Audience Member
Yūdai Yamaguchi keeps showing up on our site, but when you make movies like Battlefield Baseball and Versus, you get as many entries as you want.
Based on the 1999 film written, produced and directed by Jun'ichi Yamamoto (who co-directed this) and featuring effects by Yoshihiro Nishimura (Kataude Mashin Gâru, Kyûketsu Shôjo tai Shôjo Furanken), this film has two geeky would-be lovers who never really get together, as Sachiko ends up penetrated not by Yōji, but by the NecroBorg in his room. Instead of the love that they wanted to experience, they must battle to the death, and by battle to the death, I mean a war that explodes viscera and blood and meat and organs all over the place.
As a kid, I always dreamed of getting to transform into something better, like Ultraman, but the reality would probably be that I'd be one of these gory creations, battling for the joy of some high pitched alien floating in space that can't wait to eat me.
This isn't the kind of movie I'd watch on a first date, unless you've found a partner that likes movies that have ten minute long grossout fights and try to make Tetsuo into something directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis. And if you find them, keep that unicorn and treat them like the magical and special royalty they assuredly are.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
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Audience Member
This movie was very promising when I looked at it well other then the name but then i watched it
The pacing isn't actually that bad and the creatures don't look terrible BUT all of the creature suits look the same they are all bulky and the only difference you can tell is the weapon they have.
The characters were all right but Yoji was.....strange to say the least and they hyped up the man and his daughter but then they don't really do anything with them....at all
Then there was that confusing as fuck ending I had no idea what was going on at that point and ive pretty much given up on the film. If it has a Reboot or a Sequel I would consider watching it
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
01/20/23
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Audience Member
One sentence summary: Ugly, poorly crafted; short on ideas, long on poor execution.
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Shy factory worker, Yoji, trudges through life.
Alien parasites control people and gets them to fight each other.
The people Yoji works with try to get him sexual experience. After yet another failure along these lines, Yoji finds an alien, and takes it to his work. He tries to drill into it, and fails.
Yoji prevents his boss from raping a woman, Sachiko, who works near the factory. He gets beaten up and fired, but meets the woman, anyway. She was a victim of child abuse at the hands of her father.
In the middle of their revealing discussion to one another, one of the aliens attacks her. He tries lamely to stop it, and fails utterly. She attacks him, then leaves. Yoji wakes up in a place where an alien hunter hangs out. The alien hunter explains some of the history of the quiet invasion, and tells him that the only way to save Sachiko is to kill her and the parasite. The hunter's daughter was partially saved from the parasites, but is still somewhat infected. So the hunter infects Yoji so he can feed Yoji to his daughter.
Yoji and Sachiko fight each other. Way too many minutes on the internal shots of tiny parasites in context-free wiggling.
-----Scores-----
Cinematography: 3/10 Soft focus, wobbly camera.
Sound: 3/10 Harsh, staccato, irritating. Anti-relevant background music.
Acting: 1/10 What acting?
Screenplay: 4/10 Short on ideas, long on poor execution.
SFX: 1/10 So much obvious effort, so badly done.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/13/23
Full Review
Audience Member
"Sachiko...try to remember."
Quite possibly one of the goriest and weirdest movies ever made, but under all of the blood and slime is actually a decent love story.
Premise: A lonely factor worker named Yoji falls for a girl named Sachiko. Shortly before stopping a man from taking advantage of her, he comes across a strange alien bug. To his horror the bug attacks and infects Sachiko when he brings her back to his house. The bug takes control of her body mutating her into a grotesque cyborg. Now Yoji must try to save the girl he loves, even if that means becoming infected himself.
A blend of overly violent action and cyberpunk, Meatball Machine is both shocking and funny at times. It's one of those movies that never slows down with action and gore present in nearly every scene. As the movie progresses it gets even more bizarre, giving us scenes that only a madman would dream up, many of them so absolutely ridiculous it's hilarious. The characters seem a little thin at first but they kind of grow on you. I really don't think the writers really paid attention to this character development, rather focusing on other things like trying to figure out how to shock the audience. Still I felt something for them. The movie still would have been good even if it didn't have the love story aspect. This aspect still would have made a good drama in its own right, its two lonely lovers who presumably have had no experience in the dating game or romance all together. But all of that comes to a screeching halt once Sachiko is infected and is turned into a monster. It has been said that this is a metaphor for how hard relationships are and I have agree. There's much more than the gore in this film that meets the eye. It has meaning so all of the violence doesn't seem completely pointless. There are also some pretty hilarious parts, now whether they were intentional or not is up in the air. My problems with the movie lay in the script. Like I said the characters are thin and I hate to say it but we've seen virtually these seem characters before. The make-up and special effects have been praised and when it comes to that I'm sorta on the fence. At times such as the close-ups on the faces, it looks amazing, but when the camera pans back it is more than obvious that the costumes are made of rubber. The CGI seems dated for a 2005 movie. My final problem is with the editing. Quite a few scenes last a little too long when they shouldn't. The thing is all of those problems sort of seem to disappear when watching it, maybe that's because you're too busy laughing or trying not to vomit. If you can handle the high amount of gory violence and the fact that at times it's so stupid it's funny, Meatball Machine isn't a bad way to waste a Saturday night on. Oh and it's probably going to be the weirdest movie you'll ever see, but I think you'll love it because of that. It really does shine as an ultra-violent science fiction/action film. I would not be surprised to see it reach cult status in the future. But heed my warning it's about 10 times as gory as the recent Evil Dead remake. Total Score: 7.4/10
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/21/23
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Audience Member
Survival lessons: Don't pick fights with crossdressers. Underneath the dress they are still a man and kicks from high heels really hurt. I'm not saying that you shouldn't pick up strange alien devices out of the garbage. Who hasn't right? Just don't stash them in your closet.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
02/25/23
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Audience Member
Over-the-top, super-gory, low-budget science-fiction fun! I originally called Evil Dead Trap anime done live but I was wrong; THIS is anime done live--think The Guyver mixed with Tetsuo 2:Body Hammer. And thumbs up to the makers for actually saying the title in the film even if it is only once and at the very end. Be forewarned though it is subtitled.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
Full Review
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