Shi cheng

A building riddled with a menagerie of working girls, criminals and loners find the corridors of their apartment block infested with zombies.

Oh my have things have progressed since Junk Shiryōgari (2000) and Versus (2000) (certainly in the effects department), Zombie Fight Club (2014) is better than the influx of recent DTV walking dead movies globally produced, in contrast to most Asian dead movies its light on humour, tonally it's reminiscent of The Horde (2009), Rammbock/Berlin Dead (2010) mixed with Joe Chien's own twisted incoherent Zombie 108 (2012).

Chien's zombie offering is packed with action, actually wall to wall bloodshed, excellent make-up effects and an abundance of practical and CGI blood which puts some American modest budget zombie films to shame. It's colour palette is dark, accompanied by a pumping soundtrack, it's undeniably fast paced. Oddly it inexplicably interchanges between English and Mandarin and it's a film of unorthodox two halves with no third act.

When it does slowdown it has a fistful of creepy moments but these are few and far between as buxom beauty Jenny played by Jessica Cambensy witnesses her boyfriend, his crew of rappers and strippers come toe to toe with growing army of zombies. After a flash forward a year after the outbreak Jenny has gone all zombie killer sporting a new hair cut and an even tighter costume (yes there's the shameless objectification of women but no more than The Resident Evil franchise tries to gloss over).

What it lacks in plot it makes up for with its kick-ass female and male characters, soldiers and loads of zombie kills, impalement, bullets and action setups. Yes the characters are at times cartoonish and its gratuitous but it's a solid addition to the Asian live action zombie market, if you're in to it.

I gave this movie 3 stars. All 3 were for the hot Asian girls. The story and video game special effects were pretty bad.

I'm not sure what Shi Cheng means exactly (not that it matters now, after watching it), but I'm sure it doesn't translate into "Zombie Fight Club". I'm not even sure (or wasn't most of the time), why they chose that title. Apart from making this appealing title wise to some viewers (?), I reckon.

But even after understanding somehow, why they chose that title, it's kind of lame. But let's get back to the movie, that has scantily dressed women in it (there's a bit of nudity during a sex scene too, in case you were wondering) and some fighting and shooting in it too. There's a bit of an attempt to make some zombie jokes and other things to that effect, that either kind of work or are annoying. Depending on your taste. The action scenes (stunts) are pretty decent and the actors are pretty ... if that helps

This film essentially begins about 30 minutes prior to a zombie outbreak with three separate groups of people congregating at different levels of a large apartment complex. The first group consists of some kidnappers who are holding a wealthy man hostage pending a ransom. The second involves a rap musician and his followers who are in the process of having an orgy. The third group comprises several law enforcement members who are about to break down the door of a drug lab. The focus then shifts to the second group where a new drug is being introduced which consists of ingredients used to make bath salts. And not only does death quickly follow those who take it, but they are also quickly transformed into raging zombies who subsequently proceed to wreak havoc upon everybody within the apartment complex-to include the other two groups just mentioned. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film had plenty of action and CGI which might appeal to those interested in these specific qualities. It also featured a number of attractive actresses which included Sharon Hsu (as the "female courier"), Una Lu ("Yi-Yi") and Candy Yuen (as the "female prison leader"). Unfortunately, the CGI was rather second-rate, and the constant action hindered the necessary plot and character development. That being said, while it definitely had some potential, it failed to live up to it and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

Films without plots can be done well given good direction and acting. Well-written films can be good despite bad directors and actors. Zombie Fight Club has no good element in its production.

"So bad it's good" doesn't even fly with this film. The more-American-than-American accents provide the bulk of the humor. The film's focus on the innate evil of humanity (its only constant) oozes away any value a good riffing might redeem it with.

Zombie Fight Club directly takes elements of The Raid and The Walking Dead and removes the elements of 'Redemption'. Instead, the martial arts police are dirty cops and the civilians are plagued by a distinctly East Asian pathology. The crux of Zombie Fight Club is the argument that humankind is innately evil, and, pushed to the limit, will gleefully discard its visage of goodness. Even the two protagonists, who bear a transparent semblance of morality, lack any dignity.

Romero's legacy is dismantled and digitally spit on by Zombie Fight Club. If you want to enjoy a poor zombie movie, stick to films like Redneck Zombies. In the very least, the garage special effects will be more entertaining than Zombie Fight Club's digital massacre.