Bio-Zombie (1998)

Director: Wilson Yip

Writer: Matt Chow, Siu Man Sing, Wilson Yip

Tagline: [None]

Actors: Jordan Chan, Emotion Cheung, Sam Lee, Yiu-Cheung Lai, Angela Tong Ying-Ying, Suk Yin Lai, Tat-Wah Lok, Frankie Chan, Tak Chi Tam, Chi Chuen Chan, Matt Chow

Runtime: 1h 34m

Category: Comedy, Japanese, Zombie

Synopsis: Bio Zombie (Sang dut sau shut), is your basic run-of-the-mill Zombie film, with a very well-seasoned dash of comedy to the mix. The film opens, centered around two of our four main characters, Woody Invincible (Jordan Chan), and Crazy Bee (Sam Lee 111)-working at what seems to be an illegal video store, inside a Hong Kong Mall. It isn't too long before the viewer is shown that not only are our two anti-heroes involved with a large pirating network, but that they will stop at nearly nothing to make a free buck. While jacking a car to sell for cash, the two suddenly slam into what seems to be a person, on their way back to the mall.

Meanwhile, a group of Scientists are working on their latest bio-chemical advancement. A highly vivid, orange soda, which instantly changes the consumer from lively human, into a mindless, blood-thirsty zombie. While patting themselves on the back over their success, one Scientist notices that their subject has indeed escaped.

While Woody and Crazy scramble over what to do about their "accident", they can't help but notice a can of soda firmly planted into the corpse's hand. Hoping for some sort of miracle the two pry the can from the man's fingers and force the orange liquid into the victims mouth. To their dismay, the body shows no change, and the two place the cadaver into the trunk of their stolen car-only to ditch the scene and continue to the Mall.

When reaching their shop, the duo meets up with their ladies of equally devious ways, Rolls and Jelly. The guys explain their earlier adventure to the girls, and the four laugh it off, as though it were nothing out of the ordinary. As closing time approaches, the guys close the store and make plans to make the best of the night with their girls. In what seems to be an instant, our four main characters are seemingly the only people left inside of the shopping-mall. While heading toward the exit, they begin to notice that they weren't as isolated as they had initially thought. In fact, the entire structure is crawling with the "un-dead".

Review: Not being a real lover of this particular genre, I actually liked this movie. It's not usual that I find myself cracking up over what was supposed to of scared me, and being as though the version I found was dubbed in Cockney-English...was all the better. There were times I found myself becoming bored, being as though this film doesn't contain much real dialog, but the laughs made up for that. By the end of this movie I couldn't help but fall in love with the main characters and their crazy ways. How can you not have admiration for someone with a name like "Woody Invincible", and God as my witness, I will bear a child by the name of "Crazy Bee" by the time I'm thirty.

Rating: 16. I'll be the first to say that this film is far from terrifying. Despite a couple stomach-turning moments of poorly manifested gore, this movie will strike reminiscence of something produced by "Troma". That is not to say that this film is not worth your time. Coming into this piece not expecting scare-tactics, you will find that nearly 99% of the time you will be laughing your ass off. Not only do the main characters have some of the most fantastic names in horror movie history, but the zombies themselves are a walking pack of low-budget, putty-faced monsters, with over-zealous movement, paired with zany antics.

To the genre elitists, I would suggest opening your mind, and you too, just may enjoy yourself. Yes this film is obviously our Asian friends' campy homage to the works of Mr. Romero himself, but alas, the entertainment value is there. Stop being so damn stubborn. (16of25).