This is a Zombie World Tour

Review – Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Would you look at this, another Zombie World Tour. I’ve been to Japan before, with wildly different outcomes. This one is funny on purpose, which is not always how it works in zombie movies. I enjoyed this film from the first moment, which has a young man scrambling to outrun a zombie horde, backpack bouncing and suit flowing in the wind. The punchline is he’s afraid he’ll be late for work. Ah, Japan.

Akiro is young, handsome, smart, energetic and considers himself a man of the world. He gets a dream job that quickly turns into his worst nightmare. When the zombies come he determines the best thing to do is make a list of all the things he wants to do before he is inevitably bitten. After that he plays through the apocalyptic landscape in crowded Tokyo doing things a young man would enjoy.

There aren’t a lot of characters in this movie, with most people being undead. Are they considered characters, or background? Akiro is at his very best as he pleases himself and helps people out in the ravaged city. There are few laugh out loud moments, but I was grinning most of the time because it’s just fun and a nice twist on the traditional raiding the mall trope. The gore is medium grade and the zombies are suitably dangerous for this story. Their makeup isn’t ridiculous, and they aren’t too fast for a high school football star. Another nod I loved was an homage to Shaun of the Dead and the hero being too dead to the world to notice the death of the world. It’s still a funny joke, and well done here.

I really enjoyed the message that ZOMBIES = FREEDOM. Freedom from responsibility and care about the tasks a person is required to do in a civilized world. That’s the emotion behind the original mall raiding happiness Dawn of the Dead gave to fans fifty years ago. I don’t know if the filmmakers here tapped into that on purpose, but I loved it. As well, the traditional Found Family trope of zombie films is in force here, and I think a lot of filmmakers try to do that without fully understanding it. The woman character Akiro falls in with kicks butt in a major way from the first moment, and I loved how this made her a cool person in his eyes and not some skirt who needed taking down a peg.

While I liked quite a bit about the film, like the fun and not hateful humor, there are some problems. The CGI is substandard in places, and the end of the film devolves into a supposedly funny, action-y mess that doesn’t fit the feeling of the rest of the film. Pity.

If you enjoy funny zombie movies, give this one a whirl. Most of it is consistently funny, and it is more poignant than you might expect. It’s well made except for some cgi issues, the actors are fun to root for, and the filmmakers pay well done homage to traditional tropes.

Available on: netflix

LINKS:

• Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – Official Site
• Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – IMDB
• Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – Wikipedia

CFR: In Addition

Giggle. Thank Cranky, I am so going to watch this while I try to figure out my paper work buried on my desk, aka taxes. (Don’t. Ask.)

Love you Cranky! Can’t wait to watch Wicked with you!!!