarre exposition I’ve ever seen that goes on for somewhere around three to five minutes, but it was so bizarre I just couldn’t be bored by it. Will true love prevail, or shall the necroborgs inherit the earth? Meh, I’m sure no one is concerned about that aspect but blood flows, and spews, and it will capture your attention. In a thin plotted splatterfest like this one, that is about all you can hope for.