Nasty, mean cinema is back, baby, and it takes the form of Dutch director Martijn Smits’ new film Meat Kills (or Vleesdag in Dutch), which had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2025. Smit and writer Paul de Vrijer’s skewering of modern activism doesn’t hold back in its violence or its nihilistic message about the state of the world and what it means to actually support a cause. While its disgusting setpieces and breakneck pace will bring viewers in, Meat Kills succeeds thanks to devilish performances and a story that isn’t afraid to kill its darlings in the nastiest ways possible.
Mirthe (Caro Derkx) works at a local pig farm and slaughterhouse, but is caught filming when phones are strictly forbidden on the work floor. Farm owner Jonas (Bart Oomen) destroys her phone and fires her, unaware that she gave him a decoy phone to ensure that she could smuggle the footage out to show a local animal rights group. Mirthe desperately wants to join their ranks and impress their prickly leader, Nasha (Emma Josten), with the secret footage that proves Mirthe is more badass than she looks.
Also Read: ‘Bugonia’ Review: Yorgos Lanthimos Goes Back To Nihilistic Basics In New Film [Fantastic Fest 2025]
The footage enrages Nasha, who decides that they need to free the pigs immediately, and it’ll be easy because Mirthe can show them where to go. Mirthe leads Nasha, along with group members Jonathan (Sweder de Sitter), Humphrey (Tommy Zonneveld), and Donna (Chardonnay Rillen), to free the pigs and stick it to the cruel farmers. But when they arrive at the farm, they discover they’re too late and the pigs have already been slaughtered. Her rage only further amplified, Nasha decides it’s time for revenge against the farmer, Jonas, and his family, which includes his two sons and his sickly young daughter. Little does she know that Jonas is also full of rage and is ready to snap at anyone threatening his family…
What ensues is a nightmarish game of cat-and-mouse through a dark, dank slaughterhouse full of murder implements begging to sink into terrified flesh.
Meat Kills is a back-to-basics, mean horror movie where everyone sucks and gets their comeuppance in agonizing, painful ways. There is no mercy, and once the film gets going, it does not let up until its final shocking moments. It feels like the millennial nasties (all credit to author Ariel Powers-Schaub for that term) of the early aughts, without the weird blue filters and casual homophobia. Plus, there is one lead female character in a white tank top, which, if you know, is the cherry on top of any good piece of post-9/11 horror.
Also Read: ‘Camp’ Review: Melancholy Magical Perfection from Avalon Fast [Fantastic Fest 2025]
Smits utilizes the single location of the farmhouse and slaughterhouse to perfection as both a maze perfect for a game of cat and mouse and a place peppered with the already-horrific tools of the hog-slaughtering trade. Meat hooks, hungry pigs, electrocution devices, and more are used to glorious effect against activist and farmer alike. While the farmers do have the homefield advantage, the rebellious youth have Mirthe, who does have a basic understanding of the labyrinthine slaughterhouse. This lets each group gain the upper hand and constantly battle for control in such a confined, yet seemingly sprawling, space.
Meat Kills isn’t afraid to sink its teeth into the true, well, meat of the issue when it comes to modern online activism led by young people who are more vindictive and cruel than truly interested in bettering humanity. This isn’t a movie that’s violent for violence’s sake. The film’s cruelty ensures the statement is as loud and as obvious as humanly possible, while also pulling in the gorehounds with the promise of non-stop bloody action. It takes the blueprint of films like Wake Up, but delivers a stronger, more painful punch.
Also Read: ‘Coyotes’ Review: New Creature Feature From Colin Minihan Is Mindless Fun [Fantastic Fest 2025]
As previously stated, no character here is redeemable (except for maybe the sick daughter), and each actor embraces that with open arms. Josten is especially deplorable as the cruel Nasha, who knows she’s hot and thinks she can, quite literally, get away with murder. Her ego clouds her judgment, and the result is a very bloody trail of bodies snaking through the slaughterhouse.
Smits’ Meat Kills is a European extreme horror classic in the making, joining the ranks of films like Calvaire, High Tension, and Frontier(s). This is the evolution of European horror, which continues to deliver gnarly societal indictments that are unafraid to make the viewer uncomfortable. Dehumanization is the name of the game in Meat Kills, and it goes deeper than just a statement about animal cruelty; it’s a harrowing examination of human cruelty committed in the name of a self-declared good cause.
Summary
‘Meat Kills’ is a skewering of modern activism doesn’t hold back in its violence or its nihilistic message about the state of the world and what it means to actually support a cause.
Categorized: Reviews
