Meat Grinder Cheuuat gaawn chim Review

Movie: Meat Grinder Cheuuat gaawn chim
By: Maniac E
Date: June 28, 2011

Raw meat kills you

There are movies out there that remind us of how cruel and sadistic one can be. Meat Grinder is making sure that censorship of films gets pushed, and with the purpose on getting in as much violent content as possible. As the landlord and his thugs slurp down Buss’ noodles and devour the bits and pieces of human meatballs, I realize there is no real plot here as I totally ignored the narrative. Oh, I mentioned human meatballs. You didn’t misread that. Our lead is a female psychopath who grinds her victims into meatballs for noodle soup and eventually, for consumption.

It is mostly doom and gloom for the Thai girl named Buss. Through flashbacks, we learn that her childhood consisted of abuse and misery. Today she runs a food stand and tries to lie the ends together for her and her daughter. Rent debt throws in a new layer for the story as if that really was necessary…. But after a fight with her landlord she gets caught up in a demonstration where military forces are trying to settle down a crowd with some bullet storms. She finds a dead man inside her food chart and starts thinking about what to do with the body… Well let’s eat it!

Meat Grinder unfolds itself to be one of the most grotesque movies coming from Asia. Buss is on a killing spree that makes sure that you will get the chills. There was even a warning message preceding the opening credits that I found hilarious as the censors have put a disclaimer so the general public doesn’t go believing that all Thai noodle vendors are going to cut you up and serve you to their next customers. Since this basically a torture movie, the storytelling and tone is impossible to define.

The bloodiness just escalates as more prey turn up. Also, while the plot is thin, I can’t argue that this has a very high quality, both on the creepiness, and the level of gore. Some scenes linger long enough that the caffeinated gore buzz wears off and a sick feeling of disgust at what we’re seeing begins to sink in. The music is also understated, consisting mostly of ambient noises and well-chosen moments of silence with the occasional irony-drenched easy listening love song thrown in for good measure. Meat Grinder at times has the look of a Wong Kar-Wai film with slow motion, blurred neon colors and artistic camera angles. But the gore is too explicit for this movie to be in the art house corner section. People who are sensitive to open wounds and the necessary cutting and carving, will often take a different direction to look at.

The film has a confusing narrative structure full of flashbacks and leaps in time. It is this approach that makes it fascinating, interesting and distinguishes it from more straightforward horror torture films. The artistic imagery with atrocities Meat Grinder is what makes a schizophrenic viewing experience, in line with the confused state of mind that Buss convincingly put down by the Thai actress Mai Charoenpura. Needless to mention that this is not the movie for a first date, but the horror fan who is ready in for a tasty new dish, will find enough ingredients for his taste to make it a pleasant viewing experience.