You know, I've been sitting here for the past half hour trying to come up with how to approach reviewing this movie. What I have come to is that no matter what I write, I will not be able to do this film justice, nor will I be able to adequately convey just how bizarre this movie is. I first heard about it almost a year ago in a Doogan's Views column at The Digital Bits. It also had reviews of Versus, which I have also tracked down, and may review at some point, and Junk, which I am still tracking down. The theme of the column: Zombies.
I guess I should start with an overview of the plot. There are a few points here, one is setting, and the other being the various stories that are tied together. In the near future girls between the ages of 15-17, from all over the world, begin dying. Just before death, they are afflicted with something called Near Death Happiness, or NDH. Shortly after dying, they return as flesh eating zombies, nicknamed Stacies. It appears this has been going on for a number of years as there are mentions of the world's population dropping drastically, and also that the UN is involved. There are troops charged with making sure the Stacies die and stay dead, they are called the Romero Repeat Kill Squad. There are other points to this, but I want you to see the movie, and if this hasn't piqued your interest, I'm not sure what will. Back to the story at hand, there are a few threads at play here. The most interesting may be the relationship between Shibu and Eiko, Eiko is a teenage girl in the early throes of NDH who has chosen Shibu as the man to repeat kill her. They spend a lot of time together leading to the end, but I dare not reveal more. Another thread involves a scientist experimenting on Stacies to see what makes them tick, with him are members of the Romero Repeat Kill Squad, but have their own reasons for being there. Lastly there are the Drew Illegal Repeat Kill Squad, which is a team of teenage girls trying to raise money to pay a pop star to be their repeat killer.
This is one bizarre film, a twisted love story, a gore film, an action film, it mixes various styles into itself. I can say that I liked, although I have no idea what it is trying to say, it will probably take a few more viewings. I mean a lot can be inferred from the strange ending, but I want to absorb it a bit more before trying to decipher it. The relationships are interesting, the characters are nicely defined, for what appears to be a direct to video affair, although I am not sure of that status. There are some excellent gore effects throughout, limbs severed, heads blown apart, blood spraying around. All this and a story that seems to be making a commentary on society, especially with the ending, for good measure.
Article comments
1 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Good stuff Chris. I'm just waiting for the right time to put this one on. Its been sitting here at Mondo Towers for ages. You mention Versus in the article. I gotta say i was a bit dissapointed with it, didn't do it's premise justice, and was way too long. The director obviosult thought different tho, since he went off and filmed ten more minutes to add into the film.
2 - Chris
Thank you, it is a bizarro movie, not sure if I could express just how strange it is. It has been awhile since I watched Versus, but I remember liking it, but probably would have liked it better had the transfer been better. The directors cut I am eager to see, as I here it does flesh out the action more, and adds a lot more zombies, which many people wished there were to begin with. I hope to snag a copy of that when I can.