When a mysterious virus breaks out in an isolated army camp, a lazy reservist soldier and his tough commander must work together to survive, and learn what it means to be real soldiers.When a mysterious virus breaks out in an isolated army camp, a lazy reservist soldier and his tough commander must work together to survive, and learn what it means to be real soldiers.When a mysterious virus breaks out in an isolated army camp, a lazy reservist soldier and his tough commander must work together to survive, and learn what it means to be real soldiers.
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
It's every reservist national serviceman's worst nightmare: what if you book in and due to undead-related shenanigans, never book out? This is the premise of the horror comedy Zombiepura.
Kayu Tan (Alaric Tay) isn't taking his reservist duty seriously, much to the chagrin of his overzealous sergeant Lee Siao On (Benjamin Heng). Kayu and his friend Tazan (Haresh Tilani) feign illness, in the grand tradition of national servicemen malingering to avoid going on duty. At the infirmary, Kayu and Siao On discover that their fellowmen servicemen have turned into rabid zombies. The pair must get along to survive, and must also rescue canteen operator Susie (Chen Xiuhuan) and her daughter Xiao Ling (Joeypink Lai). People will get bitten, obstacle courses will be navigated, and hopefully, ideas will be awoken as the ragtag gang try to reach the outside world and get to safety.
Zombiepura is a film that was announced in 2011 and has taken seven years to come to fruition. This reviewer has always wanted to see more mainstream genre fare, with the ability to travel, come out of Singapore. Singapore films are perceived as being either highbrow Cannes contenders or Chinese New Year fare aimed at uncles and aunties in the heartland. On paper, Zombiepura seems to occupy this middle ground. While the effort behind making a film like this is evident, the execution leaves plenty to be desired.
The film finds itself 14 years late to the Shaun of the Dead bandwagon, with characters that are nowhere near as endearing as those in Edgar Wright's zom-com, nor jokes that are anywhere near as funny. It's a lot closer to Scout's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.
A lot of Zombiepura hinges on the local context, being set in an army camp. There are in-jokes about the banality of reservist duty and the characters are all roughly stock types, that can be easily described with one line on the poster. Plenty of the humour is crass, and audiences are meant to laugh at a soldier pretending to have depression to dodge duty. This is to say nothing of the film's flagrant misogyny - the female lead is referred to almost exclusively as 'chiobu', Hokkien for hot chick, and nobody finds this inappropriate.
The premise is relatively clever in that containing the film within an army camp limits the scope, so the movie is not obligated to show expensive scenes of city streets overrun with zombies, World War Z-style. There are several physical comedy gags that work, notably one involving two characters scrambling up a flagpole with the zombies standing at the base grasping at their feet. The zombies' specific weakness, while nothing ground-breaking, is good for a chuckle. The makeup effects, overseen by June Goh, are serviceable, and there is a healthy amount of blood and gore.
Horror films are often excellent vehicles for allegorical messages. Train to Busan astutely commented on South Korea's hierarchical pressure-cooker society, and one of the original zombie movies, George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, was a satire on burgeoning consumerism in America. Zombiepura half-heartedly attempts something roughly along these lines, equating the zoned-out way bored servicemen go about their patrol duty with the mindlessness of your average zombie. However, the film doesn't push the socio-political commentary as far as this reviewer would've liked, but to be honest, nobody was expecting that of this particular film anyway.
Stars Alaric Tay and Benjamin Heng, who form the production company JAB Films with director Jacen Tan, work well opposite each other. There's not very much to either character, and they're difficult to root for. Naturally, there is a modicum of character development as the gravity of their predicament hits them. This is to say nothing of the on-the-nose names like Kayu and Siao On. Richard Low cameos as Siao On's father Mad Dog, a Regimental Sergeant Major. The implication is that Siao On is desperate to live up to his father's reputation, but this aspect of the character doesn't get enough play.
Joeypink Lai, Miss Universe Singapore 2016 finalist and realtor, functions purely as eye candy and little else. The Xiao Ling character has no complexities, and when she figures in a would-be emotional scene, there is no impact at all. Chen Xiuhuan is Lai's onscreen mother, who is similarly objectified, albeit not to the extent Lai is.
Rayve Zen's Chua, who initially seems harmless but becomes more villainous as the film goes on, is arguably the most interesting character in the film. It is in depicting his self-centredness that the film gets anywhere in the Train to Busan zone. Haresh Tilani of Ministry of Funny fame gets a small role as kind of a sidekick to Kayu, who disappears once Kayu and Siao On team up.
