Zombie 108 DVD Review

★☆☆☆☆

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

Feature - Top Ten Movie Dressing Gowns

Studio Canal and the ICO are very pleased to announce that they will be bringing back to the big screen the underrated and long unseen WOMAN IN A DRESSING GOWN, a powerful and progressive drama that follows the turmoil caused when a husband of 20 years tells his wife he is leaving her for a younger woman.

In a new feature to celebrate the film's recent limited re-release we have this cool little feature celebrating the lost classic of British social cinema, the dressing gown here represents the...
Yvonne Mitchell in WOMAN IN A DRESSING GOWN (1957)

Jeff Bridges in THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)
No-one has ever made the dressing gown look so comfortable outside of the home as The Dude in The Big Lebowski. Accessorize ideally with a pint of milk.

Sylvester Stallone in ROCKY (1976)
OK, so not strictly speaking a dressing gown, but since Sly immortalized the silk number in Rocky, they do a healthy trade on Ebay reinvented as a man’s dressing gown….

Catherine Deneuve in BELLE DE JOUR (1967)
In comparison with Woman in a Dressing Gown, Deneuve’s lonely housewife finds liberation in her dressing gown as she leads a double life as a classy prostitute in Bunuel’s masterpiece, with costumes designed by Yves Saint Laurent.

Marlene Dietrich in DESIRE (1936)
This outrageous fur-lined dressing gown, designed by Travis Branton would never be countenanced today for the sheer number of furry animals that must have died for it to exist… Sheer 1930s glamour.

Brad Pitt in FIGHT CLUB (1999)
How can anyone in a teapot dressing gown, wearing red shades with a fag dangling from their mouth, look this good?

Lauren Bacall in THE BIG SLEEP (1946)
This beautiful silk dressing gown was just one of a series of fabulous costumes Bacall wears in the classic film noir that reunited her onscreen with her now-husband Humphrey Bogart.

Bill Murray in LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003)
Director Sophia Coppola thought it would be funny to see Bill Murray in a tiny Japanese kimono**, and the outfit subsequently graced the movie poster. **Admittedly, not really a dressing gown

 Dennis Price in KIND HEARTS & CORONETS (1949)
In the classic Ealing comedy, this sumptuous “house coat” is worn by the ultimate social-climber, Louis Mazzini, and leaves us in no doubt that he dresses like a Duke, even if he has to kill to actual become one…
Robert Downey Jr in SHERLOCK HOLMES (2009)
A more recent addition to the pantheon of movie dressing gowns, an interesting creation, as sported by the world’s most popular detective

Woman In Dressing Gown will be released on DVD for The First Time On August 13th, Woman In A Dressing Gown On DVD [1957]

Searching For Sugar Man Review

★★★★★

Music documentaries are a curious sub-genre often set aside for obsessive completist fans and celebrity voyeurs but in recent years they’ve been going undergoing something of a renaissance. Big name film-makers have made big biographical pictures about world renowned stars with Scorsese adding George Harrison to his list of subjects as well as fans of Bob Marley and Paul Simon rushing to their nearest multiplex. There have also been films about lesser known artists whose stories are remarkable enough to hold our attention; DIG told the story of the rivalry and escalating violence between Portland’s Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre while The Devil and Daniel Johnson focussed on the distinctive artist’s battle with mental illness and rise to prominent cult success.

It is this second group into which Searching for Sugar Man firmly falls, coming from first time feature Director Malik Bendjelloul and featuring as it’s protagonist a true unknown, it tells a story that is unlikely to be repeated.

The Sugar Man is Rodriguez – a Hispanic singer/ songwriter hailing from Detroit who recorded two LP’s in the early 70’s that swiftly sank without a trace. Leading the search is Steve Segerman, a record store owner, Rodriguez fanatic and resident of South Africa. To understand how and why it is this record store owner a continent away feels so strongly about this forgotten artist he feels compelled to lead the search we must travel back to the recording of those two albums. And travel back we do, talking heads from all involved in the recording of Cold Fact and Coming From Reality regale tales of Rodriguez’s discovery, the belief they had in the album, their utter conviction that it would make Sixto Rodriguez as big a musician as anyone around. The producers involved were already making records for the likes of Marvyn Gaye and Stevie Wonder and yet they go on record to say that is was Cold Fact that they see as their masterpiece. All pretty strong stuff, rose tinted nostalgia perhaps? As it turns out, their belief was completely merited. The music of Rodriguez is fully deserving of the praise heaped upon it yet the excessive proclamations by some speaking (one is on the verge of tears) seems a little trite knowing the fate of their musical genius. They are right about the music though – a cross between a number of important sounds of the era with elements of Bob Dylan Cat Stevens - that make it an even greater surprise that he failed to sell at all in America. This however is far from being the only surprise in the life of Rodriguez, one that makes for a gripping documentary.

Against all odds and circumstance, a copy of his first LP Cold Fact winds up in Apartheid South Africa where his songs of struggle and liberty instantly strike a chord with the liberal anti-apartheid movement soon becoming the biggest album of it’s day. It makes Rodriguez a nationwide star bigger than Elvis and the Rolling Stones with its lead track Sugar Man a bone fide hit and lending itself not only to the title but the nickname of our guide through the story Steve ‘Sugarman’ Segerman. He, like many others in the country knew nothing more of Rodriguez than the information they had on the record – a picture and three possible names (as well as Rodriguez he was credited under Jesus Rodriguez and Sixto Rodriguez). The cultural boycott imposed on their segregated nation meant it was difficult to receive any information about new overseas acts and, little-known to them, the rest of the world hadn’t taken to Rodriguez in equally overwhelming fashion meaning there was little information to be found on their elusive hero.

The tongues of Capetown’s muso’s started to wag and what the ears heard made for gruesome listening. Urban legends started to emerge, ranging from a grizzly onstage suicide to a drug overdose but all with the same outcome – Rodriguez was dead. Decades pass, South Africa becomes a liberated nation and yet still Steve Segerman can find nothing to satisfy his unanswered questions about Rodriguez – the labels have long since shut down and not having remained in the music world for long little was known about him after those recordings. He enlists a fellow enthusiast and music detective Craig Bartholemew and the two set about tracing down a conclusive answer to the mystery surrounding Sixto’s disappearance.

What they discovered on their journey makes Bendjelloul’s film one of the most surprising and incredibly positive stories of the year, one that we are unlikely to see happen again. Bendjelloul comes from a background making 30 minute TV documentaries in his native Sweden but his step up to feature length films is seamless. There’s a cinematic quality to a number of scenes that belies the young Swede’s relative newcomer status to the medium. With the narrative he creates he becomes almost like a magician saving each reveal for maximum effect that enables you to enjoy this film regardless if you know the story or not, that said coming to this film with no knowledge at all is surely the most rewarding.

On top of an incredibly well crafted film is the music and life of Rodriguez himself – a man who was discovered with his back to the audience, establishing almost instantly the heir of mystique that carries through his life while simultaneously distancing himself from the rest of the world. This remarkable film and the strength of Rodriguez’s music will surely serve to ensure that distance doesn’t remain as big.

Matthew Walsh

UK Rating: 15
Release Date: 26 July 2012
Directed by: Malik Bendjelloul
Cast: Rodriguez