This movie is SO odd that it's hard to compare it to anything else, but it's in the same general quadrant as efforts by Roger Corman and John Waters. Production values are mostly awful, as is the acting, but the musical numbers are actually quite good and the movie has a certain goofy charm. I laughed out loud several times. If you don't have unduly high expectations, it's enjoyable enough. The consensus rating of 4-5 points (on a scale of 10) is about right.
22 Reviews
Weirdness
BandSAboutMovies20 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
What is it about science fiction/horror musicals and why we love those so? The more cult - beyond Rocky Horror, there's Shock Treatment, Voyage of the Rock Aliens and The Apple - the better, right?
Allow me to present Canada's 1982 entry to the strange symphony, Big Meat Eater.
Directed by Chris Windsor (who also wrote, edited, produced and added to the soundtrack) and co-written by Phil Savath and Laurence Keane (who would go on to make Samuel Launt) while all three were in film school, this is the story of Abdullah (played by Clarence "Bull" Miller, who was a Kansas City blues shouter so loud he didn't need a microphone; racial tensions led him to travel the world and finally settle in Edmonton), a butcher (which has to be a pro wrestling reference) who kills the mayor of town and stashes the body at his new job, working for Bob the Butcher, who lives by the motto "Pleased to meet you, meat to please you."
That would all be strange enough if there weren't aliens floating above town, obsessed by the large deposits of Bolonium beneath the butcher shop, reanimating the dead mayor to do their bidding. Meanwhile, everyone sings, dalmatians get turned into spotted beef and mutations abound. Oh yeah, and Bob has invented a new language for the town's future-forward theme park.
What a magical time 1982 was, when a film like this could come out and find just the right people in the right video store to send the right wavelength to. Sure, we can find things easily now, but we can't get as invested, right?
There was a sequel planned, Teenage Mounties from Outer Space, that never happened. We're all the poorer for this.
Allow me to present Canada's 1982 entry to the strange symphony, Big Meat Eater.
Directed by Chris Windsor (who also wrote, edited, produced and added to the soundtrack) and co-written by Phil Savath and Laurence Keane (who would go on to make Samuel Launt) while all three were in film school, this is the story of Abdullah (played by Clarence "Bull" Miller, who was a Kansas City blues shouter so loud he didn't need a microphone; racial tensions led him to travel the world and finally settle in Edmonton), a butcher (which has to be a pro wrestling reference) who kills the mayor of town and stashes the body at his new job, working for Bob the Butcher, who lives by the motto "Pleased to meet you, meat to please you."
That would all be strange enough if there weren't aliens floating above town, obsessed by the large deposits of Bolonium beneath the butcher shop, reanimating the dead mayor to do their bidding. Meanwhile, everyone sings, dalmatians get turned into spotted beef and mutations abound. Oh yeah, and Bob has invented a new language for the town's future-forward theme park.
What a magical time 1982 was, when a film like this could come out and find just the right people in the right video store to send the right wavelength to. Sure, we can find things easily now, but we can't get as invested, right?
There was a sequel planned, Teenage Mounties from Outer Space, that never happened. We're all the poorer for this.
Silly, low-budget farce
jamesrupert20149 December 2019
Aliens locate a rare radioactive element under the butcher shop in a quirky Canadian town being stalked by a mysterious, fez-wearing, singing, murderous meat-cutter of unusual size. The film is a Canadian entry into 'internationally bad' genre: camp films angling for cult status that were usually marked by poor special effects, amateur acting, excessiveness, and meta-humour - all deliberate. Since the intention is to subvert most of the criteria by which films are judged, all that remains is whether the move is a witty/clever satire ('Big Meat Eater' is not) and/or whether it's entertaining/enjoyable (personal taste). 'Big Meat Eater' has a couple of interesting song and dance numbers, and blues-musician Clarence 'Big' Miller is amusing in the title role; otherwise, it's a silly time-waster that will only appeal to fans of the genre (of which I am not).
The top of the food chain is the place for me!
schmigrex28 September 2004
Not too much to add here, except that this is a truly weird, strange, silly movie that will crack you up when it's not disturbing your soul. My top ten favorite things in this movie:
10. Balonium
9. Chemicals! First they create -- then, they improve!
8. Abdullah -- the Biggest Miller of them all.
7. The Bolum ("Now THERE'S a monster!")
6. "Who's that man?" (Bob!)
