Meatball Machine [ミートボールマシン] (2006)
Starring Issei Takahashi, Aoba Kawai, Kenichi Kawasaki, Shōchirō Masumoto, Tōru Tezuka, Ayano Yamamoto
Directed by Yūdai Yamaguchi
Unlike the other Japanese horror films I’ve reviewed for previous Octobers, Meatball Machine isn’t very goofy or humorous, even unintentionally. It’s more of a straightforward thriller about a bunch of cyborg monsters ripping innocent people (and each other) apart. Considering the title, I was hoping for something a bit more lighthearted, but I can make do with what I got, although even after watching it I still have no idea what that title is all about.
Coming from the mid 2000s you might be expecting a riot of piss-poor CG effects littering the film, but I can thankfully report that the vast majority of this film’s FX work is physical. It’s still very low budget and the monster suits look far more like rubber than the metal they’re supposed to look like, but I’ll take that over bad CG any day. Meatball Machine is also filled with these effects at every turn. This is definitely not a B-movie to skimp on the action, and that makes it a pretty fun, if not amazing, film to watch.