User reviews

Buss is a disturbed lady who kills people and sometimes makes them into food. Meat Grinder is the story of how and why she came to this pretty pass, and where she goes. By all rights this should be a real winner, it has a workable story, reasonable pace and some entertaining gore and yet it actually comes out somewhat stodgy, dull in places. The trouble is mostly in the storytelling, fractured yet centred it draws shards of past and present in claustrophobic swirl about its lead, not really letting the story breath for itself or gather up a compelling sense of rhythm or flow. If the central performance were a bit better there might have been compelling emotional momentum but unfortunately Mai Charoenpura is fairly one note as Buss, cold and stressed out but not all that affecting. As a result the film is mostly interesting for the sake of various grisly moments, nothing we haven't seen before of course but some good stuff all the same, with a generally twisted edge that gives it that all important punch. Stylistic tics at times detract from affairs, like random switching between colour and black and white, but at least the nasty moments aren't spoiled by coke head edits, speedy cam or incomprehensible close ups, we still get to see the good stuff. What we don't see though is very much in the way of actual meat grinding, the title seems to have been put in place to catch the eye rather than for any great relevance to the films content. It's actually a sombre story of a woman's plight and what happens when she finally cracks, and though it follows a fairly predictable woe is the plight of the Asian woman trajectory, its still dark enough to be watchable. I'm probably making this one sound much less worthy than it is, certainly others have had stronger and more positive reactions. It does all just about hang together (aside from unexplained and irrelevant scenes involving rioters), it has some classy moments and the story works itself out in appropriately twisted fashion, but I was a bit nonplussed overall by it. Still semi worth a watch, but a good idea to suspend ones expectations and maybe have some booze or other viewing aids on hand to ease the passage. Fair 6/10 from me ('cause I'm a gorehound at heart).

I have had "Meat Grinder" (aka "Cheuuat gaawn chim") on the DVD shelves for quite a while, about two years, give or take, and never gotten around to watching it before now. Which is odd, given the fact that I enjoy Asian horror movies quite a lot. And now having seen "Meat Grinder" I can say with all honesty that it is more than just your average gorefest.

The text advertised on the DVD cover, "SAW was just an appetizer... Welcome to the main course", is somewhat of a grotesque exaggeration, because "Saw" and "Meat Grinder" are two very different movies and two very different sub-genres of horror. The only similarity is that they are both visually graphic in terms of gore and mayhem.

The story told in "Meat Grinder" is about a street vendor in Thailand named Buss (played by Mai Charoenpura) who opens up a noodle store, where she serves dishes prepared with meat from the people she kills and stores in her basement.

Initially, the storyline is fairly simple, but it adds additional layers to the story, as this is more than just a gore movie. It also deals with the personal issues and traumas of Buss. And director Tiwa Moeithaisong managed to construct a story where the audience is gradually given more and more information and insight into the story, into what is actually going on, and into the history and trauma of the main character.

"Meat Grinder" is a very explicit graphical movie in terms of showing mutilations, gore and being shocking. As such, it is not suitable for all people. And you should take into consideration that the visuals in the movie is very realistic and very effective (in my opinion). Just a friendly reminder.

The combination of a good, albeit simple, storyline and a great character gallery and character development, alongside with some good acting performance really helped flesh out, no pun intended, "Meat Grinder" to the screen. And the overall result is an enjoyable movie about the breakdown of a woman's psyche, the fall into insanity and the brutality that she was able to dish out.

This 2009 Thai horror movie is well-worth a watch if you enjoy horror movies that has an abundance of gore and presents this in a very in-your-face graphic manner.

I am rating "Meat Grinder" six out of ten stars.

The title, DVD cover and blurb all conspire to make this film look like a Thai slant on the torture porn sub-genre, but the truth is that it's nothing like that. It's much better!

Yes, it's a gory movie in which bodily dismemberment and death play major roles, but this is only part of the movie. In many ways, MEAT GRINDER is much more of a psychological horror film, exploring one woman's mental disintegration when faced with infidelity and violence. You could take out all the blood and guts and the film would be just as effective; it works best as a character study rather than a movie that just goes out of its way to nauseate.

One thing you notice first is Tiwa Moeithaisong's direction, which is definitely above par for the genre. Moeithaisong banishes memories of poor horror fodder like GHOST GAME and HELL to tell an engaging, speedily-paced movie that doesn't let up from the word go. Mai Charoenpura's performance as the put-upon stall owner is decent, as she keeps you on-side unlike many horror villains. The film in many ways reminds one of the equally icky DUMPLINGS (which were served up containing human foetuses) but MEAT GRINDER is offbeat and engaging enough to work all of its own.

This is a beautifully gruesome film. The visuals and music in this movie are amazing and draws you into this woman's life of mental anguish and bad luck.

The Meat Grinder is almost like your basic torture gore fest but Tiwa Moeithaisong makes it so much more then that and turns it into an enthralling, vibrant film that sucks you in entirely and plays with your emotions. This is a very sad, beautiful, spell binding film about a woman in love facing the demons of her past.

