Meat Grinder

Meat Grinder is probably one of the most poorly titled films I've ever come across. The title has dictated the film's marketing angle: a torture-porn flick for the "gorehounds". As someone who's not easily affected by such gore, and am always seeking a film which will do the unthinkable and actually shock me, I was eager to see whether this would manage to.
It didn't. Yes the graphic scenes may turn a weaker stomach than my own, but they were nowhere near as disturbing as the likes of Antichrist or even Hostel's gorier moments. In actual fact, Meat Grinder is a far more effective film than its title might suggest, for reasons completely unrelated to its gore content. The depiction of protagonist Buss' eventual psychological breakdown, largely helped by the cut away flashback scenes, is alarmingly subtle for film which one might expect to be a balls-out bloodbath. The cinematography is at times spectacular, and the plot a lot more slowburning than I'm sure anyone will be expecting when they first switch on. What we have here is a Thai psychological thriller akin to Park Chan Wook's films though not quite as competent perhaps. Pathos for Buss, the owner of the noodle bar where extra tasty treats in the form of human body parts get added as a delicacy is achieved surprisingly deftly, but at times the obvious desire to shock the audience doesn't sit comfortably alongside the drama and narrative while others like Lars Von Trier managed this almost nonchalantly. It's a shame, because I feel if the film had only been tidied up around the edges, Tiwa Moeithaisong could really have proven something for Thai cinema.