is a 2005 Japanese science fiction horror and gore film directed by Yūdai Yamaguchi

Yūdai Yamaguchi

is a Japanese film director who has worked mainly in the comedy and horror genres. He has "made a name for himself by mixing goofy gore with manga-esque escapades and plain utter weirdness".-Life and career:...

 and Jun'ichi Yamamoto based on a film by Yamamoto from 1999. Special effects and makeup effects were by Yoshihiro Nishimura

Yoshihiro Nishimura

is a Japanese film director, special effects and makeup effects artist, and a screenwriter who has worked predominantly in the horror genre. Nishimura has been described as "a legendary director and effects artist" and "the Tom Savini of Japan" with "talent to burn"...

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Plot

Yōji is a young lonely factory worker who falls for an equally lonely girl co-worker, Sachiko, but is unable to tell her of his interest. After he is assaulted in a theater by a transvestite, Yōji finds what looks like an alien insect and hides it in his room. The next night, he comes across Sachiko being sexually attacked by another fellow worker. He attempts to come to her aid but is beaten. Sachiko feels sorry for him and returns with him to his apartment. During this encounter, Sachiko is attacked by the alien object which penetrates her and turns her into a bio-mechanical monster, a NecroBorg. These parasites take over human bodies and use their flesh to create weapons which they use to fight each other. Yōji is also infected and the plot eventually leads to a showdown fight to the death between the two would-be lovers. A side plot concerns a father who is out to kill the NecroBorgs who have also infected his daughter.

Production

Meatball Machine is based on a 1999 film of the same name written, produced and directed by Jun'ichi Yamamoto. The 70 minute theatrical version was released in Japan on May 22, 1999 and starred Toshihisa Watanabe, Akiko Sasaki and Rino Sōma.

The special effects, special makeup effects and moldmaking for the NecroBorgs were done by noted effects artist Yoshihiro Nishimura

Yoshihiro Nishimura

is a Japanese film director, special effects and makeup effects artist, and a screenwriter who has worked predominantly in the horror genre. Nishimura has been described as "a legendary director and effects artist" and "the Tom Savini of Japan" with "talent to burn"...

 who would go on to do effects for The Machine Girl

The Machine Girl

is a 2008 Japanese action shock/gore film written and directed by Noboru Iguchi with special effects by Yoshihiro Nishimura . The film stars Minase Yashiro in the lead role as Ami, Asami in the role of Miki, Kentarō Shimazu as the yakuza leader Ryūgi Kimura and Honoka as his wife, Mrs. Kimura...

and Tokyo Gore Police

Tokyo Gore Police

is a 2008 Japanese gore film co-written, edited, and directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura and stars Eihi Shiina as Ruka, a vengeful police officer.Tokyo Gore Police was released to several film festivals in North America...

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Cast

• Issei Takahashi as Yōji
• Aoba Kawai as Sachiko
• Kenichi Kawasaki as Tanaka
• Shōichirō Masumoto as Doi
• Tōru Tezuka as Tsujimoto
• Ayano Yamamoto as Michino

Release

The movie was released theatrically in Japan on September 23, 2006. The DVD was released in Japan on February 7, 2007. The USA version of the DVD with English subtitles came out June 5, 2007. The DVD releases also contain the original 1999 version of Meatball Machine edited down to a 13 minute short, a making-of featurette and another short Reject or Death which expands on the side plot of the scientist father and his daughter.

Reception

Some reviews called the film a mediocre rip-off of Shinya Tsukamoto

Shinya Tsukamoto

is a Japanese film director and actor with a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad.-Biography:Tsukamoto started making movies at the age of 14, when his father gave him a Super 8 camera. He made a number of films, ranging...

's classic Tetsuo: The Iron Man

Tetsuo: The Iron Man

Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a 1989 Japanese cyberpunk film by cult-film director Shinya Tsukamoto produced by Japan Home Video. This, his third film, is an extremely graphic but also strikingly-filmed fantasy shot in the same low-budget, underground-production style as his first two films...

but the Severed Cinema reviewer calls Meatball Machine the superior of the two movies, "a super-gory hodgepodge tongue-in-cheek ultraviolent video game monster mash misfit movie with ... charm and silly sweetness".

Another reviewer, however, labels it "a resume reel" and "a difficult movie to defend" although the Dreamin' Demon review says it is "one of the more entertaining B-Movies I have watched in a while." A further review praises the special effects and makeup effects but not the movie.

Two of the reviewers mention that the film's plot of doomed lovers who cannot connect can be taken as a metaphor for the difficulties and dangers inherent in expressing feelings and how emotional issues can be transformed into something monstrous.