It is exceedingly difficult to get a movie made in Singapore, let alone a genre movie requiring stunts, permits, special effects and specialised location work. The thing is, Zombiepura easily could've been a better, smarter, funnier and cannier movie without any additions to the budget. It doesn't cost anything to not constantly objectify the female lead or outright mock mental illness. It's ironic that one of the film's sponsors is grocer Taste, since Zombiepura is sorely lacking in taste. Then again, one might argue that tasteless is exactly what a zombie movie would be. We'd hesitate to call this 'encouraging' for the industry, but in some technical aspects, perhaps it is a stagger/hobble in roughly the right direction.
Kayu Tan (Alaric Tay) isn't taking his reservist duty seriously, much to the chagrin of his overzealous sergeant Lee Siao On (Benjamin Heng). Kayu and his friend Tazan (Haresh Tilani) feign illness, in the grand tradition of national servicemen malingering to avoid going on duty. At the infirmary, Kayu and Siao On discover that their fellowmen servicemen have turned into rabid zombies. The pair must get along to survive, and must also rescue canteen operator Susie (Chen Xiuhuan) and her daughter Xiao Ling (Joeypink Lai). People will get bitten, obstacle courses will be navigated, and hopefully, ideas will be awoken as the ragtag gang try to reach the outside world and get to safety.
Zombiepura is a film that was announced in 2011 and has taken seven years to come to fruition. This reviewer has always wanted to see more mainstream genre fare, with the ability to travel, come out of Singapore. Singapore films are perceived as being either highbrow Cannes contenders or Chinese New Year fare aimed at uncles and aunties in the heartland. On paper, Zombiepura seems to occupy this middle ground. While the effort behind making a film like this is evident, the execution leaves plenty to be desired.
The film finds itself 14 years late to the Shaun of the Dead bandwagon, with characters that are nowhere near as endearing as those in Edgar Wright's zom-com, nor jokes that are anywhere near as funny. It's a lot closer to Scout's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.
A lot of Zombiepura hinges on the local context, being set in an army camp. There are in-jokes about the banality of reservist duty and the characters are all roughly stock types, that can be easily described with one line on the poster. Plenty of the humour is crass, and audiences are meant to laugh at a soldier pretending to have depression to dodge duty. This is to say nothing of the film's flagrant misogyny - the female lead is referred to almost exclusively as 'chiobu', Hokkien for hot chick, and nobody finds this inappropriate.
The premise is relatively clever in that containing the film within an army camp limits the scope, so the movie is not obligated to show expensive scenes of city streets overrun with zombies, World War Z-style. There are several physical comedy gags that work, notably one involving two characters scrambling up a flagpole with the zombies standing at the base grasping at their feet. The zombies' specific weakness, while nothing ground-breaking, is good for a chuckle. The makeup effects, overseen by June Goh, are serviceable, and there is a healthy amount of blood and gore.
Horror films are often excellent vehicles for allegorical messages. Train to Busan astutely commented on South Korea's hierarchical pressure-cooker society, and one of the original zombie movies, George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, was a satire on burgeoning consumerism in America. Zombiepura half-heartedly attempts something roughly along these lines, equating the zoned-out way bored servicemen go about their patrol duty with the mindlessness of your average zombie. However, the film doesn't push the socio-political commentary as far as this reviewer would've liked, but to be honest, nobody was expecting that of this particular film anyway.
Stars Alaric Tay and Benjamin Heng, who form the production company JAB Films with director Jacen Tan, work well opposite each other. There's not very much to either character, and they're difficult to root for. Naturally, there is a modicum of character development as the gravity of their predicament hits them. This is to say nothing of the on-the-nose names like Kayu and Siao On. Richard Low cameos as Siao On's father Mad Dog, a Regimental Sergeant Major. The implication is that Siao On is desperate to live up to his father's reputation, but this aspect of the character doesn't get enough play.
Joeypink Lai, Miss Universe Singapore 2016 finalist and realtor, functions purely as eye candy and little else. The Xiao Ling character has no complexities, and when she figures in a would-be emotional scene, there is no impact at all. Chen Xiuhuan is Lai's onscreen mother, who is similarly objectified, albeit not to the extent Lai is.
Rayve Zen's Chua, who initially seems harmless but becomes more villainous as the film goes on, is arguably the most interesting character in the film. It is in depicting his self-centredness that the film gets anywhere in the Train to Busan zone. Haresh Tilani of Ministry of Funny fame gets a small role as kind of a sidekick to Kayu, who disappears once Kayu and Siao On team up.
