Meat Kills (Vleesdag)

A Vicious Descent into Nihilism, Extremism, Violence, and Moral Decay.

“Meat Kills” (Vleesdag) is the latest film from Dutch director Martijn Smits (Manhunt): a resolutely nihilistic descent into the escalation of hatred. We already know the slaughterhouse and the wider meat industry are rotten to the bone.

No matter how many slit throats, electroshocks, or bouts of forced feeding are deployed to churn out meat, it remains, at its core, a business—and money has a knack for corroding minds as thoroughly as it does morals.

On the opposite side, we have activists—though not the sort who calmly disseminate information or raise awareness. Instead, “Meat Kills” focuses on the faction who fold themselves into extremist circles, disguising as defenders of a cause while really nourishing their own rage and disillusionment.

That’s the premise of the film. Mirthe (Caro Derkx) takes a job at a family business’s slaughterhouse to record the atrocities committed within its walls. Needless to say, she’s caught filming and rudely thrown out.

She then encounters an extreme animal-rights collective who, from the very first frame, spread a sinister energy. From there “Meat Kills” starts its escalation into a fast-paced wave of violence.

They ramble inanely about unmasking the villains while pulling on pig masks, puffing joints, and indulging in stoner philosophising turned pseudo-revolutionary rambling.

The film frames this as a debate over moral legitimacy—and how quickly it collapses.

Once the group reach the pig farm, it takes no time at all for everything to spiral beyond retrieval. Hatred generates more hatred, and cynicism becomes the gore and momentum of this Dutch slasher.

“Meat Kills” finds its footing in the tight, unsettling camerawork within the farm’s confined spaces. Its bleak, psychotic-clinical cinematography doesn’t just capture the environment—it channels the fractured psyches driving this blood-soaked battle.

The characters themselves may be far from deep intent, but the cast deliver impressively solid performances, reinforcing the film’s plot: these figures aren’t meant to be grounded or heroic. Their emptiness is part of the twisted and nihilistic narrative.

A throwback to the early 2000s torture-porn, and French extremity horror flicks, “Meat Kills” carries a fast-paced tale infused with grisly nostalgia. Through its relentless brutality, it offers its most striking lesson.

No one is entirely good or bad—especially when everyone is guilty of doing horrific things.

The film functions as a blood-slick satirical critique (even if most of the kills are off-screen, while we see the blood flows, giving a malicious voyeuristic style) of politics, ethics—human and animal alike—and the collapse of environmental conscience.

Its message is yelled fiercely in the final act, with no doubt one of 2025’s best endings.

You feel it. You endure it. A touch of “Pearl,” a hint of “When Evil Lurks”—yet “Meat Kills” speaks in its own vicious language, one designed to unsettle and upset you…and leave a wicked little smile on your face.