Meatball Machine (2005) Reviews

• The visceral pleasure of watching cyborgs tear each other apart

  K_Todorov2007-09-22

  Directed by the duo Yudai Yamaguchi (Battlefield Baseball) and Jun'ichi Yamamoto "Meatball Machine" is apparently a remake of Yamamoto's 1999 movie with the same name. I doubt I'll ever get a chance to see the original so I'll just stick commenting on this one. First of what is "Meatball Machine" ? A simple in noway pretentious low budget industrial splatter flick packed with great make up effects and gore. It's not something you'll end up writing books about but it's nevertheless entertaining if you dig this type of cinema. "Meatball Machine" follows the well known plot. Boy loves girl but is too afraid to ask her on a date. Boy finally meets girl. Girl gets infected by a parasitic alien creature that turns her into a homicidal cyborg. Boy, in turn does also transform into said thing, and goes on a quest to save his love. Will he succeed? Who gives a damn, as long as there is carnage and death I'm satisfied. The plot is simple, relatively clichéd but it does it's job well enough setting the movie's course straight forward into a bloody confrontation between the two leading characters. There is a subplot focusing on how the parasite that infected the girl came into to their lives. And yes it too luckily shows more violence. I'm happy. Acting is what you would expect from a no budget splatter film. It's not exactly painful for the ears but it's not exactly good either. The movie's main attraction besides the violence and gore (like I haven't mentioned that enough already) are the cyborg designs. Done by Keita Amemiya who's work in creating outlandish creatures and costumes for both movies and video-games is well known. The necroborgs as they are called in "Meatball Machine" look stunningly detailed. Without the usage of CGI Amemiya's designs are a breathtaking fusion of flesh and metal, painfully awesome in their appearance. Able to transforms various parts of the body into cool weaponry such as saws, rocket launchers, blood-firing shotguns and so on and so on. Though you can easily recognize the cheapness of the film, necroborgs are A-movie class. "Meatball Machine" is "Tetsuo The Iron Man" mixed up with "Alien" all done in low budget and extra ketchup mode. It's an immensely entertaining film that disregards modern special effects and proves that the splatter genre is still alive and kicking.

• Splattery Japanese Cyber-punk...

  EVOL6662007-12-07

  The Japanese cyber-punk films have never really done a whole lot for me, but of the handful that I've seen, most have been at least visually interesting and at least mostly entertaining. MEATBALL MACHINE is no exception. The storyline is about a species of parasites that take over human hosts, takes control of their bodies, turns them into "necroborgs", and causes them to fight each other with the sole purpose of eating each other - apparently as a "game" for the enjoyment of said parasites. The film mainly revolves around a shy guy and gal who fall for each other, but whose love-affair is cut short by both being infected with the parasites, and are forced to fight each other. It becomes a test of human-will vs. the parasite's control over their physical bodies... MEATBALL MACHINE will invariably be compared to TETSUO (as most cyber-punk films are), and for good reason. There are definitely some thematic parallels, though the films are definitely different. There's plenty of fun, splattery moments in MEATBALL MACHINE, and the creature/borg FX are definitely the high-point - a mixture of TETSUO-meets-GWAR that are both elaborate and inventive. Depending on your taste for these types of films, MEATBALL MACHINE may or may not be your thing. If you enjoy hyper-kinetic cyber-punk films with a healthy dose of splatter - this one's for you...7/10