5. "Ha Ha Ha. Earth is in chaos."
4. "You're gonna get a taste of the A-Bomb tonight"
3. The Wczinskis -- wonderful people! "Not that they haven't had their problems adjusting to our Berquitlam ways!"
2. "Don't like no fruits -- no veggies too. And I don't give a damn for them that do!"
1. Where did Jan get the English accent?
Take heart you Big Meat Eaters -- others have seen this movie and have it on tape for posterity. Cherish it -- treasure it. But be careful who sees it -- your Mom will have you put away for watching stuff like this.
10. Balonium
9. Chemicals! First they create -- then, they improve!
8. Abdullah -- the Biggest Miller of them all.
7. The Bolum ("Now THERE'S a monster!")
6. "Who's that man?" (Bob!)
5. "Ha Ha Ha. Earth is in chaos."
4. "You're gonna get a taste of the A-Bomb tonight"
3. The Wczinskis -- wonderful people! "Not that they haven't had their problems adjusting to our Berquitlam ways!"
2. "Don't like no fruits -- no veggies too. And I don't give a damn for them that do!"
1. Where did Jan get the English accent?
Take heart you Big Meat Eaters -- others have seen this movie and have it on tape for posterity. Cherish it -- treasure it. But be careful who sees it -- your Mom will have you put away for watching stuff like this.
Low budget junk
gibbog16 August 2005
Terrible film made on a budget of about $9.99. Very obvious miniature sets used, poor acting and an awful storyline concerning aliens who use discarded meat from a butcher shop as fuel for their spaceship. The film contains some blood (not enough to disturb) and a character with an eggbeater replacing one of his hands. (Yes you read that correctly.)
One saving grace was a song performed at the "talent show" (how's that for irony?) by a punk/new wave band that I think was called "I'm A Heat Seeking Missile". Other than that, this is not worth your time, not even on a "so bad it's good" level. Watch if you are into cheesy alien films, but anyone else should steer clear.
Rating: 1 out of 10
One saving grace was a song performed at the "talent show" (how's that for irony?) by a punk/new wave band that I think was called "I'm A Heat Seeking Missile". Other than that, this is not worth your time, not even on a "so bad it's good" level. Watch if you are into cheesy alien films, but anyone else should steer clear.
Rating: 1 out of 10
Kitschy Campy Cheesiness
Zoooma28 January 2014
I found this in a "zombie movie pack" and never hearing about it, I thought I'd try it. Wow. I will not forget this movie ever. You like totally wacko bizarre films??? This is for you! It has nothing to do with zombies. None of it really makes any sense and it's difficult to explain. Goofy acting, songs, dance, people wearing the same clothes everyday, flying saucer on a string, aliens that are plastic wind-up toys, an unexplainable British accent, weird loopy characters, alien abductions, a metal egg beater implanted for a hand, songs, dance, did I mention those? This really is just completely mental. It has to be seen to be believed. Immediately I started thinking Worst Film Ever (not necessarily the worst but bottom 1% to be sure.) But its campy kitschy cheesiness eventually grew on me. I'd actually possibly watch it again someday.
--A Kat Pirate Screener
--A Kat Pirate Screener
Stunningly bizarre and quite memorable
Flak_Magnet10 September 2009
Well, its a weird one. And I don't mean weird like Crispin Glover. I'm talking presidential pig mask, live-action Thomas Hart Benton painting, astronaut dairy farmer weird, people.... Anyway, this flick comes from the outer ring of the 80's, and was probably originally conceived as a stage production, in the vein of "Little Shop of Horrors." Of course, weird is a good thing, and I can't say I had a bad time here, but I left "Big Meat Eater" on a bit of a confused note, not really absorbent of what I just witnessed. There really is some nut-ragious stuff in this one, like a 500lb B.B. King look-alike in a shriner outfit, Boy George vampire vocalist, and enough meat-related gore to show up H.G. Lewis. Throw in Ed Wood-style flying saucers, wind-up toy aliens, and 4-5 pretty righteous musical numbers, and you are gravitationally close. The story involves a Rivers Cuomo look-alike, who is commissioned to head up some sort of citizen's committee, after the town's mayor is killed and then resurrected via alien possession. Meanwhile, a scientist and his father work to construct the town's futuristic sewage treatment facility, which is secretly destined to be the launchpad for the aliens' invasion. Add into the mix some Croatian fortune tellers, Troma-flavored camp, and an intergalactic Oldsmobile, and you've got the fixins for a B-movie headscratcher that really defies description. Recommend some irradiated, lobster-clawed dwarfs, eagle-eyed bongwielder princess, and bathtub absynthe with this one. ---|--- Reviews by Flak Magnet
Food for glorious fools.
