Stacy

Naoyuki Tomomatsu's "Stacy" of 2001 is a messy and confusing, but highly entertaining and amusing humorous gore flick like it will only be made in the Land Of The Rising Sun.

In the near future (beginning of the 21st century), girls between 15 and 17 suddenly fall victims to a mysterious epidemic plague. After a period of gratuitous "Near Death Happiness" ("NDH") , the cheerful girls die, only to rise from the dead as flesh eating zombie-schoolgirls, commonly referred to as Stacies. These Stacies infest the streets with their desire for flesh, until they are "repeat-killed". In order to repeat-kill a Stacy, she must be cut in 165 pieces, a task which is performed mainly by the "Romero Repeat-Kill Troops", Swat teams in trucks specialized on Stacy-disposal...

When watching "Stacy", I couldn't help but laugh my ass off almost throughout the entire film. The plot es absolute nonsense, and there is no suspense at all, but it is (besides the excessive gore) exactly the absurd story that makes this movie such a joy to watch. "Stacy" is furthermore a tribute to Zombie-Classics, as the whole movie is full of references to movies like "The Evil Dead" or George A. Romero's 'Dead' films ("Romero Repeat-Kill Troops", a popular chainsaw called "Bruce Campbell's Right Hand, etc.).

The performances range from bearable to awful, but since this is a movie with a twinkle in the eye, that has to be seen with a certain sense of humor, the terrible acting is not really bothersome. As mentioned above, the gore is extreme, which is the movie's main purpose, and which should serve as a recommendation to my fellow gore-fans. "Stacy" may be pure nonsense, the plot is unbelievably odd and confusing at times and the acting is terrible, but the movie is certainly quite amusing for a fan of splatter flicks. Recommended for a good, gory laugh.

Japanese weirdos…you got to love them! Not one nation's cinema industry proved itself so eccentric and imaginative during the last ten years as the Japanese one! Especially in the field of violent cult and spooky horror, the young Japanese directors rule with an iron fists. `Stacy' a.k.a Attack of the Schoolgirl zombies is one hysterical bunch of nonsense, but oh so fun to look at. For no particular reason, girls aged 15-17 years die and metamorphose into gut-munching zombies. Preferably, they should be re-killed by their loved ones and cut up into 165 (!) pieces. How about that? Naturally, the plot is inferior to the huge amount of splatter madness and sadistic humor Stacy is filled with. I'm practically sure the scriptwriters of this film were hooked on some kind of vicious drug! How else would you explain some of the silly stuff they're presenting us here? But…you got to hand it to them: they know their classics! The multiple references and tributes to milestone zombie-films are priceless! The chainsaw brand their using, for example, is called `Bruce Campbell's Right Hand', the zombie-squad members are referred to as `Romero' (as in George A.) and the sleazy scientist is some sort of Baron Frankenstein replica with artsy pink glasses! Terrific trivia stuff.

Nonetheless, `Stacy' won't ever join the list of Japanese cult-classics-to-be which already includes titles such as Battle Royale, Itchi The Killer or Ringu… It's just too goofy and amateurish to be highly memorable. Unlike the exiting topic of zombie violence, Stacy contains a couple of boring moments, lousy acting and – worst of all – way too many `what the f**k'-moments. Several monologues and sequences simply don't make any sense and they seem to be made up by illiterate monkeys. Luckily for the viewer, those dull moments are almost always followed by wild and nasty zombie action, so it remains bearable at all times. Therefore, I recommend `Stacy' for what it is…a refreshing and light-hearted gore galore that'll make you laugh for a good 80 minutes. No more, no less! The absolute highlight of absurdity: the amateur-Frankenstein scientist separates a girl's head from her body and by doing so, he pulls out her entire spinal column with it…You have to see it to believe it!

Part millennium movie, part post modern 'Evil Dead', this bloody tale of the wonder and terror of schoolgirls aged 15 - 17 is surely uniquely Japanese, and yet is also able to trigger a more basic response.

It's literary origins give it a seriousness, that it's cartoon like visuals of young girls ripping into the flesh and innards of their victims seems at odds with and yet…..

From the first day of 2001, we are told, girls of these ages are first dropping dead and then returning as zombies that twitch and turn till they are sliced into 165 pieces and all search to be killed by their lover.

Extreme, odd and colourful!

Its got zombies...its got chainsaws....its got Japanese Schoolgirls!!! What more could you possibly need?

My only regret is that my copy only has German and Dutch sub-titles, but who needs to know whats being said when you have the fore-mentioned ingredients???

There are enough horror film references here to keep the average fan entertained even if Japanese schoolgirls covered in blood and coming back as the undead is not your 'thing'...everything from Romero to Raimi

Gory fun.

A film named after me??! How cool is that?! I decided to go for this DVD having heard it contains 3 of my favourite things - zombies, chainsaws, and young women dressed as schoolgirls.

Typically Japanese over-the-top gore comes in dribs and drabs with more than a passing nod to greater horror flicks such as 'Day of the Dead' and 'Dawn of the Dead.' The plot is sadly lacking, and the film is pretty slowly paced, although there are some fun moments to be had, particularly with the 3-girl anti-Romero repeat kill squad. I liked them.

If you're gonna get yourself a decent Japanese zombie/gore flick, then do yourself a favour and buy 'Versus' or 'Junk' instead. THAT'S how to do it properly.

The DVD from Synapse is pretty good, with a very nice anamorphic transfer and Dolby 2.0 stereo sound with player-generated subtitles. However, I would only buy it if you're a hardcore zombie fan or collector of crazy and bloody Japanese flicks.

4/10 for some good gore scenes and a couple of chuckles.