by Bone Jawnson
This viewing was chosen because I was flipping through the Tubi app on my Roku TV, saw the artwork, and said to myself, "This artwork and title look interesting, let's choose this one." I had no prior knowledge of this movie before viewing it, which I usually prefer. Once I started viewing, I was thrilled to see that the late, great Pat Morita himself was part of the cast, as well as Michael Berryman. This was also my introduction to the wonderful, offbeat actress Karen Black. I always love a good Michael Berryman appearance and it was very interesting to see Pat Morita perform a role outside of "The Karate Kid." Discovering Karen Black was a highlight of this viewing for me. I plan to dive deeply into her roles and hopefully plan a special "Black Friday" viewing and review in the future.
The premise of this movie seemed like it would equal a once-and-done watch for me; however, I was pleasantly surprised. Essentially, Karen Black's character, "Auntie Lee," makes and sells delicious meat pies to surrounding restaurants and businesses. However, these pies also contain human meat. Throughout the duration of the film, she sends her four beautiful nieces out to lure various men back to their house to be killed and ground up into meat. There are various ways the men are killed, which are all unique. Throughout the film, a private investigator searches for a missing man, Bob Evans, who has been killed by Auntie Lee and her nieces with Pat Morita's character, police "Chief Koal," being non-the-wiser to what has been going on in his town. I won't reveal the end of the plot because this movie should be seen for itself.
I thought this movie would be a once-and-done watch for me; however, I was really surprised by the film’s acting and pacing. With a run time of 100 minutes, I was nervous that I would lose interest at some point like I did with "Uncle Sam," which had a run time of 89 minutes. I feel that Karen Black and Pat Morita did a great job pulling the movie together, making it an interesting piece of horror cinema. This film did borrow some themes, and sets I believe, from the 1980 horror flick, "Motel Hell." For me, the biggest takeaway from this viewing was discovering the talent of Karen Black, whom I hope to view more of in the future.