Cannibal Mukbang Review: Mukbang With No Bite

Cannibal Mukbang is an undercooked horror romance with an intriguing twist: what if the mukbanger you fell in love with was secretly a cannibal?

And to stick with the references for people who live online, the movie attempts to distinguish itself from others like it by placing the story into the world of mukbanging. For the uninitiated, that’s a style of online content from South Korea, in which people eat large portions of food for viewers. It’s a unique setting the film barely makes use of.

Cannibal Mukbang starts with a classic meet-cute between the shy and awkward Mark (Nate Wise) and the enigmatic yet uninhibited Ash (April Consalo) in a convenience store. That is, before she runs him over with her car and he wakes up in her bed. Mark doesn’t mind. It’s kind of a dream scenario for him. He’ll take the hit if it means ending up in the bed of a woman as gorgeous as Ash. Surprisingly, the feeling is mutual. Ash makes them both something to eat, and they talk the night away. Slightly embarrassed, she admits that she’s a mukbanger but is delighted to find out that Mark happens to be a fan of mukbang videos. Having spent a fun night together and discovered a shared passion, they exchange numbers.

Repeatedly, characters declare that they cannot understand how Mark and Ash can possibly be together. After all, she’s so far out of his league; as an audience member, I’m not sure I understand why they’re dating either. And the problem isn’t how attractive they might or might not be. The two leads just don’t really have any chemistry, and Aimee Kuge’s screenplay does them no favors either. The intensity of their relationship sort of jumps around as required for any given plot beat, without any moments in between that would allow them to convincingly grow together or be torn apart.

The instalove trope is already a hard sell, though movies have certainly pulled it off before, but its believability becomes especially strenuous when time and time again the film tells us that Mark has commitment issues. He’s supposed to be a guy that never gets attached, always keeps a distance, and shoves people away when they get too close. And yet, he immediately latches on to Ash and is completely obsessed with her. There’s this weird paradox the screenplay keeps fighting with: every person is a complete stereotype but also frequently acts out of character. I suspect this is a result of attempting to add layers and complexity. As it is, it just feels like one-dimensional caricatures that make confounding decisions.

The problem is that Cannibal Mukbang absolutely requires us to be all in on the relationship once we get into the real meat of the story. When Mark finds out that Ash is a cannibal and regularly kills men, we need to believe that he truly loves her. Otherwise, it’s really hard to buy that he would be willing to go along with it. Even if they’re only killing bad men who abuse women. It’s a love-conquers-all story that never takes the time to properly establish the love.

The last piece that makes the relationship hard to get on board with is the unfortunately pretty lacking performances. April Consalo comes away looking the best here. She manages to portray the manic pixie dream girl that Ash is with all the quirk and seduction required, while also pulling off the fierce side her character eventually gets to show off. Nate Wise’s performance, however, leaves a lot to be desired. He has opted for this weird, breathy articulation that’s at no point credible as his regular speaking voice. It feels incredibly put on. And it’s not really fun in a Robert Pattinson way either; it’s mostly just irritating. Clay Von Carlowitz, who portrays Mark’s brother, is easily the worst, though. He overacts and drags the film into parody anytime he’s on screen, which, to be fair to him, is in large part also because his character is just a giant overplayed cliché.

It’s hard to be too harsh on any individual person in this regard. The uneven performances are clearly a result of inexperience. None of the actors have a lot of credits to their name yet, and Aimee Kuge, as a first-time feature director, might just need some more experience in directing actors to get the performances she wants out of them. But that speaks to the larger issue the film has. It just is a truly independent feature debut with a cast and crew that lack experience. And it’s evident on screen. From the script to the finished edit, it’s a scrappy film that lacks polish. And that’s okay! As long as Aimee Kuge and her team have learned in the process, they can go on to make bigger and better projects.

And there are great elements to build upon here. The shot on 8MM flashback montage is fantastic. Similarly, the stylized dream sequences utilizing gel lighting look great. A highlight is one in which Mark turns into a monster and eats Ash’s entrails while drenched in red light. It’s a scene that beautifully evokes Italian horror cinema from the 70s. The music that plays during those scenes, sometimes very synth-heavy and at other times more rock-influenced, by Alex Cuervo is great as well. Even just the idea of placing a cannibal story in the world of mukbang is an interesting one. It’s just not developed properly. Aimee Kuge has an intriguing directorial voice, but it needs more refinement.

Cannibal Mukbang will be available to watch on digital and on demand in the US from March 25, 2025, and on Blu-Ray from April 22.

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