It is exceedingly difficult to get a movie made in Singapore, let alone a genre movie requiring stunts, permits, special effects and specialised location work. The thing is, Zombiepura easily could've been a better, smarter, funnier and cannier movie without any additions to the budget. It doesn't cost anything to not constantly objectify the female lead or outright mock mental illness. It's ironic that one of the film's sponsors is grocer Taste, since Zombiepura is sorely lacking in taste. Then again, one might argue that tasteless is exactly what a zombie movie would be. We'd hesitate to call this 'encouraging' for the industry, but in some technical aspects, perhaps it is a stagger/hobble in roughly the right direction.
Love the movie for it is pure entertainment value... there were lots of zombies that looked really liked zombies, there were more than sufficient jokes about bits of Singaporean life that most Singaporean movie goers can relate to, there was a cast which I can recognize, etc... It was an easy movie to watch!
Seriously I thought the acting was pretty good - my favorite characters were Siao On and Kayu. Benjamin (Siao On) was playing a solder in command and this is a part that he should be very familiar with. Alaric (Kayu) was also very convincing as the geeky solder looking for an easy way out of his reservist duties. On the whole, the other characters were interesting but I sensed that they need more time or scenes for character development.
Personally, I would have loved a bit more twist and turns to the plot but I wondered if this was a top order in the relatively short time frame. Other horror movies from Korea & USA this season were at least 20% longer. I believed that was why I went to the cinema expecting to be frightened by Zombie horror movie but came out with a big smile on my face in the end. :D
Quick Quick... Go watch it for yourself. Chow Chi funny!!!
Seriously I thought the acting was pretty good - my favorite characters were Siao On and Kayu. Benjamin (Siao On) was playing a solder in command and this is a part that he should be very familiar with. Alaric (Kayu) was also very convincing as the geeky solder looking for an easy way out of his reservist duties. On the whole, the other characters were interesting but I sensed that they need more time or scenes for character development.
Personally, I would have loved a bit more twist and turns to the plot but I wondered if this was a top order in the relatively short time frame. Other horror movies from Korea & USA this season were at least 20% longer. I believed that was why I went to the cinema expecting to be frightened by Zombie horror movie but came out with a big smile on my face in the end. :D
Quick Quick... Go watch it for yourself. Chow Chi funny!!!
Dunno why this received a 7.6 rating. The most awful zombie movie I have ever seen. Singapore, I know you can do better than that.
I normally do not write review. But this is so bad that I had to write something. I was drawn to this movie because of my love for zombie film, however this is nothing like Rob zombie horror or train to busan, or the recent Japanese zombie film I am a hero.
Instead what I found is the lazy script writing of a typical horror film where the character in the film make not only terrible choices, they also feels irritating. The young female actress is also quite annoying, never seen her before, but she protray a typical Singaporean ah Lian well, and her acting and Tone is not my cup of tea. The acting overall for everyone else is just as bad, the movie starts off giving the audience a crangy feeling all the way to the end.
The way the scenes are being portrayed, feels too. Much that the characters are trying to explain the scene to the audience. Doesn't invest too much for the audience into the character or story building.
I gave it a 2 star for it being a Singapore first attempt at a zombie horror film. I feel bad for rating it so low, but it's really that bad.
If you really want a horror movie that's fun. Try one cut of the dead. It's out recently and very very good. Stay at least 40 min into the movie and you will know why. Or train to busan - Korean best zombie movie. They are making part 2 for that one. I am a hero (Japanese). Dawn of the dead is also awesome.
Instead what I found is the lazy script writing of a typical horror film where the character in the film make not only terrible choices, they also feels irritating. The young female actress is also quite annoying, never seen her before, but she protray a typical Singaporean ah Lian well, and her acting and Tone is not my cup of tea. The acting overall for everyone else is just as bad, the movie starts off giving the audience a crangy feeling all the way to the end.
The way the scenes are being portrayed, feels too. Much that the characters are trying to explain the scene to the audience. Doesn't invest too much for the audience into the character or story building.
I gave it a 2 star for it being a Singapore first attempt at a zombie horror film. I feel bad for rating it so low, but it's really that bad.
If you really want a horror movie that's fun. Try one cut of the dead. It's out recently and very very good. Stay at least 40 min into the movie and you will know why. Or train to busan - Korean best zombie movie. They are making part 2 for that one. I am a hero (Japanese). Dawn of the dead is also awesome.
Did you know
- TriviaThis is the first zombie movie to be produced in singapore
Details
- Runtime1 hour 25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.00 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