mark.waltz9 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
They don't make them anymore chokable than this Canadian musical surrounding a big ole' killer, hiding out as the assistant in a butcher shop run by George Dawson and unaware that his victim (the town mayor) has returned as a zombie thanks to the presence of aliens. Clarence Miller has the brain of a child but the body of two football players, so he's nobody to be messed with. Two regular customers in the butchers shop find that out when Miller literally grinds the beef by hand, but the decision for Dawson to close the shop turns Miller even crazier since this makes him realize that he'll once again be out of a job. Changes in the taste of his ground meats and cold cuts results in the conclusion that the rather dim bulb characters don't realize but the audience knows what the reason is right away.
Deliberate camp like this will have the viewers divided, some laughing at "Rocky Horror" deliberate style humor and tactless songs that do have some humor but it's too much as there's way too many interruptions of these songs that seen to parodies of parodies. Overall, the musical numbers just seem to be there to pad the running time out because this is something that could have easily been wrapped up in an hour. Production values are all right but the acting makes the cast of the John Waters films of just a few years before seem like something out of Strasberg. Then there are the elements of the horror subplot, and there's nothing scary about the film at all. It's all rather juvenile, and after about 45 minutes, I found myself struggling to stay awake.
Deliberate camp like this will have the viewers divided, some laughing at "Rocky Horror" deliberate style humor and tactless songs that do have some humor but it's too much as there's way too many interruptions of these songs that seen to parodies of parodies. Overall, the musical numbers just seem to be there to pad the running time out because this is something that could have easily been wrapped up in an hour. Production values are all right but the acting makes the cast of the John Waters films of just a few years before seem like something out of Strasberg. Then there are the elements of the horror subplot, and there's nothing scary about the film at all. It's all rather juvenile, and after about 45 minutes, I found myself struggling to stay awake.
Musical Sci-Fi Comedy Horror Cannibal Romance! With Mutants!
Pyat29 July 1999
Utterly, utterly indescribable...but I'll try anyway.
Okay...a friendly butcher in a small town discovers that the meat he is discarding in his basement has turned into the super-energetic element Baloney-ium.
The mayor of the small town fires Abdullah, the stoker for the city hall furnace. Abdullah gets angry and kills the mayor. He hides the body in the butcher's shop.
A youthful inventor builds a spaceship out of his car, but needs an energy source.
Aliens descend from the skies and turn the mayor into their undead slave. He breaks free from the butcher shop and acquires a prosthetic limb - an egg beater hand.
The town is celebrating their centennial. The undead mayor hires the butcher to design a "Town of the Future" pavillion (actually an alien landing site) and gets the father of the youthful inventor to build it.
Abdullah is hired as the butcher's assistant and starts serving up the town's residents and dogs.
The youthful inventor is changed into mutant and later poses as his fortune-teller grandmother to...I give up.
And so on. Big Meat Eater is actually quite funny...lots of singing and dancing numbers, horrible production values, the cheapest aliens of all time, and a climatic space battle at the end.
Hardcore jazz fans may recognize Abdullah as "Big" Miller, the Alberta jazz-man. Seeing him on film, it's very easy to see where he got his nickname. He's one of the largest men I've ever seen who could still walk around.
The only real criticisms I have of it is that it tries too hard in spots...sometimes it becomes a little too much of a self-conscious spoof. Also, the sound quality is poor at times. Abdullah is often inaudible, as is the inventor's sister.
This movie...well, it's a hidden gem to say the least. I know of only two other people who have seen it. Once in a very rare while it will be shown on late-night Canadian TV. I have it on tape, if anyone's interested in getting a copy.
Okay...a friendly butcher in a small town discovers that the meat he is discarding in his basement has turned into the super-energetic element Baloney-ium.
The mayor of the small town fires Abdullah, the stoker for the city hall furnace. Abdullah gets angry and kills the mayor. He hides the body in the butcher's shop.
A youthful inventor builds a spaceship out of his car, but needs an energy source.
Aliens descend from the skies and turn the mayor into their undead slave. He breaks free from the butcher shop and acquires a prosthetic limb - an egg beater hand.
