My latest triple feature weekend included three Asian horror flicks in a variety of subgenres, and I had fun with all three of them.
ZOM 100: BUCKET LIST OF THE DEAD (2023)
Adapted from an animated film, this Japanese zombie flick reminds me of the Asian zombie movie I Am a Hero, which means there’s a good time to be had. However, it does suffer from one major issue…it is 129 minutes long!
Neither quirky cute characters nor fast-running zombie action can keep up the momentum, so the center of the film gets bogged down by repetitive scenarios of migrating from one invaded space to another to escape zombies.
The story involves a young man who is all excited about getting his first office job…until he starts work. Discovering the daily grind truly is a grind, he is thrilled when a zombie outbreak interrupts his 9 to 5.
As he learns to live and survive in a world filled with zombies, he makes a bucket list of things he wants to do and also teams up with an old high school friend and a girl who kicks zombie ass, as well as a bunch of disposable survivors.
As they have various zombie encounters, what’s interesting is that no one figures out how to take down the zombies. There’s not one mention of shooting them in the head.
The pace finally picks up when the group decides the safest place to be is an aquarium. I did not see this coming, but the last half hour or so becomes Aquarium of the Dead, with all the survivors fending off a zombified great white shark that walks on land.
Talk about shift in tone. But it’s the best thing that could have happened to this movie, because it’s a blast.
NIGHT OF THE KILLER BEARS (2022)
This may be a Thai film, but the vibe is totally sleek American slasher. No Asian horror feel or tone at all, and the template is mostly paint-by-numbers, with a few wild surprises to keep things fresh:
–it begins with a tense opening kill that delivers some unexpected turns
–next, a group of estranged friends gathers together for a sort of reunion at a hotel
–we get a shower kill early on
–the killer wears a teddy bear head and uses a variety of sharp weapons
–as we learn more about the main cast, it becomes clear it’s the old “we did something bad and swore never to speak of it again” situation
–there are plenty of juicy, over-the-top CGI kills to satisfy gore hounds
–there’s more to the horror than just the killer
–there are plenty of chase scenes
–we get a final boy instead of a final girl
–the killer delivers a Scream-esque motivation monologue at the end
If you’ve been itching for a dose of simple slasher fun, this is the way to go.
SLEEPING BEAUTIES (2023)
This English language, Indonesian horror flick is possibly my favorite so far of all the Tubi originals I’ve seen. It’s a mashup of Asian ghost girl horror, backwoods family horror, and abduction horror.
After consulting a psychic who helps her communicate with her deceased husband, a financially desperate, recently widowed pregnant woman takes a job as a maid for a snooty white man and woman. The pair is odd, they make strange demands, and the woman is more compassionate towards her pregnant employee than the man.
Meanwhile, the maid starts getting haunted by several jerky-moving, long-haired, Asian maid ghost girls. Eek!
She decides she has to just quit and get the hell away from the house, but doing the smart thing in horror movies is never easy.
The final act gets crazy! It’s pure horror weirdness, violence, gore, and ghosts—not to mention some camp when the psychic shows up to save the day. This one is a winner for me.
