Meatball Machine
by Yudai Yamaguchi; Junichi Yamamoto
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DVD details
Actor: Taro Suwa; Issei Takahashi; Aoba Kawai; Ayano Yamamoto; Kenichi Kawasaki; Shoichiro Matsumoto; Tohru TezukaDirector: Yudai Yamaguchi; Junichi Yamamoto
Brand: TLA RELEASING
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Japanese (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-06-05
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: TLA
Product features:
- Meatball Machine is a wild, splatterific, experimental sci-fi/horror rollercoaster that will have your entire brain and body shaken and stirred. Capable of making biomechanical weapons out of human flesh, alien parasites grotesquely invade the Earth, turning their hosts into maniacal killers who seek and destroy each other to the bloody death! And yes, it s also a human love story, even though the
DVD Reviews of Meatball Machine
DVD Review: Warning!! you are about to waste your money...
Summary: 1 Stars
I really didnt know they still made movies this bad! I'm a hardcore horror film buff that grew up in the 80's and have watched and enjoyed many low budget sci-fi and horror films over the decades. Although, i wasnt expecting John Carpenters "The Thing", I was expecting something more solid based on what other reviewers had gushed over with this title. This movie was made on a shoe-string budget and it shows. While some of the ideas were good, the execution is so poor that it has the look and feel of a particularly bad student flick. Even Peter Jacksons "Bad Taste" made 20 years earlier (if I'm comparing "how to entertain on a budget") absolutely stomps all over this steaming pile of crap! Many of the so called shock "gore-effects" that others have commented on are unconvincing and of the "rubber" variety. I couldnt watch the last 15 minutes, not because the film was too shocking, but was simply a waste of my time. Hardcore horror buffs looking for a fix WON'T find it here!!DVD Review: Love in the Shadow of BLOOD AND GORE! "Power Rangers Collides with TETSUO the Iron Man"!
Summary: 4 Stars
Before there was "Tokyo Gore Police" and "Machine Girl", there was "MEATBALL MACHINE" (2005). Co-written and co-directed by Yudai Yamaguchi (along with Junichi Yamamoto), is an experimental film that blends horror, Japanese Blood-Splattering elements, science fiction, romance, post-apocalypticism and a whole lot of blood and GORE. The film is insane and is a remake of the short film that carries the same title in 1999. Quite complex and yet so simple in its storyline, it's the type of film that relies heavily on body disfigurement and a `cyberpunk' backdrop.
Muraishi Yoji (Issei Takahashi), loner who is also a machine worker at a local warehouse harbors feelings for the next door factory worker named Sachiko Misawa (Aoba Kawai). After being beaten up by a transvestite after he rejects his advances at a theater, Yoji finds a golden object that resembles a turtle shell that secretes an alien-like semen. Curiosity takes the best of the young man and he takes it home to examine. Shortly after, Yoji stumbles upon Sachiko who is in danger of being raped by Tanaka (Kenichi Kawasaki), one of his co-workers. Yoji intervenes and gets beaten up by Tanaka, and the kindly Sachiko takes Yoji to his home. His wounds cleaned by Sachiko, Yoji finds some connection with the lovely young woman. But to his horror, Sachiko is attacked by the turtle-like alien shell that turns her into a Necro-Borg; a living host controlled by an alien force to do battle with other groups. These alien race has been using humans as their hosts, enhancing them with organic weaponry whose power is based off anger and depression. Now Yoji must attempt to save the woman he loves, even if it means becoming a necro-borg himself...
"Meatball Machine" actually has a very simple premise; a group of parasitic alien races battling each other for supremacy with humans as pawns may have been done many times before, but when you combine the first half of the film, directors Yamaguchi and Yamamoto is able to find a heart amid all the madness. 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. You see the characters' sense of despair, pain and sadness, and therefore since this is a Japanese film, it does contain a strong commentary about negative emotions taking hold which may lead one to destruction. It also hits on some subtle hints of obsessive parental love as portrayed by an insane scientist and his daughter Michino (played by nude model Erika Sato).
