Upon brief inspection, mainly the title and synopsis, Meat Kills would appear to be a horror-thriller about the grotesque way that animals are treated for human consumption. A group of activists stage a rescue mission to release pigs suffering under atrocious conditions in a pig farm, and come face to face with the callous farmers. There’s certainly some great tension in that idea. Except, Meat Kills quite soon makes it clear that the film’s moral message is considerably less black-and-white than the one in the viewer’s head.
It certainly starts off on a strong foot – a young woman infiltrates a pig farm as an employee and gets video evidence of the deplorable way that the workers are treating the animals. It’s a harsh and powerful opening, one that really sets the tone for the experience to come, but what the first act does (very cleverly, I might add) is get the viewer on board with this woman and a group of radical pro-animal activists. There’s a rallying spirit to it in a weird way, as you’re on board with this group and you want them to sneak back into this pig farm and liberate the animals from their oppression. Then the mood shifts, and things get nasty. Really, really nasty.
Meat Kills does not pull any punches, let’s put it that way. From the minute this group of activists arrive on the pig farm under cover of dark, seeking to rescue the animals and confront their human oppressors, the tone gets relentlessly bleak and relentlessly brutal. Meat Kills is described by its promo team as an ‘early 2000s throwback’ but I was thinking of two films in particular – Green Room, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Both of which are unflinching in their grottiness and brutality, and depict violence seemingly without rhyme nor reason. Meat Kills has the added punch of its pro-animal message, but even that wavelength of thought can only excuse the activists’ actions so far before their anger drives them off the deep end too. It’s a film where you don’t find yourself really rooting for anyone, yet somehow you feel something of a connection with all the characters, even the ones you detest from the word go.
The violence is really well done. It’s all done practically, it’s bloody, it’s shocking, and it’s genuinely painful at points. What adds to the disgust is a fitting soundtrack full of harsh and squishy electronica that, by a certain point, just becomes one with the unwelcoming atmosphere. And there’s a great colour palette too, it’s all either cold blue or dirty reds and browns – it fits the harsh content perfectly.
If you are someone who finds this kind of thing fun, I’d recommend it. If you don’t really find this fun, I’d still recommend it but bloody hell, brace yourself.
The initial emotional hook of Meat Kills comes from the horrific recorded footage of animal abuse that these activists seek to put right but, while that undercurrent is always there, the film soon becomes about interpersonal conflict. Let’s just say, none of these people are okay, neither the activists nor the farmers. Sometimes these moments of familial conflict can lead to a stop-starty pace, but they are necessary – while you might not need a reason for all this senseless violence beyond merely being the result of the most savage of human instincts, you do need proof that the senseless violence is having an impact on our characters, particularly the innocent ones who have nothing to do with the situation whatsoever. That latter point gives the film some great emotional potency around the middle, and resolves itself in a really cool way.
With all that said though, Meat Kills is certainly not a film made for everyone. I’ll mention another line in the press release to explain my point here: “it’s dark, but it’s also extremely fun.” While I certainly agree with the former assessment, maybe my taste for a bit of levity in my film watching does me a disservice in situations like this, because Meat Kills’s stomach-churning content and atmosphere does not make me want to sit down and watch it on a Friday night with popcorn and drinks. While I can think of a lot of words to describe Martijn Smits’s film, and a lot of those words are positive, fun is most definitely not one of them.
Some people are going to come out decrying the film as merely being an excuse to showcase a lot of sadistic violence and cruel treatment of both humans and animals and, to be honest, I’m not sure I’d disagree. However, while I’m not especially comfortable with a lot of what I saw, I do at least see the underlying message the film was trying to convey amongst all the brutality.
Meat Kills is certainly a lot. While it was an intriguing and visceral experience, I’d be lying if I said if I’d be up for sitting through it again anytime soon and, even at a lean and mean 86 minutes, I did feel pretty exhausted by the end of it. That’s only natural considering the near-constant violence and human terror but, much like the aforementioned Green Room and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you will feel like you need a shower once it’s over. That said, those two films are still positive comparisons and director Martijn Smits‘s film stands up well against them as a well-crafted bit of nastiness with potent emotional stakes. If you are someone who finds this kind of thing fun, I’d recommend it. If you don’t really find this fun, I’d still recommend it but bloody hell, brace yourself.
MEAT KILLS HAD ITS WORLD PREMIERE AT FANTASTIC FEST 2025
