Auntie Lee's Meat Pies

"Auntie Lee's Meat Pies" is supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek (no pun intended) horror film. Basically, Aunti Lee (Karen Black) employs her four nieces to lure unsuspecting men to their shack. The men are then robbed of all their belongings and get ground up as meat pies to hide the evidence.

The only way you can really stomach this film (no pun intended) is by looking for the stars. Karen Black took the role to break what she thought was her pigeon-holing as a good two-shoes. It's fun to see Pat Morita take a break from his Karate Kid series to play the sheriff. The best cameo belongs to Huntz Hall as a farmer. Hall, for those who don't know, was one of the original Dead End Kids, also known, in various incarnations, as the East Side Kids and the Bowery Boys.

But, the best reason to watch this film is for Auntie Lee's nubile nieces. Pia Reyes, Ava Fabian, Kristine Rose and Teri Weigel were all Playboy playmates prior to this movie. Weigel is also currently a porn star, so you can see why men eagerly followed her home.

If you're in the mood for something really gruesome, though, try finding "Sweeny Todd: The Demon of Barber Street" instead. Auntie Lee may make meat pies, but you will find something much better with her nieces' eye candy.

The concept of Auntie Lee's Meat Pies is interesting and a cast of talented veterans like Karen Black, Pat Morita, and Michael Berryman do their best, but the script goes all over the place and a few subplots end up being entirely useless by the end of the film. A more fine tuned and straightforward script about a rock band falling prey to a group of cannibalistic temptresses would have been more interesting. Some of the visuals are colorful and the gore effects are decent, but there never seems to be a main character to pull for.

What's sad is: Karen Black and Pat Morita can do good work. They didn't here. What's also sad is: the cannibalism food product motif had already been done ten years earlier in "Motel Hell," which was weirder and much more original. And the supposedly sultry sex scenes at the end are freakin' awful. I was young in the '90s and remember this style of cinematography, and I'm glad it was only a fad. Put simply: even if you like cheesy horror movies, don't waste your time.

A movie starring Karen Black as a madwoman who lures unsuspecting men to their doom with her stable of young girls and then turns them into meat pies should be a lot more fun than this movie is. It's really unfocused with a lot of padding and there are really only a few gore moments that stand out. Mostly a bore.

I love horror movies! So, I was shocked to see this film was from 1993 and I had never heard of it! There's something about this movie that I really like. Only discovered it a month ago and I've watched it 3 times already! Yes, you can tell it's a low budget movie but I have to say, they made the most of what they had. Good actors, good script (although slopes off at times) and a genuinely enjoyable film.

Best part of the movie is how incredibly beautiful the nieces are! All four actresses were actually playboy models before signing on to do movies! Give this a go, trust me, you will not be disappointed!