• Stunning splatterfest freakout

  Indyrod2008-06-21

  Wow baby, this is indeed some fine Asian horror/gore, and a crazy outlandish movie. This is a Japanese splatterfest that reminded me a little of Tetsuo, except in this case with all the blood and guts, there is a bizarre love story. It's hard to imagine how they even dreamed up this visually stunning movie, with some unique alien creatures that infect humans as parasites, turning them into part machine or I guess cyborgs. The only thing wrong with these creatures after they take over a human, is they need to kill each other and eat the other. hmmm, yum yum. This would probably be called industrial splatter or something like that, with a superb soundtrack to add to all the fun. The movie also borrows a little from Carpenter's "The Thing" in creature design and effects. I would put this in the must-have category for gorehounds, as there is non-stop carnage and some very fine gore. And a must-have for stoners, because you don't even need to read the sub-titles, the visual images alone are enough of a mind trip. The design of the little creatures that inhabit the human body like a fetus reminded me a little of Frank Henenlotter's movies, which is another homage to some excellent gore films with a sense of humour. "Meatball Machine" is great fun for gorehounds, there is no doubt about it, and I simply loved it.

• Love means never having to say you're infested with an alien parasite.

  Stachehunter-857-731112014-01-08

  Let's cut to the chase: Boy meets girl. Both parties are emotionally and sexually stunted. Unexplained alien parasites are wandering around looking for humans to mutate into "Necroborgs" who fight one another to the death. Aliens turn both boy and girl into quasi-alien fighting machines, although they really, really like each other. Mayhem ensues, gallons of blood are spilled, and the boy finally proves his love by "growing" what amounts to a giant penis cannon from his chest and blowing up his girlfriend real good. No one ever said love comes easily. This ridiculous and zany entry into Japanese splatter lacks a strong story, as well as the two main characters flat-lining in their performances. The earlier and much better "Tetsuo" is the movie "Meatball" is attempting to emulate. For all the wacky Bohemian mutation going on here, the entire enterprise simply becomes the worst thing it can mutate into: boring. The mutated humans look as if they've been covered in epoxy and rolled around Home Depot creating hardware body shells from stuff mostly found in the plumbing and electrical parts section. Special mention to the rubber hose crew for ripping off the flailing tentacles first seen in John Carpenter's "The Thing". Far too much time is spent on human interior shots, where the parasites do their dirty work. The aliens look like pink versions of 1959's "The Tingler", crossed with those very expensive Hawaiian crab-claw flowers you pay 25 bucks apiece for in an uptown florist shop. The parasites spend a lot of time crying,evidently having sex with themselves, and giggling, for reasons unexplained...until the end of this junk, where you are treated to a ten-minute conversation between two parasites who are evidently pals playing a cosmic game of some sort. The viewer is treated to a final shot of a nasty eyeball thingy spaceship, with a happy voice-over that the games will continue. By the time this stupid excuse for a movie rolls around, you'll feel like someone repeatedly hit you in the face with a plate of rotten sushi. There is not a single meatball in sight, which is sad. Very sad.

• Entertaining and cheerful massacre

  sevdah2007-06-30

  I don't know whether to recommend this movie to the fans of " Tetsuo " or not . Why " Tetsuo " ? Because you can easily label some things about this movie as a very obvious " Tetsuo " rip - off . The concept is similar , editing is equally frantic and fast - which is good because , aside from making the movie more dynamic , it obscures some flaws caused by low budget and other factors . There is lot more gore , less eroticism and , in the case of " Meatball machine " , the transformation of human being into a creature that's partially a machine( sounds familiar ? ) called " Necroborg " ( very original ) is caused by slimy little aliens . These slimy little scums from outer space actually use human beings as vessels for their gladiator games that they play with each other . They infest the body , somehow manage to put an insane amount of mechanical parts in it pulling them seemingly out of nowhere and turn it into a killing machine that targets other Necroborgs . Their aim is to defeat another alien who is in another Necroborg , rip it out of the corpse and eat it . All in all , the plot sounds somewhat silly and I didn't expect much , but at the end I actually enjoyed this film . As I said before , this is a low budget flick , but it's still relatively decent . Don't expect much from actors , they're mostly not very good , but it can be tolerated . I liked the atmosphere and gore , certain bizarre situations and the way the movie is directed and edited . Although the story is not too original , it possesses certain charm - to me at least . 7 out of 10 .