| "Dumb & Dumber meets Land of the Dead” |
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Tokyo Zombie
DVD/APPROX. 104 MINS/2005/JAPAN MA15+
DVD/APPROX. 104 MINS/2005/JAPAN MA15+
4
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Tokyo Zombie is about two factory workers named Fujio (Tadanobu Asano) and Mitsuo (Aikawa) who both happen to work in dead end jobs
servicing fire extinguishers. Over the years Mitsuo, has studied every form of hand to hand combat and finds that Jujitsu is the most superior
martial arts, in which he soon becomes Fujio's mentor, teaching him how to fight. Things change for the worst as they both get busted practicing
Jujitsu by their abusive boss Ujimoto, who clearly get his kicks out of slapping around his workers. Fujio in a fit of rage, accidentally kills his boss by
smashing his head in with a fire extinguisher. Both of them quickly decide to dispose of the body by dumping it in Black Fuji, a mountain filled with
garbage. Neither know that over the years someone has been secretly dumping hazardous toxic waste into Black Fuji, which makes the dead
return back to life to hunger for human flesh. Mitsuo finds that now is the right time to put his student/best friend Fujio, to the ultimate test to use
his fighting skills, against the hordes of the undead.
Over the years the zombie genre has taken a toll for the good and the worst. As George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) might have
been the movie that sparked the zombie genre, where only the likes of House of the Dead (2003) and Day of the Dead 2: Contagium (2005)
ended up putting a damaging dint on this fantastic genre.
Tokyo Zombie isn’t one of those movies that is a spin off, remake or even a quick way to cash in. Surprisingly it was first illustrated as a Manga
comic and published in many comic stores throughout Tokyo.
One thing I honestly love the most about Japan’s zombie genre is they tend to be a somewhat goofball comedy infested with tonnes of blood, guts
and gore. As I like to praise this movie, sadly I keep finding myself comparing it to other Japan titles such as Bio Zombie (1998), Junk (2000),
Versus (2000) or even Wild Zero (2000) which all get both thumbs up from me. While comparing Tokyo Zombie to these other Japan favourites,
I found Tokyo Zombie comes off being the weakest one of the bunch, as I felt it was especially targeted for those who enjoy more comedy than
actual horror. Saying that, most of the damn time all I seen was two guys rolling around on the floor wrestling like two little school kids. Which in
the end I wasn’t satisfied and found this movie the least bit enjoyable as other critics might disagree.
Director/writer Sakichi Satô has worked on a number of well known movies in his career, with such like Ichi the Killer (2001) and Gozu (2003).
Unfortunately Satô's attempt to bring to life the Manga comic doesn’t pay off so well, as many fans find he took the first and last chapter of a
Manga, with the middle torn completely out.
The special effects are really nonexistent in Tokyo Zombie, you might of seen a handful of scenes that contained some blood splatter, a head or
two torn off someone’s shoulders, and a occasional chomping scene here and there. But to be completely honest, I wasn’t really impressed at all
with the visual/special effects within this movie. If only this movie had the entertainment/visual/special effects that are equivalent like those other
mentioned titles above, then Tokyo Zombie would of scored a much higher rating.
Another thing, I wouldn’t really go to the point to say this is a Japanese version of Shaun of the Dead (2004), that would be a total cop out. Its
basically taking the piss out of the WWE, mixing it with the comedy value of Dumb and Dumber (1994) and a similar storyline that follows Land of
the Dead (2005). If you combine all that together then you have Tokyo Zombie. Apart from the goofball zombie holocaust script, the rest of the
movie is rather dull and boring to sit through.
servicing fire extinguishers. Over the years Mitsuo, has studied every form of hand to hand combat and finds that Jujitsu is the most superior
martial arts, in which he soon becomes Fujio's mentor, teaching him how to fight. Things change for the worst as they both get busted practicing
Jujitsu by their abusive boss Ujimoto, who clearly get his kicks out of slapping around his workers. Fujio in a fit of rage, accidentally kills his boss by
smashing his head in with a fire extinguisher. Both of them quickly decide to dispose of the body by dumping it in Black Fuji, a mountain filled with
garbage. Neither know that over the years someone has been secretly dumping hazardous toxic waste into Black Fuji, which makes the dead
return back to life to hunger for human flesh. Mitsuo finds that now is the right time to put his student/best friend Fujio, to the ultimate test to use
his fighting skills, against the hordes of the undead.
Over the years the zombie genre has taken a toll for the good and the worst. As George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) might have
been the movie that sparked the zombie genre, where only the likes of House of the Dead (2003) and Day of the Dead 2: Contagium (2005)
ended up putting a damaging dint on this fantastic genre.
Tokyo Zombie isn’t one of those movies that is a spin off, remake or even a quick way to cash in. Surprisingly it was first illustrated as a Manga
comic and published in many comic stores throughout Tokyo.
One thing I honestly love the most about Japan’s zombie genre is they tend to be a somewhat goofball comedy infested with tonnes of blood, guts
and gore. As I like to praise this movie, sadly I keep finding myself comparing it to other Japan titles such as Bio Zombie (1998), Junk (2000),
Versus (2000) or even Wild Zero (2000) which all get both thumbs up from me. While comparing Tokyo Zombie to these other Japan favourites,
I found Tokyo Zombie comes off being the weakest one of the bunch, as I felt it was especially targeted for those who enjoy more comedy than
actual horror. Saying that, most of the damn time all I seen was two guys rolling around on the floor wrestling like two little school kids. Which in
the end I wasn’t satisfied and found this movie the least bit enjoyable as other critics might disagree.
Director/writer Sakichi Satô has worked on a number of well known movies in his career, with such like Ichi the Killer (2001) and Gozu (2003).
Unfortunately Satô's attempt to bring to life the Manga comic doesn’t pay off so well, as many fans find he took the first and last chapter of a
Manga, with the middle torn completely out.
The special effects are really nonexistent in Tokyo Zombie, you might of seen a handful of scenes that contained some blood splatter, a head or
two torn off someone’s shoulders, and a occasional chomping scene here and there. But to be completely honest, I wasn’t really impressed at all
with the visual/special effects within this movie. If only this movie had the entertainment/visual/special effects that are equivalent like those other
mentioned titles above, then Tokyo Zombie would of scored a much higher rating.
Another thing, I wouldn’t really go to the point to say this is a Japanese version of Shaun of the Dead (2004), that would be a total cop out. Its
basically taking the piss out of the WWE, mixing it with the comedy value of Dumb and Dumber (1994) and a similar storyline that follows Land of
the Dead (2005). If you combine all that together then you have Tokyo Zombie. Apart from the goofball zombie holocaust script, the rest of the
movie is rather dull and boring to sit through.
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