Bad Meat

This 2011 comedy horror film is brought to us by director Lulu Jarmen on her debut, and it comes from the mind of Paul Gerstenberger. 6 bad teens (3 boys and 3 girls) are sent to a bootcamp which is in the middle of nowhere. The bootcamp specialises in reforming bad/troubled teenagers into model citizens. It is run by Doug Kendrew (Mark Pellegrino) and his nasty wardens. One night the chef cooks up some bad meat which that staff all eat. The food makes them seriously ill, and an additional side effect it turns them into flesh-eating zombie like maniacs. From there on in the film become about survival for the teens as they try to avoid being put on the menu themselves. Some of the zombie-wardens are outright feral, some are S&M gimps stalking the kids. There is lots of bloodshed, plenty of gore, and a lot of vomiting too.

The premise of the film is not something new - it combines summer camp slasher, cannibal zombies, hillbillies, hostel, hunter vs hunted chases, and some typical American "kids will save the day" concepts. It COULD have been quite good, albeit tongue in cheek at times - but it wasn't. The problem I had with it was that it was hard to watch for the wrong reasons. The pace of the film did not work, the editing was shocking, and despite building up certain in-film events, NOTHING is resolved because the film just ends abruptly. The acting was not much to write home about either, this is due to the poorly conceived stereotypical characters being portrayed. I gave this film a chance because of the synopsis I read about it, and because Mark Pelligrino is amusing in the Supernatural TV series. Yes, one of the Franco brothers is in the film, but it is not one of the more interesting ones and he certainly does not have much of a role in this. Unfortunately, the film turned out to be a let-down.

I think, given more time and more investment this film might not have been that bad. Due to the production issues it had though, the film ended up being one that will be remembered for the wrong reasons, rather than being an underground cult classic. Yes, plenty of gore. No, to much else. Pity.

And now, just the like the end of film did, I'm going to... (drops mic - walks away)

This movie is nasty and dirty cheap, little horror flick, so nasty you would want to shower after watching it. It's super fun though, because it's so silly and over the top and actors are quite decent. Characters are mostly caricatures and over the top but still somehow done well. It's bad but it seems to be bad on purpose and it's fairly watchable.

However, it seems to be cut and it just suddenly ends with no answers. It's like they run out of funds or just didn't know how to end it or they wanted to leave us guessing. Whatever it was, I bet no one was happy with that ending.

Who was the survivor? Was that even human as no one could survive in that state, especially when we see what we saw at the ending? What happened to all involved? It just stopped.

I'd read about Bad Meat's troubled production—how the original director was replaced and funding was cut—and was prepared for something truly terrible, so I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of fun I actually had with this crazy, gory, sexy, twisted little horror flick. Yes, it does suffer from some editing issues, with the hospital scenes feeling awkwardly inserted into the main story and an ending that leaves the viewer wondering what the hell just happened, but I found the rest of the film so insanely entertaining that it's easy for me to be forgiving.

The film takes place in Hardway Camp, an establishment in the middle of nowhere where exasperated parents can ship their unruly kids, safe in the knowledge that they will be thoroughly disciplined by the tough and uncompromising staff. Six new arrivals, three teenage boys and three (hot) teenage girls, are subjected to the camp's extreme regime, at least until the staff fall ill, the result of bad meat served to them by Hardway's unhappy chef. As the teens slowly come to realise what has happened, they start to think about making a bid for freedom, but any plans are put on hold as the seriously sick staff suddenly become a lot more lively, turning into cannibalistic monsters!

A refreshingly carefree 'anything goes' approach ensures that the action is never boring, with plenty of gruesome splatter and WTF? moments to astonish and disgust even the most jaded of viewers. I was particularly surprised by the S&M sex antics of two of the guards, which sees a sexy female guard and her male co-worker indulging in some eye-watering role reversal. Other memorable scenes include the same couple involuntarily vomiting in each other's faces, the rather nauseating dissection of a dead dog, one of the teenagers being woken up in a most unorthodox fashion, and the repeated application of an improvised stomach pump. The film also benefits from a high totty level: the aforementioned female guard dons sexy rubber attire, while all three of the delinquent girls are absolute babes and not averse to sauntering around in their underwear!

Before I decided to watch this, I sifted through dozens of reviews, most of the claiming that this movie was beyond terrible and that no one in the right mind should see it. I decided to see it anyway.

Surprisingly, it was much better than I expected. There was plenty of gore for those who like it bloody, some funny scenes, great acting (especially from Mark Pellegrino), and a fairly decent plot. The only problem was that some of the plot was a little confusing and the audience is left with a few loose ends. I don't think those things took away from the movie too much though.

Honestly, I don't regret seeing this movie, and I don't think people should be put off by the lack of good reviews. It's not the greatest horror movie ever made, but it kept me interested until the very end, so I'd say it's worth watching in my book.

A real gross-out movie, with just a little imagination and hard-gore action. Actually better than expected and I don't think it will disappoint fans (too much) of the 'Out There' type zombie flicks but that is no real sign of quality. I just about hung on to final frame.