The town is celebrating their centennial. The undead mayor hires the butcher to design a "Town of the Future" pavillion (actually an alien landing site) and gets the father of the youthful inventor to build it.
Abdullah is hired as the butcher's assistant and starts serving up the town's residents and dogs.
The youthful inventor is changed into mutant and later poses as his fortune-teller grandmother to...I give up.
And so on. Big Meat Eater is actually quite funny...lots of singing and dancing numbers, horrible production values, the cheapest aliens of all time, and a climatic space battle at the end.
Hardcore jazz fans may recognize Abdullah as "Big" Miller, the Alberta jazz-man. Seeing him on film, it's very easy to see where he got his nickname. He's one of the largest men I've ever seen who could still walk around.
The only real criticisms I have of it is that it tries too hard in spots...sometimes it becomes a little too much of a self-conscious spoof. Also, the sound quality is poor at times. Abdullah is often inaudible, as is the inventor's sister.
This movie...well, it's a hidden gem to say the least. I know of only two other people who have seen it. Once in a very rare while it will be shown on late-night Canadian TV. I have it on tape, if anyone's interested in getting a copy.
dilly horror from 1982
ksf-227 May 2020
The film starts with a town meeting, and then we see a floor show of belly dancer girls, down in the boiler room... hmm. When Abdulla the maintenance guy (Clarence Miller) finishes singing, he gets fired, and starts pushing people into the furnace. and then he gets a job at Bob's butcher shop (of course!). he even sings while he works! and then... aliens show up, looking for a food source. nice transition. it's a musical, so there are numbers every couple minutes. when "Jan" shows Bob around the lab, Jan ( Andrew Gillies) breaks into song, and it kind of looks like a Devo music vid. sooooo.. Bob goes to a fortune teller, who keeps saying Meet your Fate ! and accordions.. .no-one said there would be accordions! it's all kind of fun if you just sit back and don't worry too much about plot. Directed by chris windsor... only thing he has listed here on imdb; this won a "Genie" award, whatever that is. wacky. campy, silly fun.
Other reviewers need a sense of perspective
dave13-120 December 2015
I like to use this picture to demonstrate the fallacy of imitative form: mere awareness of a picture's kitschy origins or its own camp qualities are not themselves a virtue. If you set out to ape bad alien sci fy, and don't add anything into the mix that is on its own clever or funny or in some way entertaining, you just wind up with bad alien sci fy. Repo Man managed to be a true original, while casting a wink at its drive in antecedents. Big Meat Eater is just on par with its earlier influences, and in no way transcends them.
On its merits, BME is a terribly cheap and shoddy looking picture. The plotting is so random and haphazard that nothing that happens in the film seems in any way organically related to anything else that happens. One scene just stops and another starts up somewhere else. To call the effect incomprehensible is to suggest that BME merits comprehending. It doesn't. It's not a clever send-up, just cheap silly nonsense that somebody put together on a zero budget. It generates little conventional b-movie sizzle, in that there is little suspense, surprise or originality. It isn't even all that amusing as Bad Movie Note entertainment, in that its crazy grab bag of a plot fails to actually pull the viewer along. Random silly stuff just happens, and then more random silly stuff happens.
Get a grip guys. This is not a 10 of a movie despite some of the ratings above. It's just a cheap, backyard production put together in some sleepy Canadian burg by amateurs who watched a lot of bad creature features and wanted to make their own.
On its merits, BME is a terribly cheap and shoddy looking picture. The plotting is so random and haphazard that nothing that happens in the film seems in any way organically related to anything else that happens. One scene just stops and another starts up somewhere else. To call the effect incomprehensible is to suggest that BME merits comprehending. It doesn't. It's not a clever send-up, just cheap silly nonsense that somebody put together on a zero budget. It generates little conventional b-movie sizzle, in that there is little suspense, surprise or originality. It isn't even all that amusing as Bad Movie Note entertainment, in that its crazy grab bag of a plot fails to actually pull the viewer along. Random silly stuff just happens, and then more random silly stuff happens.
Get a grip guys. This is not a 10 of a movie despite some of the ratings above. It's just a cheap, backyard production put together in some sleepy Canadian burg by amateurs who watched a lot of bad creature features and wanted to make their own.
