Customer Reviews

Big Meat Eater

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I couldn't believe my eyes (and ears, since this is a musical) when I first found this gem.
This film is quirky while pushing some stereotypes that may not
be fully PC. The musical numbers are catchy and fun. The plot ideas must be satirical since they are just too dumb to be serious. All in all it's a delightful film on the very top of
of my bad film list.

When I finally get around to mentioning "The Big Meat Eater", to people who are finally in my circle of movie friends (whom I number very few), I always say that it's the Canadian Rocky Horror. Strangely catchy musical numbers, very low budget special effects, and so many plots it should be 6 movies, a couple classic characters, this movie has it all. Bear in mind this was the 80's, but if you loved Repo-man, you should find something to smile (or groan) about in this slice of z grade cinema.

A musical. A genius kid. A butcher. A weird plot. Better special effects than Plan 9 From Outer Space. Best of all, the songs and dancing are well done. Very highly recommended. I couldn't stop grinning!

In a word: Strange.
To be more specific: VERY strange.

Both the editorial review and the previous reviewer are correct, that the film's only possible ancestors are Plan 9 from Outer-Space and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Big Meat Eater just doesn't do a great job of conjoining those two, admittedly admirable, legacies into one film. I wish it did, because that plot... whew! This could really be something special.

Instead this movie is a mess. It must have been some kind of proletarian, Ed Wood point. But it doesn't work. It just doesn't work.

Even if we allow for camp, the acting cannot be called permissible. It's a musical, but the musical numbers are insensible (some aren't even intelligible) - with the exception of a lone Oingo Boingo/Devo-esque number about chemistry that sounds like The Polecats's "Make a Circuit with Me," minus the rockabilly, and Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science."

That song is actually really, really, REALLY good. ...But not good enough to redeem the soundtrack.

Then there are the "aliens"... Spoiler alert: They're toys. They're straight off the shelf, battery operated toy robots. No effort is made to mask this fact. And of course, they're great.

However, despite this stunningly bold move on the part of the fimmakers, it doesn't offset the failings of the other "effects."

Oh, Big Meat Eater, how I hated you. But how I remain intrigued that you exist. Even though you had a character named Alderman Sonny the Weasel, I still can't call you good.