Review: Beef: You Are What You Eat. Screamking Productions. By Brian Kirst

While definitely geared towards a specific audience (Fans of body building, women and gay men), Beef: You Are What You Eat does contain certain moments that will appeal to all horror fans. The scenes of bloodshed definitely echo the early gore classics of Herschell Gordon Lewis and there are even moments that mimic the tone of Michael Powell’s well regarded Peeping Tom from 1960. Indeed, the camera does leer with fetishistic deadliness at the many bodybuilders that find themselves captured by the lead character’s bloodthirsty view finder.

What is most surprising here, though, are the performances. Many of the victims are played by body builders who are acting for the first time. They all offer up fairly natural and comfortable appearances with the highlight being the subtle, multifaceted performance of Marv Blauvelt as the mysterious Professor Daniels. Not surprisingly, since this initial gig, Blauvelt has gone on to many future projects (including the upcoming Sculpture and Stronger Than Death) becoming a solid force in low budget, independent horror.

Indeed, this tale about underappreciated photographer, wannabe competitive bodybuilder Drew (a nicely balanced Matt Weight) who finally snaps with deadly results also contains a surprising moment or two – especially in a scene involving some nosey neighborhood kids and Drew’s concerned ex-girlfriend.

While vomit bags were offered at the premiere screenings of this flesh filled opus, the gore is definitely more along the lines of the over-the-top fakery of Lewis – which is not a criticism. The excessive blood and flying fake limbs definitely add to the overall charm of this enjoyable (if not wide ranging) piece.