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There are poor and unrealistic excuses for all the shown torture. All seems very artificial constructed for the sake of showing torture and pain. The worst is the story telling, which is chaotic nonsense. Add some classical music elements and there will be people who are delighted about this "piece of art". Even though the torture effects are obviously handmade, which highers the realism a little bit, there are no insects shown in that blood coated scenario. No flys, no ants, no cockroaches, not anything - just bloody pain with an artificial forced kind of poor story and characters who are very unlikeable. Like all the unrealistic things which are shown, the motives of the characters are exaggerated to the maximum to force the impression that those characters would have a good excuse for their behavior, but they are just very sick. The one and a half hour felt one hour longer than it played. I recommend this movie for people who have too much time and like gore, no matter what.

Thai gore-fest The Meat Grinder is in the tradition of such classic Asian shockers as The Untold Story, Human Pork Chop and There is a Secret in my Soup, exploitative films supposedly inspired by real life incidents wherein psychotic individuals dismember their victims, cook them, and serve them up as a tasty meal.

In this case, the crazy chef is Buss, a demented noodle vendor who deals with unwelcome visitors to her shop by chopping them up and adding them to her menu. The product of an abusive childhood, and further mentally scarred by her adulterous husband and the death of her child, Buss is a tragic and slightly sympathetic character, but one that should be avoided at all cost lest she consider you a threat and starts to get slicey and dicey with her cleaver.

Director Tiwa Moeithaisong's film is, first and foremost, a very gruesome splatter-fest, revelling in the gory detail and an excess of bloody body parts; in this he succeeds admirably, giving fans of blood 'n' guts some really well executed and nauseatingly explicit gore. However, The Meat Grinder is also intended as an emotionally powerful psychological horror tale AND as a work of art, and here Moeithaisong isn't quite as successful, his storytelling hampered by far too much confusing cutting between present day and past events, and the 'stylish' editing/directorial techniques employed only serving to annoy and irritate.

If you're a gore-hound, The Meat Grinder is well worth seeing for the high level of splatter on display: arterial spray, severed limbs, impalements, evisceration, dismemberment. If the other aspects of the film had been as brilliantly handled as the grisly stuff, this would be 10/10 material; as it stands, 7/10 seems like a more reasonable rating.

The English title of this movie (Meat Grinder) and the bloody cover with a woman feeding a person and eyeball should prepare you that this movie will not be an easy watch. It is dark and gritty and there's lots of blood and gore involved. You see our protagonist struggling with mental illness and her behavior being depicted as being part of an ongoing cycle of violence that she suffered as a child. And this ongoing cycle of violence is now passed to her daughter. So if you enjoy brutal Thai-splatter movies with a good amount of gore which is explicitly shown you might found yourself a movie here.

However the movie also has its flaws. It's probably personal preference but there's a weird blue and grey filter all throughout the movie which on one hand brings a nice contrast to all the red blood but on the other hand makes the movie look cheap and unrealistic. Also you are served with quite a number of flashbacks and scene shifting that got me wondering what is going on at times. Still I think this movie was a decent watch and I'm surprised that it barely has a thousand views here on IMDb. [5,4/10]

The 'Meat Grinder' is much more than an out an out gore fest! It's actually set in the mid 70's, and right amongst the hostile, 'Thai student Riots'. The film is really well shot and the scenes of abject horror, will not disappoint (fans of the genre). For me is slightly let down by a muddled plot (confusing characters) and found it overlong in duration. That said the project as a whole is worthy and really atmospheric in parts. The opening scene with the creepy Super 8 footage and a great musical score, sets the dark tone, for a movie that will no doubt divide the critics.

If you thought "The Meat Grinder" was the Thai equivalent of Mrs Lovett without Sweeney Todd, think again. This film has no humour and even less continuity, even if it has lost something in translation. A wretched woman who runs a noodle bar stumbles upon an amazing if bizarre recipe. There is a riot, and one of those taking part ends up dead on her premises. Instead of contacting the police, the army, or whoever is running that particular town, she, well, you can probably guess.

Now this woman has certainly had a hard life, and there is one bloke who is intent on making it even harder, but did he deserve this, and what about his henchmen? We never really understand what this film is all about, a woman's descent into madness perhaps, but it is impossible to feel sorry for her considering how much innocent blood as well as guilty blood she has on her hands.

Those who enjoy gore and special effects may find something of interest here, but enjoyment is another matter.

Full of murder, cutting human body parts and cannibalism. It's really gruesome and really successful to made me got the chill and tense. Love how they made the story but the story telling is really confusing (not because the language). 2 or 3 time frame intertwine each other in one third of the film but they didn't make it quite noticeable for viewers and it got really confusing

Wow. The film surprised me. I thought I would leave a comment because this film has so few reviews. This was a very romantic torture porn with a crazy woman who runs a restaurant and slashes her customers' or adversaries' calves and puts them up on meathooks as if Leatherface. But this is not The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and this is not Saw or Guinea Pig.

