Big Tits Dragon (Japan 2010)

Rating: **
Alternate Titles: "Kyonyu Doragon: Onsen Zonbi Vs. Sutorippa 5" (literally: "Bit Tits Dragon: Hot Springs Zombies Vs. Five Strippers"), "Big Tits Zombie" (US title)
Review Date: 7/3/12
Cast: Sola Aoi, Risa Kasumi, Mari Sakurai, Tamayo, Io Aikawa

Based on the manga of the same name (!), this is the story of five strippers who live in a tiny hot springs resort town. One day they discover the Well Of Spirits in the basement of the strip club, and Maria (Mari Sakurai) finds a "book of the dead" and starts reading from it. This leads to an outbreak of corpses rising from their graves and attacking the entire population of Japan. Only Maria can control the zombies, and she goes mad with power. Armed with only a chainsaw and a katana, Lena (Sola Aoi) and Ginko (Risa Kasumi) rise up against Maria and hack apart her army of undead servants.

The film is ridiculously campy, but the actresses realize this and have a lot of goofy fun with the material. I was genuinely impressed with Sola Aoi as an actress, and as silly as it is, she makes the whole thing work. Risa Kasumi is amazingly pretty and delightful to watch as a sword swinging tough girl. Mari Sakurai is a psychotic loli-goth girl, which is fitting for a queen of the dead. The film is well lit and looks pretty good considering the material. There's even a 3D version, for what it's worth. The makeup is decent and the zombies are an eclectic bunch of bizarre archetypes. There's even an "Alice In Wonderland" zombie, which is just weird. The action scenes are fairly amusing and filmed in a way that actually makes Ms. Aoi look like a competent martial artist. Of course, she's also heavily doubled by a guy in drag at several points, which severely ruins the illusion. The most shocking and incomprehensible scene in the film involves a zombie who inexplicably shoots fire out of her vagina, catching Lena and Ginko (as well as the audience) completely off guard. Who comes up with this stuff and why? The gratuitous climax involves both Lena and Ginko topless and sprayed with blood, and I honestly don't remember anything after that. Despite its exploitive genre trappings, I actually found the film to be watchable and mildly entertaining. A guilty pleasure at best.