Well, here’s another zombie movie review for you all. I watched the trailer by chance sometime early this year…can’t really remember. BUT, I can clearly remember this hilarious zombie gem after viewing it tonight. This is foreign language comedy at its best!

Director: Shinichiro Ueda

Release date: 23 Jun 2018 (Japan)

Scoring a WHOPPING (RARE) 100% ON ROTTEN TOMATOES!

Scoring A HUGE 7.7/10 ON IMDB

“Things go badly for a hack director and film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie in an abandoned WWII Japanese facility, when they are attacked by real zombies.”

Wow, so that happened. I viewed a foreign language zombie movie. The last I saw was possibly Train to Busan, but who’s really counting how many I’ve seen. This movie, a sure-fire zombie comedy (hilarious I found it) is well and truly groundbreaking. I say it again, groundbreaking. The cast and crew are good actors and the script and plot work well too. What makes this a masterpiece, and rightly so, is the use of different camera angles, the in-built humour, and the second half of the movie.

I don’t want to spoil anything so I will keep this positive and brief. I began to watch this film on edge, patiently waiting for the zombies to show up, and surely they did around 20 minutes into the film. Up to that point, the actors had been stiff, and the whole scenario of filming a zombie low-budget film in an abandoned building had quickly lost its hype. There was comedy though, and in the form of outrageously tainted lines and cringy behaviour. Our survivors are trying to stay alive and fight the zombies.

You will be drawn in, potentially wanting more, when the film abruptly and smartly ends around 36 mins in. You have to persevere and continue to watch the movie to the end, otherwise you will miss this ingenious film-in-film comedy gold. As for it being a foreign film, that does not detract from the modern day techniques employed during the second part. The beginning when the zombie film is being shot, does appear to reminisce about the old Asian horror films of the 90’s. What’s funnier than watching innocent men and women throw someone’s hacked arm around and crying out like children when being chased slowly by 1 corpse? Not much.

Reviews for this movie have rightly stated it’s a gem, and I concur. Other’s have mentioned that it is the funniest zombie comedy since Shaun of the Dead…I also concur. The weirdly dark yet familiar atmosphere, great camera work, acting (some cracking lines too) and special effects all come to a climatic and funny half-movie finale that will leave you jaw dropped and thinking…”did that just happen, that was hilarious?”

I think this fantastic, memorable movie deserves the rating I give:

(Available on dvd/blu-ray and from Shudder)