Meatball Machine (2005) (DVD Review)
Directed By: Yudai Yamaguchi and Jun’ichi Yamamoto
Starring: Issei Takahashi, Aoba Kawai, Kenichi Kawasaki
Rated: UR/Region: 1/1X77/Number of disc: 1
Available from TLA Releasing
Based on a short film previously created by co-director Junichi Yamamoto (the other director here is Yudai Yamaguchi, responsible for the comedic cult favorite Battlefield Baseball), Meatball Machine starts off as a sweet romance, but that doesn’t last long: shy, lonely factory worker Yoji has a crush on fellow factory employee Sachiko, but just when they start to bond…well, aliens invade the earth and attach themselves as parasites to human bodies.
Are you a fan of weird Japanese Jap-splatter films? Well, if that is the case you have surely come to the right place with, Meatball Machine. This film is just as much of a mind trip as it is an all-out gore feast. Weird things happen, very disturbing things happen, and the blood rains out in buckets by the gallons. That right there is a combo of things that I think can make any film a must see and in the case of this one it is no different. Honestly, I did get lost a time or two in the plot and probably should re-watch, but with all the violence and visuals that take place on screen, I don’t mind at all giving it another watch so soon after having originally seen it.
I think somewhere hidden inside all the madness this film brings is a bit of a social commentary about people and how we aren’t that much different from beast or machines. That being the case, it doesn’t matter if you want to look that deep into it or not, because with all the fun it brings you won’t care about any deeper meaning regardless. I’m not saying stuff like that isn’t needed in films, because that on its own is cool as well. I’m just saying you don’t have to worry about any message getting ahead of the overall good and weird time this movie is.
– Reject or Death Short Film
– Maximum Meatball Machine – Making of Featurette
– Original Meatball Machine – the Short that Started it All
– Necrobourg Creature Design Illustrations
