Horror Short Review: Mukbang (2022)

The internet sure can be a weird place, but only because people are so weird. A mukbang is one such slice of weirdness that has risen to prominence over the last decade.

If you don’t know: A mukbang is basically a show where the host eats food on camera for a watching audience. For some, it’s akin to ASMR. To others, it’s a fetish. To most, it’s bloody weird. So, of course, along comes horror aficionado Alex Magaña of ACMOfficial to turn the craze into something horrific with a five-minute short called Mukbang. You better have a strong stomach for this one.

Carly (Becky Bush) is an online personality attempting to do the ‘Korean fire noodle challenge’ which consists of eating a large quantity of the noodles within 10 minutes. The current record stands at 15 packs and Carly plans to smash it by attempting to eat 20. The equivalent of 10,000 calories and 10 pounds of food.

Later, admiring her uploaded video, Carly gets a message from an anonymous user who claims that they know she cheated. They have the proof and will expose her if she doesn’t do the challenge for real as a live stream. She knows it’s a terrible idea but the thought of losing her online reputation is too much and she agrees.

Can a person consume that much food and what will happen to them if they try? Watch it below to find out.

We’re in familiar but enjoyable territory here. The ever present ACMOfficial style, taking something real and mostly innocent, then turning it into something horrific. Although, Mukbang has a more tongue in cheek approach that borders on silly. Still, it entertains and has an underlying message that surrounds taking things too far for the ‘likes’.