Rape Zombie: Lust of the Dead

This movie is a Japanese gift that takes iconic elements of their culture and presents them in the most economical way possible. Although we have situations that stimulate the viewer, the story itself leaves a lot to be desired. It reminds me of the worst Andrea Bianchi. The film has many weaknesses: it does not disgust, it does not disturb, it barely entertains in a small portion of its short duration. In the hands of someone more capable this movie would have been wonderful. It was not the case.

Truth be told, I have gotten really tired of zombie movies. The exceptions though are the serious and arty ones like the French "Les Revenants" OR, conversely, the ones like this that are completely exploitative and cheerfully offensive, but also make "Shaun of the Dead" look like a serious drama in comparison. This is not an actual "zombie porn" film, thank god. It doesn't have interminable scenes of the old "in-out" to turn on weirdos with bizarre zombie fetishes while boring the hell out of anybody else. This is a lot more fun, and really the kind of film that could ONLY be made in Japan.

Due to some weird phenomenon, males everywhere are turning "toxic". They start bleeding from their eyes and start raping every female they see. The females have to band together to fight off ravenous hordes of "rape zombies", who have highly poisonous semen to boot, and can only be killed by castration or a gun blast to the genitals. The funniest scenes involve female soldiers forming firing squads to execute "toxic males", who are bound and dressed in bulls-eye underwear so they know exactly where to shoot. The castration and genital blasting jokes wouldn't offend anyone in America, but many people would take the rape scenes way too seriously. Hordes of male "rape zombies" penetrate females who all conveniently have their silicone-enhanced breasts exposed and bouncing around, and of course they eventually end up enjoying the experience, at least before the poison semen does them in. But if you don't let your PC panties get in a bunch, you'll realize these "rape scenes" are every bit as ridiculous and funny as the firing-squad scenes.

The main characters meanwhile are four female "survivors" who are holed up in a shrine. The main character, the badass, is played by Asami, who is often called a "porn star", but seems to mostly appear in low-budget sexploitation fare like this as opposed to out-and-out "AV" (adult videos). There are also a pair of lesbians, who have a long scene together--it's NOT true all the nudity in this involves rape. Then there's a very sexy and mature-looking "schoolgirl" (who's even less believable as a genuine schoolgirl then is anything else in this movie). She's so horny for a (non-toxic) man she decides to seduce the young priest of the Shinto shrine, who is seemingly immune to the virus since he has taken a vow chastity. The result of this schoolgirl seduction is pretty predictable, but also very sexy.

Generally though, this movie goes for entertainment value first with the masturbation appeal only secondary. I wouldn't call it a "pink" film exactly , but it's much closer to that than it is to actual porn (It's what in other countries used to be known as "sexploitation"--films that definitely USE sex, but aren't NOTHING BUT sex). I don't know if I'll watch the rest of the "trilogy", but this one was pretty fun.

If you enjoy being able to see all the sleaze in your trashy movie then avoid this. Rather than letting the audience see and understand what is happening in this movie the director decided to shake the camera all over the place, zoom in really tight for no reason, and use more cuts than a Transformers movie. The attempt at being ultra-cool and modern is a complete failure.

A zombie movie should at least have good gore. Not here. Horrible make-up and special effects, too fake to be gory digital blood, and some of the worst green screen work mean there's no fun here for fans of zombie violence and gore.

This director was trying to be extreme and controversial but just made an incomprehensible mess that's not fun or interesting and just headache inducing. The only reason anyone could find to watch this is to see some pretty Japanese women in stereotypical Japanese costumes, but there are plenty of places to get that, so avoid this disaster.

Within the last couple of years there has been a massive flood of these blood-drenched and gory movies to make it out of Japan. They are known (and loved) for their extreme violence, amounts of blood, absurdity and for just being downright campy. I will say that "Rape Zombie: Lust of the Dead" ("Reipu Zonbi: Lust of the Dead") was a rather stale and boring addition to this rather unique genre of Japanese movies.

Whereas most others are just blunt trauma to your face with the levels of violence, bloodshed and oddities, then "Rape Zombie: Lust of the Dead" was just one step away from being soft core porn. And yeah, of course, there is an audience for that as well. But enough is enough.

The story in "Rape Zombie: Lust of the Dead" is about a strange phenomena that turns men into rapists and after awhile they turn into zombie rapists. And women all over the world are in dire peril.

That was basically it, the entire movie wrapped up in a short summary. The storyline is entertaining enough in its oddity and absurdity. But it can only carry the movie so far, because there is little else to keep the movie afloat. That is, unless you are into soft core Japanese pornography and really awful zombie make-up.

The acting in the movie was as you'd expect from a movie with the title "Rape Zombie: Lust of the Dead". So don't get your hopes up here.

Personally I think that director Naoyuki Tomomatsu was spending a little too much time filming staged rape scenes with poor-looking zombies, instead of focusing on establishing a proper movie.

There are two sequels to "Rape Zombie: Lust of the Dead" that I am familiar with, as I found them on Amazon. But at the outrageous price they are set and after having seen the train wreck that is "Rape Zombie: Lust of the Dead", then I will call it quits here and not invest in further installments to this low budget sleaze-fest.

Exposure to radiation causes men to turn into zombie rapists, whose victims die from their toxic ejaculate. Four women women try to survive the outbreak, seeking shelter in a Shinto temple.

With such an outrageous title and concept, one might assume that, with Rape Zombie: Lust of the Dead, director Naoyuki Tomomatsu is taking an OTT satirical swipe at Japan's obsession with sexual violence. Several scenes inspired by Dawn of the Dead, in which intellectuals and feminists debate the nature of the epidemic, go some way to support the idea. I'm not convinced, though: I'm guessing that the real purpose of the film is to get lots of Japanese girls naked and to throw in some cheap gore effects.

And, boy, are they ever cheap: rubbishy After Effects CGI blood splats (the only way to kill a zombie is to shoot it in the penis!) and rubbery prosthetics abound, with some even worse effects saved for the apocalyptic nuclear aftermath ending, in which North Korea bombs Japan (and a lesbian couple have a baby-no man involved?!?!)

As a zombie film this is a total failure, the shuffling undead (moving slowly because their trousers are round their ankles?) look really cheap; as soft-core titillation, it's a little more successful, with plenty of female nudity (as the zombies get their rape on) and some girl on girl sex to set the pulse racing.

If you enjoy trashy Asian exploitation, Lust of the Dead is just about worth a watch, but it's far from essential. 4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.

*My mistake: there seems to be five of these films so far!