Reviewed On: 05/17/2008 By
Pazuzu Iscariot
From the opening scene
Meatball Machine bombards the viewer with over the top
violence, gore and brutality. The cover art is enough to inspire any
Asian horror movie fan to want to see more. The story, although typically Manga craziness, is quite ingenious and typically
horror movie style pointlessness (the type of pointlessness that appeals to the horror crowd, the pointless massacre of humans).
The earth is secretly being invaded by some parasitic alien life forms for sport. Once the parasite finds a host it is able to manipulate the human flesh to a drastic degree to turn the human victim into a killing machine. A drastic degree involves masses of tubes, wires and weapons of mass destruction, plus heightened human senses, usually starting with enhanced vision achieved by drilling out the eyes and replacing them with the new improved versions.
Once piloting the death machines the aliens seek each other out and engage in brutal battles to the death with the victor eating the victim, all for fun of course.
Aside from the vicious death battles,
Meatball Machine is predominantly a love story about the love between a reclusive young man, Yoji, and an insecure young woman, Sachiko. When Yoji is kicked-in by a transvestite whose advances he spurned he stumbles upon a silver sphere in the garbage in which he ends up. Intrigued by the object he takes it home to study further but soon forgets about it when it's looking like he may be able to get some love action from Sachiko. His plan is soon scuppered when Sachiko is taken over by the parasite and becomes a deformed machine.
Whilst running for his life Yoji is rescued by a man and his daughter who know of the alien invasion. The daughter is in fact already infected by an alien being but is being kept relatively human by a diet of other alien beings that the old man is cultivating in the basement. Yoji discovers the basement and decides that he must infect himself in order to kill Sachiko and save her from the traumatic life that he has subjected her to by inviting her to his apartment in the first place.
The alien parasites power comes from human emotions and due to the intense love that Yoji and Sachiko feel for each other they become the ultimate killing machines and the rest of the movie is a complete sensory assault as the two lovers' battle each other to a gruesome and totally tripped out death and ultimately taking the
meatball machine sport to a new level.
Meatball Machine is an amazing slice of
Japanese sci-fi horror. The storyline is ridiculous enough to draw you in, the
violence and gore is excessive and the acting is... who cares about the acting... the gore is excessive. This movie is Tetsuo on acid and a must for fans of the more off-the-wall
Asian horror