Like everyone else here has said....someone ELSE has seen this?!
byght10 December 2002
This movie is truly one of the strangest and most remarkable things ever produced by pop culture. Lurking beneath its absurd, low-budget exterior and impossibly convoluted story is a bizarre, ironic kind of intelligence. One gets the sense that the gawdawfulness one is witnessing is actually carefully orchestrated in some sense, but it's vague and hard to grasp...
My friend stole the only copy of this film that I have ever known to exist from a local Hollywood Video where he worked. We treasure it like it were a newborn child, this arcane product of the darkest side of North American film that seems to mock you as you watch, entranced and baffled...
The music is especially awesome. You're ready to dismiss "En Mundo Chemico" and the mayor's weird "After Death" song as ripoffs of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" and Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Phantom of the Opera" theme...until you realize that this movie predates both by several years!!! My friends and I formulated a theory based on this fact that "Big Meat Eater" was in fact a critical turning point in our culture. Especially since that "Heat Seekin' Missile" song changed the way we all though about our...members.
The aforementioned subtle orchestration comes to the fore in the movie's final ten minutes (or so, I don't know), which constitute a cinematic orgasm of inexplicable occurrences. My favorite story related to this movie is how two friends of mine (let's call them "Dave" and "John," because those are their names) saw it together for the first time, but John had to leave ten minutes before the end. Later, when John asked the Dave to fill him in on those final ten minutes, it took Dave over HALF AN HOUR to recount all of it.
I may very well possess the only copy of this masterpiece in the galaxy. If you see it anywhere, GRAB IT and RUN!!! Don't even PAY for it for fear that the cashier will see what you've found and try to take it for him or herself!!! In fact, KILL anyone who sees you with it!!! Kill them before they kill you!!!
And for God's sake, don't forget your daily gum massage!
My friend stole the only copy of this film that I have ever known to exist from a local Hollywood Video where he worked. We treasure it like it were a newborn child, this arcane product of the darkest side of North American film that seems to mock you as you watch, entranced and baffled...
The music is especially awesome. You're ready to dismiss "En Mundo Chemico" and the mayor's weird "After Death" song as ripoffs of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" and Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Phantom of the Opera" theme...until you realize that this movie predates both by several years!!! My friends and I formulated a theory based on this fact that "Big Meat Eater" was in fact a critical turning point in our culture. Especially since that "Heat Seekin' Missile" song changed the way we all though about our...members.
The aforementioned subtle orchestration comes to the fore in the movie's final ten minutes (or so, I don't know), which constitute a cinematic orgasm of inexplicable occurrences. My favorite story related to this movie is how two friends of mine (let's call them "Dave" and "John," because those are their names) saw it together for the first time, but John had to leave ten minutes before the end. Later, when John asked the Dave to fill him in on those final ten minutes, it took Dave over HALF AN HOUR to recount all of it.
I may very well possess the only copy of this masterpiece in the galaxy. If you see it anywhere, GRAB IT and RUN!!! Don't even PAY for it for fear that the cashier will see what you've found and try to take it for him or herself!!! In fact, KILL anyone who sees you with it!!! Kill them before they kill you!!!
And for God's sake, don't forget your daily gum massage!
Tries too hard
jcaraway39 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
It looks like this movie was aiming to become a cult classic like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, or any John Waters title. Now, that's not a bad thing, but everyone involved in this tried too hard to make it a cult classic, resulting in its failure to become one. Instead of being fun and enjoyable, it becomes tiresome and rather lame (probably lame on purpose, but whatever.) And those so called "aliens" were too lame even for me.
That said, this is not a bad movie. It has some very memorable songs like "Big Meat Eater" and "Mondo Chemico". (I think that's what they're called, at least.)
I guess this movie had the potential to become a cult classic, but it never happened, as far as I know.
That said, this is not a bad movie. It has some very memorable songs like "Big Meat Eater" and "Mondo Chemico". (I think that's what they're called, at least.)
I guess this movie had the potential to become a cult classic, but it never happened, as far as I know.
The ultimate cheesy film
anus1326 May 2000
If you like films that are totally bizarre, then this one is for you! Abdullah is one mean mother, with a passion for strangling people and eating ham. You should check this film out, just for a laugh. It is a low budget sci-fi, musical, comedy, cannibalistic, classic. If you get bored of the film half way through you should persevere, just for the sake of seeing the aliens, which are nothing more than little toy robots, but in my opinion are the films highlight. "I'm the Big Meat Eater, pass me
Local folks make good.
