Devouring the flesh of the living

(Also posted at http://www.revenantmagazine.com/)

It seems like gig season is returning to England, as in the last few weeks I’ve been to a music festival for a weekend and followed that up with a gig in London.  I have also picked up tickets for several forthcoming concerts in the next few weeks.  All this music could interfere with my Zombie watching, but luckily I have found a way to seamlessly merge the two.  This comes in the form of Drumwolf, Basswolf and Guitarwolf in the bizarre Japanese film Wild Zero.

Man alive, this film has everything.  Exploding Heads, Lazer eye Beams, UFOs, Zombies, Electic Shock Plectrums, Men in Hotpants, Mute Transexuals, Undead Romance and of course Guitar Wolf: The self proclaimed coolest band in the world, and any band who self proclaims such a thing must be pretty rock and roll.

The film follows ‘Ace’, a huge Guitar Wolf fan as he treks across the country following the band.  He accidentally saves them from being fired (literally) by their manager and as a result the band make him a blood brother and give him a special whistle which will call the band to him should he get into trouble.  Naturally trouble does follow, in the form of a UFO invasion and the dead returning to life for some reason.  Possibly these are just a coincidence as nothing is ever really explained here.  So these Zombies go on the rampage, Guitar Wolf are summoned and they all use the power of Rock and Roll to destroy all the zombies and save the planet.  Just your average story really.  Along the way we meet a transsexual who doesn’t speak or really do anything, (although Ace still falls for her), an arms dealer woman who showers with a gun (which turned out to be quite handy for when zombies invade her bathroom), a gig promoter in the tightest little hot pants I’ve ever seen a grown man wear, and a guitar that doubles as a samurai sword sheath, ideal for chopping up passing spaceships.

The Zombies themselves are plentiful, and are either made on the cheap, or are direct homages to the bluegreen zombies from the original Dawn of the Dead.  Most of these creatures are destroyed by a simple bullet to the face, causing their entire head to explode.  This happens countless times, but is always comical and welcome.

It is basically just an extended music video for the awesome band Guitar Wolf, and their music and live performances were so superb here that after watching the movie I immediately went and bought one of their albums.  A delirious mess of nonsense, volume, distortion and some Rock and Roll thrown in for good measure, just like the film.

Utterly ludicrous as only Japanese Zombie films can be, and all the more enjoyable for it.  Bonus points should be awarded for the Drinking Game built into the DVD – every time someone combs their hair, says “Rock and Roll” or a head explodes a drink icon appears on screen as a cue for you to take a swig.  Man, if I’d have been playing along I’d have been blootered in the first 10 minutes!

Gore Score B
Norks Score C
Originality C
Overall Score B+

(Also posted at http://www.revenantmagazine.com/ )

I’ve been a bit lax with the film viewing in my pad of late, well, regarding Zombie films at least. To get myself back into the swing of regular movie watching I figured I’d just get out of the way a film I was really not looking forward to watching. I had the place to myself so I didn’t need to feel guilty about inflicting some utter trash onto my long suffering flatmate and figured that this was the perfect time to give this film a go.

I sat down with absolutely no expectations for this film beyond ‘well, there is no way it can be worse that ROTLD4. Can it?’ I absolutely hated ROTLD4 : Necropolis, and may well have to position it on the podium of worst zombie films ever made. However, I must admit that having sat through this latest instalment I am totally confused as to my opinion on it. The gore is rather awesome, there are loads of quality nork shots all throughout the film and the storyline is genuinely original. Considering these are the criteria I judge zombie films by it should be the greatest one I own.

But it isn’t.

I remember the (loosely) interpreted Gestalt theory “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, and whatever the opposite is, that is what Rave to the Grave suffers from. It occurs to me that possibly what is missing is a good sense of direction, acting, character development or something else along these lines. This is shocking, as these are aspects of Zombie films that I am usually not interested in whatsoever. I just hope that it’s not because I am growing up and am looking for more artistic integrity in the films I watch. *Urgh*. Now that just isn’t worth thinking about! (Also, citing Gestalt theory in my review may also be an indication of my growing up, but hey at least I interpreted it incorrectly so I’m not that smart just yet.)

The film involves some kids from Necropolis who seem to have totally forgotten about their previous Zombie adventures (Well I’m not surprised. I’m trying to forget the last film myself!). They discover a canister of Trioxin 5 – which I am not sure if it is a liquid or a gas as it seems to change depending on who is using the contents – and by ‘thorough scientific investigation’ discover it to have hallucinogenic properties. (By ’scientific investigation’ I mean one of the kids tastes some of it for a laugh). Having discovered this they then batch a load of it up into pills in their chemistry lab and start selling it to the students… Who then become Zombies just in time for the big rave that evening.

There are some ‘comedy’ Interpol officers, some vegan students (can you guess what happens to them?) and oh yes, Tarman is in this one. However he is used so appallingly that it is best to fast forward past his scenes to avoid tarnishing the memory of the once great Zombie. (He goes hitch-hiking in this one, for Christ sakes!)

Yes, it’s a nice idea for a film. Yes, the gore here is much better and more varied than in Necropolis (eye gouging, decapitations, axe wounds…) and yes, there are plenty of young ladies bearing cracking norks, but overall it’s just not right. The stench of a corporate, target-audience led film is less than before, but is still overwhelming and the defiling of the Tarman character is just appalling. Still, it kept me interested until the end I suppose, so it’s not all bad.

Gore B
Norks B
Originality B
Overall Score D

(Also posted at http://www.revenantmagazine.com/ )

AKA City of the Walking Dead

Oh yes, Nightmare City! A brilliant example of what makes 70’s Italian Zombie films so appealing. A winning combination of gore, makeup, dubbing, direction, story and script all from the very bottom drawer of the movie technique cupboard, with a shed-load of gratuitous nork shots thrown in for good measure. To really up the ante, add on a truly extraordinary cop-out ending that just beggars belief to produce a grindhouse trashfest of the highest order.

So what is this film all about? Well, a plane load of radioactive scab-faced zombies land at an airport and proceed to attack and kill all humans in the vicinity, utilising a collection of knives, axes, guns and anything else they can lay their hands on to take out the humans and feast on their blood. A journalist who is banned from reporting this affair spends the film looking for his wife, and they then proceed to give the zombies a right good ‘running away from’. Oh yes, and the inept military try to keep the whole incident under-wraps even though the whole city is overrun by these creatures (who are smart enough to disable power stations, apparently).

Some utter genius set pieces along the way include the TV studio massacre where the dancing girls of some music show are chased by the zombies until their norks fall out of their leotards, as well as the amazingly daft scene involving the army generals daughter who, despite her phone being strangely cut off after numerous calls from her father, coupled with the fact that an army car comes to collect her as a matter of urgency suggests to her husband that “it’s probably nothing, lets not go with the soldiers but instead go on a camping trip”. With obvious results for all concerned.

A gloriously trashy exploitation classic, and one I never tire of watching. The ending alone is worth the price of the film simply for the reaction it provokes from the people who watch it with you.

Gore Score C
Norks Score B+
Originality Score B-
Overall Score B