MEATBALL MACHINE

By Blake Redding

*WARNING*

All movies reviewed for SUNDAY SNUFF contain graphic depictions that may include rape, live animals being murdered, and extreme gore.  None of the writers condone such acts we just watch this shit.

MEATBALL MACHINE is a low budget Japanese sci-fi/horror movie from directors Yudai Yamaguchi and Junichi Yamamoto. Believe it or not, this is actually a remake of a 1999 film of the same name. This movie can be lumped in the same category as other Japanese gore flicks such as TOKYO GORE POLICE and MACHINE GIRL That should give you a pretty good idea on what you are in for when you watch MEATBALL MACHINE.

 Lonely factory worker Muraishi has the hots for his cute female co-worker Sachiko. While walking home from work one night, Muraishi comes across a strange looking foreign object that kind of resembles a turtle shell. His curiosity gets the best of him and he scoops it up. Oh, I also forgot to mention that before finding the strange object, Muraishi gets the shit kicked out of him by a transvestite after he refused his advances. Yeah, it’s that kind of movie. After the pummeling and alien object gathering, Muraishi just so happens to walk up on Sachiko being sexually assaulted. Being the stand up guy that he is, Muraishi rushes to her aid and gets his ass kicked again, but at least Sachiko didn’t get raped. He walks her to his apartment where they can nurse their wounds together and engage in WAY too much conversation for this kind of movie. While they both sit around the apartment looking pathetic, the alien turtle shell thingy fires out some tentacles and attacks Sachiko. It drills out her eyes and penetrates her with one of the tentacles, impregnating her with an alien life form. The alien grows and eventually takes over Sachiko’s body, turning her into a cyborg alien hybrid. In order to save her, Muraishi has to become a cyborg as well. The aliens inside them decide it’s time to do battle with their human hosts. They form all kinds of organic weapons and battle it out in blood and gore greatness. During the intense battle, they try to break the alien hold on their bodies by being super emotional and caring for each other, all while firing laser cannons and jizz guns at each other. The movie ends with the two aliens having a conversation about the depths of human emotions and how they will never be able to truly ‘control’ them. Great heartfelt message I guess.

This is the kind of movie that you would expect Quentin Tarantino to plaster his name all over. It is completely over the top and overly gory on purpose.  It reminds me of an episode of The Power Rangers on acid. The production is low and the costumes are just ridiculous. Most of the gore happens during the cyborg/alien battle. Lots of cut off limbs and blood spray. The most cringe-inducing scene has to be when Sachiko’s eyes get drilled out. There was no cut away, which was pretty cool. There is definitely enough blood and gore to go around.  I have always been a fan of the over the top splatter gore Japanese movies, but MEATBALL MACHINE fell a little flat for me. It spent a little too much time on the relationship between Muraishi and Sachiko, which really hurt the pacing of the movie. I had to wait too long in between the action scenes. This gore hound wants blood!

MEATBALL MACHINE is a cartoony, bloody, and comedic way to kill 90 minutes. It’s not a bad watch, but if you want to watch a solid Japanese gore flick, I would recommend MACHINE GIRL. We will post a review of that movie here in the very near future kids!

Blake and Jimmy's Extreme-O-Gauge 

Realistic Gore: 4 out of 5, Cartoony but abundant!

Rape: 2 out of 5, Implied alien rape, not very graphic though, don’t worry. 

Animal Death:  0 out of 0, Nope, not today.

Necrophilia:  0 out of 0, None

Torture: 3 out of 5, The cyborg transformations seemed pretty painful

Overall Movie: 3 out of 5, Not bad, but like I said, I would recommend MACHINE GIRL instead.