★☆☆☆☆
A cursory glance at some of the Internet’s goriest movie websites tells you that approximately half a billion zombie-themed movies were released in the past 8 months, with another half billion on the way.
That is, admittedly, a slight exaggeration, but there’s no denying that zombie movies continue to be churned out with a worrying regularity that makes their abundance on video-store shelves seem like a desperate parody of their own content. They are quite literally everywhere.
Zombie 108’s tactic to make itself heard amongst the shuffling rabble of its flesh-hungry fraternity, is to sell itself as Taiwan’s first ever zombie movie.
It’s to be hoped that it’s also the last. Zombie 108’s treatment of the shambling, groaning, venerable old monster is so wanton, so profoundly pig-headed, it surely marks the point at which we collectively shelve the genre for the time-being, and turn our attentions to mummies or radioactive insects instead.
The initial copy made available for viewing was removed from its berth on Vimeo due to apparent complications with the English subtitles. It was therefore with no small sense of irony that I settled in to watch a replacement copy, only to find that the film employs only a minimum of intelligible dialogue anyway. It’s an honest question to wonder whether this laughably incoherent collection of violent set-pieces would be in anyway degraded by a complete and utter removal of all sound from the film. A non-descript, laboratory-based disaster is unleashed upon Taipei, turning its denizens into a hungry, gooey army of the undead. This complicates matters for the upright members of the Taiwanese SWAT team engaged in a turf war with a local mob boss. The zombies shuffle in, and the two sides must work together in order to avoid being served-up as an entrée.
It’s a joyless, meaningless parade of tits, bums, chicks with guns, a little bit of parkour, and a lot of sub-standard gore.
But it’s the addition of a sleazy torture-sub-plot, making its presence felt too often for comfort, which prevents Zombie 108 from being merely noisy, juvenile nonsense. It’s in these moments that the film falls into downright lecherous misogyny and startling, incomprehensible animal cruelty. A rape scene intercut with moments of comedy stands as particularly ill-judged, coming dangerously close to Last House on the Left territory.
Zombie 108’s existence was made possible thanks to the generosity of some 900 or so individuals who heeded director Joe Chien’s plea for charity and donated money to fund the film. If you count yourself among the 900, might I suggest you politely ask for a refund? It takes guts to pull the trigger on a friend or family-member who has slowly but surely begun the painful transformation into a walking cadaver; but it must be done. Likewise, Zombie 108 is a film which desperately needs euthanising.
Chris Banks
@Chris_in_2D
UK Rating: 18
DVD Release: 30th July 2012
Directed By:Joe Chien
Cast: Morris Rong, Yvonne Yao , Sona Eyambe
Buy:Zombie 108 On DVD
