Youtubers making there own movies very rarely if ever is a good thing as nine times out of ten they are really bad. Yet now we have what is perhaps the biggest if not they are certainly one of the biggest horror Youtube Channels out there making there own horror movie and it's that very film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today as i'm a fan of there channel and so then join as I review the film that has some shorts that could make for a good feature length film with the film in question being called simply just "Fresh Meat" enjoy.
Here is usually where they where there would be a summery of the films plot but since this is an anthology film there really isn't a plot outside of the films wrap around segments which feature a kid feeding this demon refrigerator meat and in return it shows her the shorts. That's really it as there's nothing really connecting the shorts together outside of those wrap around segments and that's fine as not every single anthology film needs to tie the shorts together and given the fact that all of these shorts where made pretty much prior to being selected to be in this film that is something that does make the most sense as there's no way that anyone involved with the making of the shorts would have known what the other was up to. That being said however tho it still would have been nice if there was something connecting the shorts together like for example Heavy Metal had the glowing orb connecting all of the shorts and Tales From The Crypt of course had the Cryptkeeper as the host both of which does prove that you can have these connecting elements in a film or a TV show and it would work but again given the fact that these shorts where made before being added to the film it would have been impossible for the teams to get together and come up with something and even tho it would have been nice if there was some sort of running plot all throughout the film that connected them all together it wasn't something that was needed as due to the fact that the Dead Meat Youtube Channel does have alot of fans going into the film alot of people are going to eat this film up regardless of it's lack of a plot in the first place in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Elle Riot Fox as Jessica , Aidan Armstrong as Tchotchke and one of this films directors Béla Baptiste. Also starring in this film is Benjamin Baraad , Finn Bell , Brett Brooks as The Realtor , Joshua Chislett , Vincente DiSanti as The Vape Zombie , Ethan Droze , Samuel Dunning as Mike , Kyle Gazak as Jim , Haiku , one of this films writers , producers and directors James A. Janisse , Kelsey Lea Jones as Lexi , Jaci Kjernander as Recaller 2 , MK Kopp , Thomas Lorber as Recaller 1 , Chris Mayers as Sam , Andrea Orta as Selena , Brady Palubiski , Tim Smink , Jonnie Stapleton , Sarah Stephens as Katy , Vichhay Tek , Dolly Lewis as herself Rachel Williamson and one of this films executive producers Chelsea Rebecca.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. The fact that we have some really good in this film is something that is truly shocking as well to be frank here all of this films actors aren't known actors or are at the very least very little known and to be fair there they all do pull off there roles really well with the fact that they very little known actors being something that does help you more to see the character rather then the actor with this being something that does help you buy into there performance alot more and while of course James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca are perhaps the most well known out of all of this films actors due to the Dead Meat Youtube Channel and cameoing in Scream 2022 you do still buy there performances as they are not that well know to mainstream audiences. Due to the fact that the alot of the films actors aren't listed as playing there characters it is hard to say who the best actor in the film but at a stretch it would have be Dolly Lewis who does appear in the short film "What's In Your Bag?" with her playing this sick and twisted version of herself and it is something that does work beautifully for the darkly comedic tone that that short film is going for with her own natural charm really coming through in this film. With the acting that's in this very film really being helped by the fact that the scripts for this film are just so good that all this films actors really have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Due to this film of course being an anthology film it is hard to fully judge it's characters as thy switch them out every few minuets but for the most part the characters in this film really are serviceable characters. With some shorts having better characters then others this is something that is to be expected in an anthology format as the makers of this film did do the work to give us some good characters alot of the time and while this isn't something that is spread across the whole film eve those that have bad characters in them still work as films yet there are alot of characters in this film that come across as being unlikable due to the fact that the makers of that film didn't take the time to give us anything likable about them. Case in point here the main male character in the vaping short is meant to be this likable but still pretty dumb person and yet due to how he acts to what is possibly his girlfriend he does come across as being unlikable and therefor when these people do come and kill you don't feel sad for him rather you feel joy that he's dead and then you feel sad that his girlfriend gets shot and killed for literally no reason and alot of the film is like this as they will give you a short that has characters you like in them but then it will follow that one up with characters that aren't that likable and while this is something that couldn't really be helped as these shorts where made before this film was put together there should have been some kind of quality control with someone making sure that the selected shorts had these characters that you don't want to see die and there for feel bad for them when they do eventually die.
All of this films shorts do take on a different form of horror with "Why Did You Stop Me?" telling it's story from the point of view of a car dashcam and a police officers body cam which gives that film a unique look. With "Closing Hour" being an animated short film that has vibes that remind you of films like Heavy Metal or The Spine Of Night and heck that short is tied for the best short in the whole film along with the absolutely bonkers and insane "Demon Bus" with "Closing Hour" being a science fiction horror short et at a story that is closing up with that film not being afraid to give us some really gory and out there stuff with film not really having alot of dialog with the two main characters but it also didn't need to have any dialog as all of the action is told from the visuals and those alone are really striking with the animation not really being that highly detailed. Which is something that does remind of The Spine Of Night as the character designs in that film aren't that highly detailed much like this film and much like this film both films are a throwback to films like Heavy Metal and yet this short film is still alt of fun ad is very easy to follow and while it is hard to picture it being turned into a full length film as a short film it is really good as you can tell that the films director Tim Smink did have alot of fun making this film and while he might not be the best new voice in horror out there as there's not really alot of creative scares in this short film he does have a unique idea of doing a horror animated film and that is something that if he did choose to make more horror films is something that he could work on and develop alot more as he does have all of the potential out there to be a good horror director again if he chose to make more horror films that is.