Sum Flounder21 February 2002
I was able to attend the invitation-only midnight world premiere of this at the Van East Theatre. Several of the cast members were in attendance, but I was unable to spot Big Miller, who played the title character. He was based in Alberta, but used to come to Vancouver to sing on local telethons.It was originally to be called THE BUTCHER OF BURQUITLAM, which is what the town it took place in was called in the film. The area where the two British Columbia cities of Burnaby and Coquitlam meet is sometimes referred to as "Burquitlam." In reality,however, BIG MEAT EATER was shot in and around the town of White Rock. The music was provided by a variety of local artists, including UJ3RK5 (pronounced U-JERKS)who were a bizarre "art band" active in the Vancouver punk/new wave scene at the time. I wish I could remember more about the movie itself. It had to do with a butcher who hires a big,possibly homicidal guy to be his assistant. Some space aliens(portrayed by a pair of deliberately obvious toy robots)are attracted to the shop because the left over meat, which the butcher disposes of in acid, makes an ideal fuel for their space craft. They refer to the substance as "balonium." A friend of mine worked in a local animation studio creating subtitles for the aliens' dialogue. As I recall, the film was low-budget, goofy and cheerful. It looked like the folks involved were having fun.
great classic
redwings-419 August 2005
He does not make the credits but Simon LeBon (from Duran Duran) sings the song "Heat seeking missile lover". When the movie came out they added a red banner to the movie poster which said starring Simon LeBon. Duran Duran had just released the album Rio. So Duran Duran where pretty much at the top of there career. Lots and lots of little teeny boppers line up and went to the movie . Not many teenage girls got the movie. Quite funny. It was for this reason that much profit was made for this movie, or so I was told. Sixty thousand to make the film, one point four million dollar box office weekend. Big Miller was a huge Jazz trombonist in Edmonton Alberta. He won the Juno award for best Jazz album in 1979.The Mayor played by Howard Taylor in the film is said to be Elizabeth Taylor's brother.
But how many people have seen it?
Muffy-58 November 1999
When I was young and impressionable, I saw this on TV, very late at night, and I didn't realize it was a spoof. I was terrified by the whole egg-beater hand thing, and a rotting pig's head: oh no! But now, years later, I've finally wrangled a copy of the film, and I have to wonder two things: 1) How could I ever take this seriously? and 2) Why isn't it a cult classic yet?
This is an incredibly detailed film; every minute is filled with weird comments, dialogue, music, characters, effects, and then more music. The dinner-table conversations (especially the 50's-ish obsession with kitchen appliances), the butcher's goofy rants about his invented language...these are classic!
And the music is -- believe it or not -- good music. It spans many different genres and does a good job in all of them, but watch for the incredibly strange, Devo-esque chemical song; the guy's new wave dance will scare you far more than any of the creepier moments in the film.
As for the plot, who cares? It isn't important; in fact, I don't think the plot is there to keep you interested or to make sense; it's just an instrument to set up weird dialogue, songs, and gags. And yes, though it sometimes tries too hard, it usually succeeds.
Ever wonder what you can do with a lot of talented, enthusiastic nobody's and a miniscule budget? Check it out and see.
This is an incredibly detailed film; every minute is filled with weird comments, dialogue, music, characters, effects, and then more music. The dinner-table conversations (especially the 50's-ish obsession with kitchen appliances), the butcher's goofy rants about his invented language...these are classic!
And the music is -- believe it or not -- good music. It spans many different genres and does a good job in all of them, but watch for the incredibly strange, Devo-esque chemical song; the guy's new wave dance will scare you far more than any of the creepier moments in the film.
As for the plot, who cares? It isn't important; in fact, I don't think the plot is there to keep you interested or to make sense; it's just an instrument to set up weird dialogue, songs, and gags. And yes, though it sometimes tries too hard, it usually succeeds.
Ever wonder what you can do with a lot of talented, enthusiastic nobody's and a miniscule budget? Check it out and see.
Everyone enjoyed it for sure !!
obistrike19 July 2005
Pleased to meat you , Meat to please you,
The crowd I watched this with were bemused but loved it and my guess is you will to.....
