BIOZOMBIE
1998
Directed by Wilson Yip
A.K.A. Mallrats meets Dawn of the Dead
PlotMeet Crazy Bee and Woody Invincible, two unlikely named youths that spend all their time at the mall. They partially have the excuse that they do in fact work there, in a bootleg VCD store, but that doesn't explain all the off-duty time they waste there. They spend their days goofing off, playing video games, hitting on Jelly and Rolls, two equally unlikely named girls that also work at the mall, messing with the nerdy sushi guy down the way (who has a thing for Rolls) and getting yelled at by their boss, Kai, who also runs a secondhand electronics store with his shrewish wife. One day Kai sends the boys off to get his car fixed. At the repair shop, hijinks ensue, as they always do with Woody and Bee. Meanwhile, we cut to a neary warehouse, where some mobsters are making some illegal plans with Iraqis. See, the legitimate businessmen have developed a zombie potion that actually works, turning people into walking, flesheating, corpses. The Iraqis intend to use the serum as a biological weapon, because zombies as soldiers is a plan that ALWAYS works. The serum is disguised as a bottle of soda-pop, so customs won't get suspicious. Then the fluid is demonstrated. Of course, almost everyone in the room becomes zombie chow. The one guy who escapes, meanwhile, is having a just plain unlucky day. That's because he ends up running out into the road--right in front of Woody and Bee driving Kai's car back to the mall. D'oh! While they check the dude out to make sure he's not dead, he whimpers something about a soft drink. Well, the guy must be thirsty! What kind of cold-blooded killers would our duo be if they denied the man his last request. And it just so happens that there's a cold one in his briefcase! After forcing the yucky orange looking stuff down his throat, the man promptly dies. Crap! Well, because our two guys are such great role models, they stuff the guy in their trunk, take his cellphone, and speed off. That night, the boys use their stolen cellphone money (and money earned in a subplot involving mugging Rolls while in disguise--great role models) to take the girls out to the sushi joint. Clearly booze and money are what make these chicks' motors turn over. As they get more blotto, they continue to harass Sushi-boy until closing-time. When Sushi-boy goes down to the parking garage, he's in for a surprise: The mob dude is back up and running, and hankering for a hunk of sushi!
And it's not too long from here that the movie finally kicks into gear. That is to say, zombies start spreading through the mall, with just the few remaining employees (such as Woody, Bee, Jelly, and Rolls, natch) standing between them and global takeover. Yeah, we're pretty much screwed. |
RatingI give Biozombie:
Four Rotting Shambling Corpses out of Five. |