( 2005/Thailand )
Reviewed By-Paul Cooke Director: Taweewat Wantha Starring: Supakorn Kijsuwan , Thep Phongarm & Pinsuda Tunpairor Source : Thailand DVD / PAL Format / Wide Screen Approx 1:85:1 / English Language Subtitles / Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound / 16:9 Anamorphic Enhanced / Deleted Scenes / Music Videos / Trailers
Throw together the sci fi and horror classics of the last thirty years , slam them into the movie microwave and hit the frizz button all the way to melt down. Sit back with a George A. Romero slush puppy and wait for the ping. Fling open that safety glass with reckless abandonment and let the whole shebang hit your senses like some ‘Mad Max’ road kill. It’s time for a spicy Thai takeaway that has all the right ingredients. A belly busting gas , full to the brim with madcap mayhem , and bubbling over in its bloody brew.
An exacerbation of Anime rendered opening credits explodes across the screen , with an aesthetic aggressiveness that pummels the viewer into an immediate state of eager alertness. Like a subliminal message overlaying the techno track the live action kicks in with a subtle switch that has a sense of unreality about it. A surreal modern world of human metaphor , where a gang of cartoon dressed caricatures carry out a kidnap upon a dodgy business mans teenage school daughter named Liu. Rub your eyes and double take at some Loony Toons type insanity , with a whole swag bag full of colourful zaniness.
The buffoons send the expected ransom note for the sassy teen babes safe return , leaving her dodgy daddy with no choice but to put out a contract on the goons. Even a gangster can feel the pinch in the pocket and so to save money an out of action contract professional is hired for the task. The stage is set for the masters protégé to prove his metal. Enter the fresh and eager Khun , a well mannered young man who kits himself up with a metal chest plate for protection , a pair of bicycle goggles and his weapon of choice being a sword. The farce is strong in this one with his daft look Skywalker getup and a youthful zest that draws him to trouble by the barrel load.
Whilst the main player roster establishes itself , like an independent comic book vying for your attention amongst the big players , a dark paradox insidiously plays out in the background. Newscasts talk of the ever diversifying strains of the Sars virus sweeping the African continent and as the winds change a super strain slips in unannounced into Thailand. The air born virus arrives courtesy of a rather nasty winged bug who takes a fancy to the neck of a shirt and tie wearing rep out on the city highway. He is soon swelling up like a bad case of the mumps in the throat region and some funky monkey puss bubbles begin to dance to an icky tune.
The scene is set for some serious bloodletting and Zombie uprising as the infected guy metamorphosis’s into an extra from Director Peter Jackson’s ‘Braindead’. He’s let loose in a multi floored city apartment block , one that just so happens to be where the goof ball gang are also holed up with the kidnapped girl. A gaggle of garish occupants are soon on the menu , including their pets !. There’s something quite freakish about seeing a pussy eating Zombie , and once the cat is let out of the bag in its own un-dead rebirth there’s more furry munch downs to follow.
With super Sars Zombie victim one on a resurrection rampage its inevitable that all the crazy characters thrown up in the opening sequence are destined to cross paths. Schoolgirl , Lady Liu , manages to escape here abductors only to run into the first risen and his ever multiplying recently infected cohorts. The apartment block soon becomes a room trashing party for the ghoulish group , causing more devastation than an after show bash hosted by Rock band Kiss in their heyday. It’s a funky mix of old school Zombie uprising , upgraded with the modern traits of motor function ability , as these flesh frenzied creatures find their own pace between shuffle and medium pace assault. A mix of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ and crusty complexions you can usually expect to see on Halloween , although the jury may be questionable on the Jackson comparison !.
The goofy dialogue flies as fast as the gooey offal and hit’s the wall with an equal measure of splat-tastic glee. An early shot gun head blast explodes with as much audience pleasing delight as the English dialogue translation of ‘Look at his face , he looks like a piranha !’. Shovel loads of delicious drivel oozes across the movies entire running time , and none more so than when hero Khun is on hand risking life and limb for ‘his’ Lady Liu. There’s Benny Hill British slapstick type humour tickling its way through the very fabric vein of ‘Sars Wars’ , and enough fart jokes to blow away the competition. A Zombie drug induced disco turns into a madcap death rap that even Eminem would gag on his own lyrics at. Cue some brain eating to an Eighties groove with more than a passing homage to ‘The Return Of The Living Dead’.
As if our hero Khun hasn’t got enough to contend with , as he rescues Liu from the gang and fends off the ever increasing hordes of Zombies , in storm a Thai S.W.A.T team for added mayhem. The trigger happy troops bring with them a female scientist who comes equipped with her very own experimental range of vaccines and the sort of body you’d be a willing subject to be under !. This sexy siren soon gets out of her medical suit and down to revealing black underwear to raise more than the dead. Her fishnet stockings will reel in the male viewers , hook line and sinker.
Team Thai is complete when Khun’s master sneaks into the building to join up with them to take down the Zombie uprising. Armed with a super weapon in the form of the Green Freeze Sword , a mighty difference maker in the mould of Darth Vader’s light sabre but requiring batteries to make it work , the unified force of good proceed to kick un-dead ass and seek a way out of the locked down complex. Heads , legs , arms and all manner of bodily parts are diced and dissected in the battle for freedom. Bloody bits are sent flying in all directions in a display that resembles that of Director Peter Jackson’s ‘Brain Dead’ melded with Lamberto Bava’s ‘Demons’, ladled up with a huge scoop of zany humour care of Mel Brooks ‘Spaceballs’.
This is off the hook speed dialled movie delirium at it’s most wickedly entertaining. Comic book characters run riot across a canvas of cinematic blood letting with many a madcap moment. An axe wielding babe decapitates a she bitch Zombie and a truly freaky moment of pregnant belly busting baby Zombie birth will have you double taking !. The sight of a moments old toddler doing a Matrix bullet time leap is so not going to be acceptable to the MPAA and that’s before the little fella meets his gory demise !.
The Action never lets up and the Fun never stops. Nothing can prepare you for the inevitable showdown of Green Freeze Sword Vs Prehistoric Python or indeed anything and everything that goes before or after. As bizarrely brilliant as they come , and as invigoratingly refreshing as reliving that new experience of ‘Evil Dead’ back in the day when Zombie humour was unashamedly Fun.
Film : 4.0 Bitch Slaps Picture : 4.0 Bitch Slaps Sound : 4.0 Bitch Slaps Extras : 3.5 Bitch Slaps Overall : 4.0 Bitch Slaps
