A throwback slasher set in an abandoned prison with super gory practical kill effects? That’s Fresh Meat, the new film from Here for Blood director Daniel Turres. This movie is the latest in a long line of films that deposit random influencers at the center of the story, but here, it seamlessly fits. The influencers themselves aren’t as annoying and insipid as other similar genre titles. Driven by phenomenal effects and a throwback nature, Fresh Meat is a gory blast.
Coldwater Prison has been abandoned now for almost 50 years, and who better to infiltrate its walls than two separate sets of influencers? There’s the super frat boys, and then there’s a more normal set that likes to film and catalog everything they see. They think they’re breaking into the site of the deadliest prison riot ever, recording content that could go viral in the process. Instead, the dried blood coating the interior hints that the official story may not be entirely accurate. The entire setting is ripe with atmospheric attention, and the actual sadistic mental patient killer, Jeffrey, is freaky as hell. Once the truth begins to emerge, the prison becomes a perfect playground to enact twisted vengeance on all those who dwell inside.
By the time Fresh Meat gets into the nasty gore, we are gifted all manner of physical demolition. There are faces and heads smashed into cage bars, cannibalistic limb-eating, electrocution, and much more. One particularly gruesome moment involving Jeffrey literally eating a victim at the knees is almost hilariously excessive, while another kill involving a weight to the mouth leaves the lower half of a character’s face gushing blood everywhere. The whole thing is played for laughs, in the vein of Terrifier, and absolutely lives up to the title. This type of cheesy, exploitative absolutely delivers on good time fun chills and thrills.
The bloodlust of any horror fanatic should be satiated, and the typical formula is laid exactly in place, including a headstrong final girl to root for. Jeffrey’s refusal to stay dead allows the movie to keep upping the ridiculousness. Fresh Meat never tries to reinvent the wheel, but does stay grounded in its exploration of 80s exploitation. This movie even gifts us some chase scenes, which are often absent from modern slashers.
If you’ve come for deep characterization or shocking plotting, look elsewhere: Fresh Meat will taste yummy to horror enthusiasts only. After loading up an atmospheric abandoned prison with disposable characters, a seemingly unstoppable slasher villain, and gallons of blood, the simplistic nastiness of Fresh Meat stays entertaining from beginning to twisted end.
Fresh Meat screened at 2026’s Tubi FrightFest.
