Sang faa sau see

It's been a number of years since I last watched this late 90's Hong Kong horror-comedy from director Wilson Yip; the very same man behind mage-hits SPL and the Ip Man series with Donnie Yen. In only his thrid year as a director, Yip delivers a fun zombie comedy that taps on (then popular) Hong Kong youth culture, as well as pay homage to the infamous Dawn Of The Dead from Romero...

Woody (Jordan Chan) and Bee (Sam Lee) play a couple of small-time triads who run a VCD store in the busy, New Trend shopping arcade. They go about their lives, harassing some female staff at the local beauty parlour, one of which is Angela Tong who they decide to rob in the toilets, and have fun annoying a cell-phone salesman by drooling over his wife and calling him ugly. Of course, its obvious that this lot are going to have to team up when the s**t hits the fan!

Somewhere else, a dodgy deal for a bio-weapon goes wrong. An injured gangster makes a run for it, carrying a dose of the dangerous liquid in a soft drinks bottle, soon getting into an accident that leads him to the two friends. After feeding him the bio-chemical to hydrate him, Woody and Bee bring the man back to New Trend in the boot of his car. Of course, from here, the horror side of the film kicks in. It doesn't take long for the undead to start taking over the mall, with sushi chef Loi (played by Emotion Cheung) becoming one of the first victims. Loi is madly in love with Rolls (Angela Tong) and even in zombie form, keeps her prisoner for as long as he can, providing her with gifts and protecting her from other zombies.

Bio Zombie may often feel slow until the initial zombie attack, throwing its viewers off for a bit before jumping between horror, comedy and drama as if harking back to the crazed Hong Kong films of the eighties. While the make-up can often be crass, the film often comes across as an independent zombie film, reminding me of my own at times - although we most certainly didn't have the budget these guys would have. There is gore and blood, but just not enough, with limbs and heads getting chopped off as the small team of shop keepers try to survive. A lot of this is accompanied by some fun comedy sequences, akin to that of the 80's horror-comedies like Mr. Vampire and Haunted Cop Shop. But as the film rolls on, Bio Zombie takes a more serious tone for its last 20 minutes, leading to an ending that may surprise some viewers - but ultimately, makes sense from the characters perspective. On this Mei Ah release, there is a short alternate ending. They both point to the same thing at the end of the day, but one is based on choice and the other not so much...

Fun, although not without its flaws, Wilson Yip's Bio Zombie is worth a watch for fans of Hong Kong cinema and of the undead. While it may be played for laughs the majority of the time, it does have some nice dramatic moments that are well balanced throughout and makes a great addition to the zombie genre. It has been described by many as Mallrats meets Dawn Of The Dead, but I think it has something a little more than that!

Overall: A little flat in production value compared to today's glossy standards, but Bio Zombie is a lot of fun and entertains!

This movie is great fun! I read a comment that said it was like mallrats with zombies, which is exactly what i thought while watching. The two main characters Bee (Sam Lee - who is on his usually funny form) and Jordan Chan's Invincible, while being both entertaining, offensive and lacking morals (they don't worry about mugging people, running people over or generally bullying people) do show some redeeming qualities towards the end (Bee -"I don't want to be a zombie, i'd rather die" what a line!). OK so the zombie (sub)plot does take a while to get in place, but the comedy does provide entertainment up until the zombies all start shuffling in. The pacing is great, with scenes of tension (the handcuff key in mouth scene)and cheesy emotion (The Sushi zombie giving a present to that girl) pushing along the narrative and character development to a good standard. Before watching it i was expecting a gore-fest, but gore fans will be disappointed, scenes of zombie-culling are quite brief and restrained, but fans of comedy-horror or zombie films should enjoy. To be honest the film does play as a bit of a spoof with moments of clichéd and cheesy emotion and the whole computer game idea towards the end. Although the ending does shaft the comedy element for emotion (although i think its played for laughs) and the ending is a bit of shock, it is overall an enjoyable experience and if you do enjoy this check out Peter Jackson's Braindead!

With the two main characters characters named Woody Invincible and Crazy Bee, and the love interest named Rolls... how can a movie fail?

A lovelorn zombie sushi chef, a neglectful husband and a spiteful, yet faithful wife, two bumbling thieves, and a couple of beauty salon workers, Bio Zombie's cast is full of great characters; all that are played convincingly. Combined with a great script, Bio Zombie provides ample entertainment.

A hilarious spin on an age-old premise, Bio-Zombie is a comedy disguised as a zombie movie. Amazing dialog, impractical events, and great lead actors, this movie definitely delivered. The perfect bad horror movie.

7/10

Should this movie be described as a Hong Kong take on Dawn of the Dead? No. Return of the Living Dead? No, certainly not. Mallrats with zombies? Sounds better.

The point of this movie is not to provide stark raving terror, deep social commentary, or five gallons of blood per second. This movie is fun. Follow the lives of a pair of small-time punks running a VCD shop, the likable Crazy Bee and the incredibly named Woody Invincible, as they try to get their boss's car and end up accidentally unleashing a zombie plague. Oops. But even before the first zombie shows up, the duo has gotten into some amusing scrapes and got out of them with bluster that for once is not unlikable. They may be jerks, but at least their the kind of jerks you can see yourself hanging out with.

When the zombies show up, the movie stays focused on Woody and Bee. It seems so wrong to say that this movie is character driven, but it is. Not it a dramatic sense, but in the sense that the characters and not the zombies are the main focus of the movie. That surprisingly doesn't hurt the film, as the interactions are definetly between our heroic duo and the zombies are generally amusing.

But the movie knows when to get serious. The last ten minutes or so switch from humor to seriousness (save one speech from Bee) suddenly and yet without missing a step. The last ten minutes seem to come from a "real" zombie movie and are filled with emotion and pathos. It's kind of startling, but it also fits.

All in all, I definetly recommend this movie. It is one of my favorites. Just go in expecting humor. Heck, it's best to go into the movie not knowing anything about it.

Although not the standard zombie splat-fest which i had hoped for, I've gotta say I totally enjoyed this quirky little flick. Apparently made on a shoestring, the whacked out, neon dripping, Plaza setting offers an almost halucinatory overtone to the proceedings. The story throws a small group of young HK shopkeepers into a siege by the undead. Kind of plays as a combination of DOTD and Night of the demons, helped by a heavy dose of HK youth culture and comedy, very reminiscent of that in other HK comedy-horrors (Mr Vampire springs to mind.) Despite wanting a bloodbath, I couldn't help but to appreciate it for what it is - entertainment.

By no means up there with DOTD, The Beyond or any other of the slew of late 70's early 80's zombie cannibal chunk blowers - but still, more than enough of a breath of fetid air to keep zombie fans ticking over. To summarize - Great 90 mins worth. Not taxing on the mind. Entertaining characters (great subs!). But if you want gore - it's back to an umpteenth viewing of "The Beyond"... Well worth seeking out if you're looking for something different. Well, I liked it anyway...