Cheuuat gaawn chim (2009) Reviews

• Watch A Romantic Torture Porn

  krakanova2010-03-09

  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.

• Rather flawed but nicely grisly Thai shocker

  Bloodwank2012-01-04

  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).

• A scary but beautiful pearl

  cay-92010-03-05

  Let me first say this! This is so god. The cast is with Thai actors of superb class and Mai Charoenpura should with out no doubt be an Oscar nominee. The story is really about putting things forward. A child that has been abused will most certainly abuse others. The script is so great and the music is like Bernstein. The filming reminds of what Bergman would have done if he were producing films like this. I'ts bloody, it is really grouse but with a purpose. Things can get messed up in the head of an child who has being raped by her father and knowing that what they are doing with other human beings ( like serving them on a dish ) is not nice in any way. I wont take the tension away by giving any details about the movie. The only thing I can say is. WATCH THIS ONE

• Dinner's served, and you are the main course...

  paul_haakonsen2016-01-19

  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.

• More than just a gore film

  Leofwine_draca2012-10-09

  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.