 ZOMBIE
TOWN2006 – R – 95 Minutes D: Damon Lemay S: Adam Hose, Brynn Lucas, Dennis Lemoine, Phil Burke DVD Provided by MTI Home Video Widescreen/Stereo Screener Disc – Trailer Only Included Jake and his brother are down on your luck garage owners who take a job towing a truck from the mountainside. When they get there, they discover the owner’s cabin covered in blood and are attacked by a zombie. After his brother is bitten Jake runs back into town looking for help after hooking up with his ex-girlfriend, soon the whole town is infected by these parasites that make them turn into flesh eating zombies. We’ve all seen the small town zombie infestation movies, they’re a dime per dozen, but if that doesn’t stop you from seeing them all, then definitely check this low budget shocker out. It isn’t original, but it does deliver the gory goods. Some of the acting is stiffer than the decomposing bodies and the hick humor falls flat, but the chumming from the ice cream truck to attract the zombies into a salt water facility is priceless (despite being done in Return Of The Living Dead 2). I actually enjoyed it, so I have no problems recommending it to Zombie Completists and Gorehounds. More discriminating horror fans may want to look elsewhere. – Mark Engle |
|
Third and final (for now) entry in the Nihonbi series from Japan features famed bikini model Risa Kudo as Rika. She’s a high school girl who takes off with her best friend to find out why she hasn’t heard from her samurai super-surgeon grandfather in so long. Just as soon as they arrive in his village they’re attacked by bloodthirsty zombies and are whisked away by the only other living person in the vicinity. It works out because he just happens to be heading to the same place. Things move fast but it breaks down about like this…. Samurai grandpa is nearly catatonic due to dementia and is being looked after by his young trophy wife and three trashy maids. The trophy wife is herself a fairly trashy individual that’s planning the murder of dear old granddad with the help of her boyfriend (posing as her brother). He’s the guy who saved the two girls at the top of the film. It gets wild from here…. Rika loses her arm but gets the arm of a famous zombie hunter sewn back on by her surgeon swordsman relative while a reasonable sounding zombie steps out of the shadows offering to help out since all the other zombies are too stupid to hang with. After the Japanese equivalent of the Three Stooges arrives to round out the group, we learn that there’s a way to solve this whole problem and set things right in the world once again; this motley bunch of would-be heroes needs to defeat Grorian! He’s an uber-zombie bent on domination that looks like he could be related to the final incarnation of the warden from Story of Ricky! One catch, they only have a few hours to pull this off or the whole place is going to get bombed by the government for purposes of containment. Lots of gore and some brief nudity (not from Kudo) are displayed during the course of this ‘kitchen sink’ movie. Almost surprisingly, Zombie Hunter Rika never comes all the way alive. The project just lacks that kinetic energy necessary to make it more noteworthy. It’s fun, but not altogether satisfying. The effects are often plenty gross even if their rubbery look dilutes the impact. Some twists come towards the end but beware the unforgivably shoddy CGI. Tak Sakaguchi was the action director so it’s no shock that some of the set-pieces surpass budgetary restrictions. Rika was shot on digital video and holds up well enough on the DVD with the exception of some dimly lit cave scenes that look very poor. Not bad, certainly not great, attentive scrutiny will do this title no favors. Zombie Hunter Rika is likely to fare best if enjoyed in the company of like-minded friends. -MIchael Mackie |
|
|