The cyber-enhancements are similar to those seen in "Tetsuo the Iron Man" and they are massive, resembling the rubber suits of the aliens in "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" and "Ultraman". The transformation sequences are bizarre, as the alien sphere attaches itself to its human host; they come complete with alien secretions, old-fashioned gore effects and arterial sprays. Yes, "Meatball Machine" has blood and gore in the bucket loads, there's drills, entrails...you name it. Much of the splattering blood and gore happen in the film's fight scenes, with limbs being severed and bodies being disemboweled. It pleases me that the filmmakers have shunned the use of CGI in favor of the old-fashioned red ink and prosthetics. While its old school approach is part of its B-movie sensibilities, some folks not adulterated to the Japanese style filmmaking may become alienated.
Truth be told, the action scenes aren't as good as those seen in "Machine Girl" and "Tokyo Gore Police". They aren't as crazy and enthralling, but this film was before those other two films so I can excuse its somewhat lacking in raw craziness. Also, the film doesn't exactly use its best aces to its utmost potential--a Necro-borg fight with a lot of spectators present would've been awesome. I also thought that the filmmakers focused too much on the gore effects that the story was a little downplayed, and in the end, the love between Sachiko and Yoji wasn't fully brought into exposition. I wished that the script didn't telegraph itself a little too early, the story just didn't go full circle as much as I would've liked.
While "Meatball Machine" would be a little underwhelming when compared to the best of Japanese splatter fests, I still thought that it has enough gore, blood and bizarre alien ooze to get a `recommended' rating from one educated in Japanese cinema. Part "Tetsuo" and part "Ultraman", it is still a good cyberpunk feature that offer some old and new to the genre. It also carries some weird testament to the power of true love; wild, weird and definitely insane, the film doesn`t let up until the final climactic fight. "Meatball Machine" is complex, outrageously exaggerated, and it would be insane to say that this is a "standard" movie in the eyes of mainstream audiences. It is still refreshing to see something different once in a while...
Recommended! [3 ? Stars]
DVD Review: near plotless bloody battle movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Really, I don't have much more to say than just that. There's a thrown together story that explains why these people in huge Gwar-getups are brutally, viscerally fighting each other and then BAM. They're fighting. It's outrageous, it's violent, it's bloody, gorey, and it's wonderful. It's the perfect streamlined splatter film. The plot really does little more than establish the basic premise and motives of the characters and the rest is all mayhem of the over-the-top variety. Then 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.
So that's Meatball Machine for you. You're set up with enough information to feel you know what's going down and then you just shut off your brain and watch the effects roll. Simple. Wonderful.
DVD Review: One of the worst movies you'll ever own (and possibly like)
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this movie on a whim due to the line, "'Plays like a gloriously bloody and R-rated version of the "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers."' --DVD Town"
While the fighting is pretty cheesy like MMPR, the plot is deliciously weak, there's very little character development, and the ending makes absolutely no sense. Gore and (off-screen) tentacle rape drive the story on this one, in case you couldn't guess.
The real stand-out feature is the drawn-out commentary from the cast. I could only make it through about 30 minutes of the commentary with a group of friends, but that's because the main point the whole cast was driving home was, "We made the best movie we could with almost no budget, campy special effects, and an original cut that was so bad that a new director was called in to re-shoot parts of the movie." - it was probably one of the best commentaries I've ever seen, especially after watching the movie.
DVD Review: Ken's review
Summary: 2 Stars
Was what i expected,B movie done pretty well, for there budget.A lot of special features.
Description of Meatball Machine
Meatball Machine is a wild, splatterific, experimental sci-fi/horror rollercoaster that will have your entire brain and body shaken and stirred. Capable of making biomechanical weapons out of human flesh, alien parasites grotesquely invade the Earth, turning their hosts into maniacal killers who seek and destroy each other to the bloody death! And yes, it s also a human love story, even though the budding romantics are infested with slimy, tumor-like globules. Codirectors Junichi Yamamoto and Yudai Yamaguchi (Battlefield Baseball) pull out all the stops and don t let up until the final epic battle. It s a touching testament to young love, blood, and alien ooze that leaves you screaming for more!General DVDs
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