One of the things that I was looking for in this film was a short film that could be turned into a feature length film as that to me shows you if the short film has potential or not and well there where at the very least two shorts that did have that potential. Those being the first short "Earworm" and "Demon Bus" and while Demon Bus is one that wouldn't get a theatrical release as it's just a bit to out there for a mainstream audience to fully get behind it is a fil that you very easily could see doing well enough as a direct to DVD movie where it could then become a cult hit film and be allowed to truly shine as the concept of someone buying time to go on this bus that is driven by and has a literal demon as it's passenger that will try to kill you isn't something that screams a hit film but it is something that screams a cult hit film. On the other hand "Earworm" is a franchise that is just waiting to be made as the whole idea of someone hearing this song either on Tiktok or on Youtube or wherever then then slowly bein driven mad by it to the point where they kill either themselves or worse there loved ones only to have there attack be filmed and posted online whilst there humming the song thus starting the cycle all other again is a good hook to have for a film and if the makers of this film where smart they'd get to work on turning it into a film as it's all there on paper all they need to is just expand on a few certain things and that's it, with shorts like "Jinkx" and "Why Did You Stop Me?" while they were good in this film neither of them have that feature film potential as there's really nowhere you can go with either film as with "Jinkx" while the idea of having two people stuck repeating what the other is saying even spreading it to other people is a good idea you can't do much with that idea and the same thing is true with "Why Did You Stop Me?" which is a film where the gimmick of seeing the film being told both from a body cam and a car dashcam would get old really quickly.
Some of the best shorts in this film where the ones that either had a unique look to them like "Closing Hour" or where just straight up pure insanity like "Demon Bus" for example. Yet there where also a few more hidden gems in there like for example "Earworm" and "What's In Your Bag?" but sadly this film is made up of alot more films that don't do anything clever and that don't have a good hook to them with this having the added effect of making alot of the shorts be to be quiet honest here boring to watch as there's one about a man that steals coming to appease something that on paper could have been cool but there's nothing to it as it doesn't do anything interesting while some of the shorts like "What's In Your Bag?" and "Dagnabit" or only there to be darkly funny the only one out of those two that is actually darkly funny is "What's In Your Bag?" as that film takes on the approach of a Youtube video or a reality show where someone just shows us what's in there bag and then goes and beats up the director and takes him to private room where some people can possibly kill him. Yet the rest of this films shorts just aren't much fun to watch with not alot of them having an interesting premise as alot of the time the premise is very basic and one where you can see the twist coming a mile away with the only one out ide of the already mentioned shorts that was interesting to watch being "Koko: The Invisible Dog" as it's about an invisible dog that get rabies and kills people with the short basically being "Cujo" but set in Japan and yet that concept worked enough to make it a somewhat enjoyable short film but its not really one that you could urn into a feature length film.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time time of exactly one hour and fifty five minuets and thirty eight seconds. Which for an anthology film is pretty much a long running time to have and granted this film is only that long due to the fact that they a whopping THIRTEEN different shorts all of which are of various lengths to fit with this being something that could very easily put people off of watching this film as nobody would want to watch an anthology film that's almost two hours long that's just insane and it's even more insane when you take into account the fact that this film doesn't really have a plot to begin with and therefor it can't really justify being as long as it is in the first place. Yet even so this film still doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the film really does take the time to to fully develop its plot as alot of the films in this film do for obvious reasons have very underdeveloped plots and this was something that was always going to be an issue with this film but it is something that the makers of this film could have fixed by giving there respective short films running times that would allow or there to be some plot development with the makers of this film putting more and thought into the big twist ending then they did into the giving plot some actual plot development. The same thing is also true for the films character development as much like with the lack of plot development this is something that is understandable as these are short films after all and therefor you can't really expect there to be character development in a short film but again if these short films had a running time that did allow for there to be some character development then they would be all the more better of for it with the makers of this film putting more and effort into using a drone alot of the time then they did into giving it's characters some character development but I really will admit that this film really does gave some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a horror film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Whilst yes granted none of these films featured in this film had that big of a budget and there the films kills can't be that impressive for what little money everyone involved had to work with the kills did up looking as good as they going to be and while we don't get to see alot of the kills which is something that should never be the case with a horror film with a low budget film tho that is something that does make sense somewhat but in saying this tho it would have helped alot of the lesser films featured in this film if we did get to see some of the kills. With the best kill in the whole entire film being to the ex-wife in the films third short as all throughout the film we are le to believe that she is having a date night with her ex husband with them even talking about getting back together again but when strange things start happening at the house we see the husband walk through the front door which is when we get the reveal that alot of what we've been seeing is in the wife's head with it only being then that the monster she's been seeing sneaks up behind her dragging her away and killing and while yes this kill is done of screen it's everything leading up to the kill that makes it worth while as we do get that big twist of the whole thing basically being in her head that is the very thing that makes it interesting as she did think up some really creepy stuff involving her ex husband with the rest of the films being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this is film that is hard to judge fairly as while Dead Meat fans such as myself will love this film it's also hard to call the film good as the film on the whole barely has a handful of good shorts but the fact that they are the only Youtube horror channel to openly say that we've made and released a professional film is still something that is to be commended and isn't something to be looked down upon in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and a well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then noys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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