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It's been a year since the events of the first film and not all of the original survivors are still around. Some are missed, some aren't. The current cast doesn't seem to care. Survival is a hard enough game just thinking about yourself, let alone those that didn't make it. Still alive are the battle-weary Argenta and the ever-affectionate lesbian vampire Nemesis.
MEAT MARKET 2
Written and Directed by Brian ClementArgenta - Claire Westby
Nemesis - Alison Therriault
Bill - Bob NesbittHopefully, by now you've taken a look at Brian Clement's original MEAT MARKET, a break-neck hodgepodge of various cult film genres including horror, sci-fi, erotica, and Mexican Wrestling. It's also the B-Independent.com Underground Film of 2001. MM used its cult film roots as a way to grow into a commentary on the medium of film itself. Pretty big shoes to fill for a follow up, wouldn't you say? Clement's best choice as director is to not even try.
With MEAT MARKET 2, Clement takes his series in a completely different direction. Already having made artistic commentary, Clement decides to celebrate the very films he was parodying, and deliver a full-on, all-out horror extravaganza done gut-churning Italian style. The tone is grittier and the story tighter, but much of the underlying black humor is still overshadows the action.
During the past year almost all of humanity has succumb to the zombie plague. Those left are slowly starting to band together and rebuild a feudal-based society. Argenta and Nemesis stumble across one founded and ran by a former motivational speaker, Bill Wilhelm. The proverbial Silver Tongued Devil, Bill combines cold, hard truth with the lies of hope that the survivors desperately need to hear. His followers are loyal; some even viewing him as a type of modern day Messiah figure.
Of all the directors whose work I've seen, none are able to capture the energy of the action sequences like Clement. Big budget spectacle on a bargain basement price is his specialty. I remember a sequence in the first film with explosions going off while 20 or 30 people either scattered for cover or were caught in the flames. It was a slow motion tracking shot that reinforced the production's epic-scope. All the sequences in MM2 have the exactly same look and feel. It's a matter of putting your money on the screen and delivering to the audience what they want.
MEAT MARKET 2 is much darker than the original and not nearly as much fun. They are two entirely different movies linked together more by name than content. MM 2 isn't a bad film by any stretch of the imagination, it's just harder to watch. Without the outright comedy of the first film, the maggot-infested nastiness of the gore takes a different edge. The bite here is serious and harder to take. Fans of extreme horror from the likes of Todd Sheets might want to take notice. You won't be disappointed; this is one sequel that delivers.