When you go to watch a film claiming to be the "main course" after Saw's "appetiser" you have a fair notion of what you would expect to see - blood, guts and pointy things being poked into places you never knew existed. What you might not expect however is to feel sadness and sympathy with the films murderous main protagonist, which is what happened to me during the 90 minutes I spent in the twisted world of Buss. 

Buss owns a noodle stall which she dutifully pushes from place to place every day in an attempt to make a living - but things aren't going well and customers are sparse. Buss's landlord is threatening to evict her and disabled, sick daughter - Bua - out onto the street due to the large debt left behind by her lying, cheating husband who has allegedly absconded with the young babysitter.

One morning whilst waiting by her stall, Buss is caught up in a large riot and is forced to flee with the aid of a stranger. Upon her return she finds the body of a dead rioter shoved into one of the stall compartments, and this is where the insanity starts. Using cooking techniques passed down from her mother, Buss preserves, dismembers and then cooks the man who she then serves with noodles. This mystery dish goes down a treat and soon Buss has her own thriving noodle restaurant which is always full to bursting with people. She also begins to court the young man who rescued her from the riot that fateful day. Things sound like they are going ok right? Well, the mind of Buss is not what it seems - and then she runs out of 'meat' to serve.

I'm going to be upfront - a fair chunk of this film can be baffling. It takes ages to grasp what on earth is going on, and even then I've spent a good 45 minutes afterwards just sitting back trying to digest it all before writing this review. Armed with fair warning though this might not be too much of a problem. What I admire about this film is its ability to toy with the viewer emotionally. As it ran its course I flitted between absolute disgust and profound sadness during various revelations.

The character of Buss is played brilliantly - such a vulnerable figure with a tragic past who you really feel for until you look into her eyes and see the cold, dead gaze of a killer. The rest of the cast do an adequate job but sometimes a hint of over acting can creep in and kill the tension.

The film makes good use of its props, which all look suitably gory and eye wateringly realistic - indeed, I can imagine half the films budget was used up on fake blood alone! Great stuff and fans of this genre will be satiated. Colour and tone are used well throughout, and there is always a visual marker pointing out where the scene is taking place. The light in Buss's killing floor is always a cool blue; the body storage room is always covered in a blue mist from the blocks of ice placed in there; the noodle restaurant is always bright and airy (bar one particular scene) to reflect Buss's success.

Is this film really the main course after Saw's appetizer? Well, the story is certainly far more interesting, in my opinion at least, than Saw's convoluted goings on, and the characters are definitely more engaging. In terms of gore, Saw has Meat Grinder beaten simply because it has more of it - but when Meat Grinder turns up the gore it turns it up to 11.

So, why does Buss kill people? Is daughter Bua what she seems? And what really happened to Buss's husband? Buy the DVD and find out - you won't be disappointed. Just don't eat anything before or during!