In the 1998 Hong Kong zombie/comedy "Biozombie," we meet a pair of very amusing ne'er-do-wells, Woody Invincible (Jordan Chan) and his younger sidekick, Crazy Bee (Sam Lee). When not engaged at their regular occupation as clerks at a bootlegged VCD store in the New Trend Plaza Mall, the two boastful cowards can usually be found either smoking pot or gambling and whoring in nearby Macao. As in another Asian horror film that I recently saw, 1960's "Jigoku," their lives are suddenly altered when their car accidentally strikes a crazed pedestrian. But rather than pulling a hit and run, as in "Jigoku," Woody and Bee here make the mistake of helping the dying pedestrian, not knowing that the soft drink that they pour down his throat actually consists of an Iraqi biochemical weapon that can transform anyone into the lurching, flesh-hungry undead! Soon enough, the zombie scourge has increased exponentially, and our hapless heroes, along with some hotties from the mall's beauty parlor AND an obnoxious cell phone dealer and his gorgeous wife, are playing hide-and-seek with the gut munchers in the locked and deserted shopping emporium....
Anyway, "Biozombie" succeeds wildly at both its missions. It is both very funny and a fairly gripping zombie experience. The film is extremely fast paced--the zombies here are a pretty hyperkinetic bunch--and director Wilson Yip does a terrific job at wringing shocks and yucks on his obviously limited budget. Though his zombie makeup and FX are nowhere near the level that fans of Tom Savini may be accustomed to, they are certainly good and effective enough. It's loads of fun watching our two stoner heroes morph from empty braggadocio to full-fledged, superefficient zombie slayers, and most of the film's laffs come as a result of the hilarious expressions on these dudes' faces; they seem to be mugging ALL the time. The relationship between the two is a touching one, especially toward the film's end, as Bee's idolization of his older mentor becomes more apparent. The film gives the gorehounds out there any number of pleasing set pieces, too, including a frenzied fight in a security office, a zombie free-for-all in a sushi bar, a nerve-racking attempt to procure some handcuff keys out of an imminent zombie's mouth, the use of a power drill (!) on a zombie's head, and that final melee in an underground garage. The picture is nothing demanding or terribly earth shaking, but it sure is fun, right to its surprisingly downbeat ending. This fine-looking DVD from Media Blasters, by the way, offers the option of excellently translated English subtitles or what has been called "Engrish" subtitles, which are hilariously mistranslated in the worst pidgin English style. That latter option is certainly not recommended for use during an initial viewing, largely incomprehensible as these subtitles are, but is highly entertaining later on. However the film is viewed, though, this cult item should readily be acknowledged as a significant addition to the zombie/comedy subgenre.
2 out of 3 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