The musical numbers were a surreal highlight and not what i had expected from the standard horror trailer that i had seen promoting this little gem. Abdullas fantasies of Arabian belly dancers doing the 'Bagdad boogie' or his signature number, "I'm the big meat eater, yes i am, I'm the big meat eater pass me the ham" while he minces a whole chicken and a side of beef with his bare hands made my veggie sister nauseous and I'm defiantly going to bust out the kid scientists dance moves that accompany the "chemicals are the future" song next time i go to a disco The Aliens, Abdulla, and Mayor Whippy are worthy bad guys to the heroes, the butcher/linguist small-town good guy and the the scientist/thief school kid and the effects are spot on.
Find a copy and treasure it, its a piece of history, I've mentally added this movie to my list of 'classics' that are a product of strange minds in strange times.
Those involved with the production of this interplanetary, horror, comedy, musical should be proud. The word 'cult' applies to the 'Big Meat Eater' but doesn't do it justice. This movie will live on because the handful of people that have had the privilege to see it will spread the word....
"Have you seen a movie called the Big Meat Eater.....No! Well you can borrow it, you will love it, its proper brilliant"
The crowd I watched this with were bemused but loved it and my guess is you will to.....
The musical numbers were a surreal highlight and not what i had expected from the standard horror trailer that i had seen promoting this little gem. Abdullas fantasies of Arabian belly dancers doing the 'Bagdad boogie' or his signature number, "I'm the big meat eater, yes i am, I'm the big meat eater pass me the ham" while he minces a whole chicken and a side of beef with his bare hands made my veggie sister nauseous and I'm defiantly going to bust out the kid scientists dance moves that accompany the "chemicals are the future" song next time i go to a disco The Aliens, Abdulla, and Mayor Whippy are worthy bad guys to the heroes, the butcher/linguist small-town good guy and the the scientist/thief school kid and the effects are spot on.
Find a copy and treasure it, its a piece of history, I've mentally added this movie to my list of 'classics' that are a product of strange minds in strange times.
Those involved with the production of this interplanetary, horror, comedy, musical should be proud. The word 'cult' applies to the 'Big Meat Eater' but doesn't do it justice. This movie will live on because the handful of people that have had the privilege to see it will spread the word....
"Have you seen a movie called the Big Meat Eater.....No! Well you can borrow it, you will love it, its proper brilliant"
amazing music
blaise-1325 December 2005
The music really makes the movie. I love Mystery Science Theatre 3000 but usually "bad" movies have really bad music. This movie is not only wacky and playful but has really enjoyable musical numbers. My friends and I used to sing along to a tape of its songs on the way to school. Good bad movie. really.
Another great part is that the plot keeps movie. Often "bad" movies drag on forever with just one or two running gags but this movie has a thought-out plot progression and clever dialogue. Some of its random and intentionally dumb but that's the point. It keeps you interested in a lighthearted manner.
Another great part is that the plot keeps movie. Often "bad" movies drag on forever with just one or two running gags but this movie has a thought-out plot progression and clever dialogue. Some of its random and intentionally dumb but that's the point. It keeps you interested in a lighthearted manner.
so bad its good
dankugler6 May 2001
jesus, i grew up thinking my friends and i were the only ones who ever heard of this flick. i think i managed to watch it at almost every sleepover party i had. i look back on it and shock myself at all the things i didn't know back then and how none of them mattered when i watched it. my favorite part will always be abdullah ripping the phone book in half to show his anger. i remember a girl i met who learned the dance the butcher does in the beginning. if i could meet the creators of this film i'd probably murder them in fear of their brutal genius.
the mutation wears off...
the mutation wears off...
Wow! Other people have seen this too!
cockers16 August 2002
I saw this movie at Staines ABC cinema (I don't think it's there any more) about 1985-1986. It was a late night double-bill, with 'Videodrome' being the main feature. I remember the movie being quite bizzare, and pretty funny. Still remember Abdulla's song with the raw meat, and the part of the butcher's opening song 'Meat to please you, Pleased to meet you!'. Clever. Videodrome seemed quite mild in comparison!
Probably my favorite movie
chevdo30 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This film has a lot going for it, but what I wanted to point out is the space-ship car, this movie predates both Back to the Future and Repo Man, and the space-ship car motif (yeah I know it's a time machine in BttF, but it does fly later on) in those films was surely inspired by this film. Repo Man even had a 'balonium'-type substance in the trunk of J Frank's car (later used in a briefcase in Pulp Fiction). I'm sure most filmmakers have seen this movie so I'm not surprised, but once again, like Class of 1984, we see a Canadian classic used as a blueprint for big hollywood productions.
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