Sars War

I saw the preview of this film on a Hong Kong film I rented, and thought it looked fantastic. Insane superheroes, zombies, giant snakes, what could be better. Unfortunately, when I was finally able to track the film down, it turned out to be something of a disappointment, as almost all of the funniest parts were in the trailer.

The main issue is that there are far too few funny moments to justify a ninety-five minute movie. Most of the real laughs come on the all too rare occasions when they break the fourth wall. Many of the other jokes are spoofs of eight or nine year old movies that now come across as dated. The action / horror scenes are nowhere near scary enough, (and have too bad special effects) to stand by themselves. Virtually the only reason to actually rent the film is for the attractive Thai actresses.

My husband brought this movie home the other day and I assumed it was going to be an all four on the floor bloodbath with tons of violence and gore. The first 5 minutes of the movie he couldn't get the subtitles to come up in English and I have never been so confused in my life. (The car hits a guy in a bear suit Why????) It took awhile for me to realize that this movie had a comedic silly side. It took me awhile to get into the mix of violence, adventure and goof-ball humor...but only about ten or fifteen minutes and then I found myself laughing and enjoying myself. The story is about a virus called Sars 4 that is going around turning people into zombies. While this is going on a group of not-too-bright bad-asses are trying to kidnap a wealthy man's nubile, school girl daughter. There is a hero-type who is in love with her and trying to get her back. There's also his wise old teacher and a sexy female doctor running around. I know, it's hard for me to explain the plot, because there is so much crammed into the hour and half here that you really must see it for yourself. If you like goofy martial arts revenge flicks like Story Of Ricky and silly zombie spoofs like Shaun Of The Dead this movie is Must See. I can honestly say it's not like anything else I've ever seen!

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.

"Sars Wars," is a fast paced and highly enjoyable Thai zombie comedy. At its core, this is a film that revels in absurdity. The action and gore is more than enough to satiate the hardened zombie buff. The zany comedy is both internal and chips away at the fourth wall. A potential problem with this film is the fact that it is stylized for a niche audience. Essentially, this is a film that one either enjoys or passes off as a ho-hum addition to the horror genre. Additionally, the very aspects that make this film wonderful for some, may also make it a turkey for others.

SW diverges from typical Thai film in one distinctive way. Overall, Thai film uses the landscapes or urban settings of Thailand as an integral feature of the film. The pristine nature or bustling streets are unique enough to set a film apart as distinctly Thai. SW breaks from this standard and is set within an unspectacular high rise building. This change of scenery has led to several assumptions by the film makers. First, SW is more akin to an amusement ride than a standard horror/comedy story. Basically, the coherence of the plot arch is sacrificed for over the top visuals and slap stick comedy. The assumption is that the audience will give up all expectations and surrender to the ride. As hinted at above, this is either wonderful or dreadful depending on taste. SW offers no commentary on life, people, or the human condition. Rather, the film throws the audience into an absurd situation confronted by caricatures of stock characters. The effect is a fast paced horror comedy devoid of any seriousness. Second, the use of cheap SFX and CGI is clearly done for humor value. The assumption here is that the audience will embrace the over the top absurdity and appropriately poor effects. This assumption is again open to criticism. Some may find the poor effects bog down the film and remove any sense of reality. Others, like myself, enjoyed the humor of the purposeful low quality.

The film as a whole is well paced, competently shot, and technically professional. The characters, as mentioned above, are caricatures of well known stock types. The benefit is that the brief character development needed allows for more action oriented sequences. The drawback is that this film offers very little new in the department of "zombie fighters." On the whole, SW is not trying to break new ground or provide clever innovation. Rather, this is a film that exploits highly visual Thai humor within the context of a zombie story. If one enjoys their horror with a hearty helping of incoherent absurdity, then this is a film to be sought out.

On a personal note, I will definitely be recommending this film to friends. The style of humor, topics of mockery, and goofy gory action make this a film that is enjoyable by a diverse audience. This is a much better than average pizza and beer movie night film. 6.5 of 10 stars.

...is almost as good as the original! This is a very stupid movie. The jokes are horrible, and the plot isn't much to speak of. However, I totally love it for these reasons; There is a lot of zombie mayhem in this movie. And I mean a lot. Although the zombies, for some reason, had fangs and could run (which in general is a no-no), I absolutely loved them.

The movie makers must've had distance to themselves, and not taken themselves too seriously. Had they done that, and tried to make the first Thai zombie epic, they may have failed, and a fall from that high would be much worse. Sure, the comedy in this movie is stupid, but it's becoming of the style.

So, this in an all-out splatter feast with lots of immature antics thrown in for good measure, and I highly recommend it.