Khun krabii hiiroh

Sheer unadulterated genius. SARS WARS is a gut-wrenchingly funny, utterly deranged, deliriously original, absurdist zom-com from Thailand.

A team of thugs kidnap pretty schoolgirl Liu and hold her hostage in an apartment block. Little do they know, a zombie outbreak is taking place in the very same apartment, a giant snake is on the loose, and the government have set a timer to blow up the building to contain the outbreak. Think that sounds crazy? We haven't met the good guys yet: Khun Khrabii, a stoic hero sent to rescue Liu, his master Thep, a balding lecher with a battery-powered light sabre, and sexy scientist Dr. Diana, creator of an antiviral shot that has a 25 in 26 chance of accidentally making the patient's head explode. And then there's the bad guys...

Director Taweewat Wantha and his team of writers have crafted something akin to the fevered imagination of Peter Jackson's BRAINDEAD, combined with the wild "mo-lei-tau" surreal/spoof humour of Hong Kong's Stephen Chow. The actual zombie and horror-themed content is surprisingly well realised, with excellent make-up effects, some great CGI sequences, and a real sense of tension; but its in the ridiculous send-ups of everything from Japanimation to John Woo to Star Wars to The Crying Game that the movie really takes off.

Thoroughly self-aware, characters constantly make references to the film's attempts to "make money, not win awards": a little unfair, because there is far more craft and ability on view in this film than in a hundred Hollywood blockbusters put together. Certainly none of the recent crop of zombie films pouring out of Hollywood come close. Even Stephen Chow, the acknowledged king of this style of comedy, should feel threatened: this is a better film than KUNG FU HUSTLE, and is possibly even better than SHAOLIN SOCCER too.

Thai comedy can be painfully funny. There is often a sense that anything goes so long as it gets a laugh, the result is wild crazy out of left field quality that is totally endearing. A perfect example of this is this movie.

The plot has a mutation of the Sars virus that turns people into flesh eating zombies getting loose in an apartment complex in Bangkok. The zombies present complications for a kidnapped girl and her rescuers who are trying to flee the building.

Bloody, over the top and very silly this is the sort of knowing comedy that more often than not fails to work in other films. Here the balance between blood and laughs if finely balanced, or at least piled on so thick that there is enough good stuff with the bad that you can't help but find something to laugh at. From references to the George Romero zombie films, Star Wars to martial arts spectaculars and Italian horror films this is a movie that steals from the best and puts it all together into a gumbo of entertaining proportions.

Its not perfect, there's often too much going on, and the filmmakers don't always feel the need to have the film make sense, but its an enjoyable romp for those who can take the blood and body parts.

A Zombie infection spreads due to a mutated version of Sars and a group of kidnappers, health agents and a sword wielding hero are trapped in a building by the government of Thailand to contain the infection.

Firstly the zombie action is generally pretty good and gory. The film moves pretty quickly to the point where guys with guns and zombies are having it out with each other. The budget must have been decent because there's no shortage of blood, body parts and exploding heads. There are a couple of zombie variations I wont spoil that are done in cgi though that let things down a bit as the cgi is pretty much on the same level as something you'd expect in Ali McBeal.

The major problem though with Sars Wars is the writing is bad. Really really bad. The comedy in Sars Wars is a horrible mishmash of parody, self mockery and 4th wall breaking. Also there isn't a single original element in this film. I mean every zombie movie rips off Dawn of the Dead but... Wild Zero? Anaconda?

Anyway If you are zombie movie fan the action is there and you'll have some fun in trying to spot every reference but you'll have a hard time overlooking the terrible humor.

Going into this movie I knew that it's supposed to be somewhat gory, somewhat funny and that it's from Thailand. So immediately from knowing Thai humor, the humor is going to be very silly. And this is the main reason why people aren't enjoying this flick? Whatever, I enjoy Thai silliness....the dude in the Tony Jaa flicks is one funny dude in my opinion.

Sars Wars is about a zombie epidemic that hits Thailand...well, just one building, but it hits and what follows is a very silly, sometimes funny and a slightly gory movie. I'd rather not try to explain the entire plot, it's just pretty much a rescue mission with romance, gore, some alright anime scenes and a giant snake. I enjoy all of those facets of entertainment and even though Sars Wars didn't do a great job combining the lot it still was a pretty fun movie to watch.

It's Thai humor to a T. It even has some transsexual moments, which is always funny and unbelievable since it's a big thing over there. Anyways, if you're looking for a new gore flick to check out, this definitely fits the bill. You might even enjoy the silly-ass Thai humor too. 7 outta 10

I first watched this film around 2011 and remember it being exactly what you'd expect it to be but watched it again based on that in 2020 and oh boy is it homo/transphobic. There's a few good scenes but overall it's not worth it.