The film is worth watching for the visuals and great operatic music. The primary colors of blood and blue are saturated and the director makes what is boring about these types of movies vibrant. It is very eye magnetic.

I have found torture pornographies to be very dull and exploitative in a way that I do not like (e.g. Hostel 2), but this was different. And it is one of only three Thai horror films that I like. Check it out.

This movie was actually pretty solid. The gore effects are very well made executed. I actually knew of the movie Meat Grinder for about a year or two, and i never had my chance to watch it. Now i did, and this movie i need to rewatch it because there's so much stuff in it that it gets really hard to follow.

What i picked up is a woman that went through extreme amount of trauma, begins hurting others dye to being hurt. The movie does remind me of my favorite horror movie Martyrs to a degree. And dye to her suffering so much in her life, and her childhood, and well losing her innocent one, she begins hurting everybody around herself.

What makes this movie so interesting is the fact that everything seems NORMAL! When people enter to eat at her restaurant, every single thing seem to be peaceful normal, and the movie does that job pretty well.

I got a few negatives however: They use too many times the fade to black. It gets really annoying. Some of the camera shots are longer then they should of been. I think the movie could of been trimmed a bit and we'd have a stronger movie.

Then again i have watched the Tai Cut, i am not sure how different the uncut version is, and what did i miss. Still this movie was a fun watch, and if you enjoyed the MACHINE GIRL, you'll most likely enjoy the Meat Grinder.

"Meat Grinder" (2019, Tailand, "Chueat Kon Chim"), intended to be released as "Human Flesh Noodles" ("Kuai-tiao Nuea Khon"), is written and directed by Tiwa Moeithaisong, who best known for his work as a cinematographer. As such, Moeithaisong was also responsible for the cinematography and editing. The editing is crucial to telling the non-linear story of mental illness stemming from various abuses suffered by the main character, i.e. But (competently portrayed by Mai Siriwimol). That said, the fact that all references to the "noodle" industry had to be cut in Thailand and South-Korea (as well as some of the gore and violence), diminished the full effect sought to be achieved through clever editing. This as can be seen by comparing the film to the UK (so-called 'uncut') version and the later directors cut (also called "the uncut version") which are both much "cleaner" (e.g. Less censor blurring and speeding up / slowing down) and closer demonstrates Moeithaisong's abilities in the cutting room. The premise, i.e., folks who wronged / annoyed But ending up as protein in ramen, is not new nor complex. Where the film succeeds is in telling this story in an arty way, which almost puts the viewer in the unbalanced mind of But. As always, non-linear storytelling will mostly not find favour with most audiences and there is some gore (done well) which could upset sensitive viewers. 7/10.

Yup,I saw Art of the Devil 2&3 ,body #19 and Etc,I mean the Gore was intending but Flashback Scene is Annoying,so after I watched this film so I never ever eat that Noodle again,6/10 for total Avenge,if you watch this Film ,you will never ever eat that noodle again,that was I review it.

The Meat Grinder is the appropriate title for this graphic torture film from Thailand. An extremely unstable young woman who sees things in her head opens a noodle shop with very special dumplings, made out of, you guessed it, human bodies.

Buss(Mai Charoenpura) is shown to have been abused as a child by her mother and father, this seems to be the explanation for her irrational behavior as an adult with a daughter of her own. Her shop becomes popular with customers raving about the great food and so she must continue killing people to keep the diners satisfied.

The mood is ominously dark and Mai is chilling in the lead role. The movie is quite graphic, so be prepared for buckets of blood. It is better than Saw, which I believe is overrated.

I'm trying to do my part to help raise the rating of this film on IMDb. 5.4 is really too low for a film this graphic, intense and psychologically unnerving. I recently got my hands on the regular cut and the 'Uncut' cut and the difference is like watch 'Barney & Friends' and 'Scarface'. Okay, that's a bit of a stretch, but you know what I mean.

The cut version is still relatively graphic, but because it is so heavily altered, a few scenes will make more sense once you see a little more backstory as in the full version.

There's nothing sexual about this movie so it can't be compared to torture porn. The focus here is the killings. They're intended to shock you right out of the room. It's a shame the cut version is so heavily butchered because you lose a lot. The uncut version I had was dubbed with a Russian male voice, but once I downloaded an English srt and synced it in Media Player Classic, it made more sense.

Revenge is often a dish best eaten cold. Just ask Fruit Chan, director of Dumplings (2004), originally conceived as one chapter of a three-part horror omnibus (Three… Extremes) before he served up more of the same dark satire, just in larger portions, which regrettably made the bloated feature-length even harder to swallow. Tiwa Moeithaisong's Meat Grinder follows a similar recipe, and now, having finally found an overseas distributor, ominously appears on our menus for the first time. Relying more on mood rather than over the top visuals, this is a return to the intelligent side of exploitation horror. Refreshingly marinated with an intriguing story to give it flavour, and coupled with lashings and lashings of gory mayhem, Meat Grinder is an absolute treat from start to finish. DW

I love good Thai movies and this is a gem of a genre. It's has context, motive, pain, loss, love and chunks of meat of a story. Don't miss this main course.