Rating: *
Review Date: 7/13/03
Cast: Natsuki Kato
Ugh. I really wanted to like this film about cute Japanese schoolgirls who turn into flesh eating zombies, but it's simply dreadful in every respect. For whatever reasons, young girls between the ages of 15 and 17 are contracting a condition known as "near death happiness," which leads to death and reanimation. The reanimated girls are known as "Stacies" and the only way to dispatch one of these zombie girls is to dismantle her into at least 165 pieces, which gives rise to a whole new industry of professional zombie slayers. Central to the story is Eiko (cute Natsuki Kato), a girl who has contracted NDH and inexplicably attaches herself to an emotionally detached and socially inept puppeteer named Shibu. In return for sleeping with him and keeping him company, she wants Shibu to hack her into pieces when she becomes a Stacy. She even buys him the brand new "Bruce Campbell Right Hand 2" chainsaw (which comes in many fashionable colors) to perform the act. You see, what these zombie girls want more than anything else is to be killed by the person they love the most, and at its core the film is a love story. As the story wears on and becomes even more incomprehensible, the death and dismemberment of Eiko affects all of the Stacies worldwide, and they decide to stop eating people. Men learn to love the Stacies and even have children with them, ushering in the new evolution of Man. What the hell?!?
As if the bizarre and convoluted story weren't bad enough, the production values of this no-budget project are atrocious, and on par with the later "Zero Woman" (1995) movies. Shot on video under poor lighting conditions, the movie looks cheap and awful. The music and sound effects are equally bad, and the gore effects are uninteresting and uninspiring. The direction and editing are poor, and the pacing is tediously sluggish. Add to this a series of lengthy and unintelligable social commentaries, and you have a nearly unwatchable film.