Woody Invincible (Jordan Chan) and Crazy Bee (Sam Lee) are two losers who would give Beavis and Butthead a run for their money. They run a bootleg DVD shop in a mall and spend their days scamming, robbing, mooching, bullying, and harassing both customers and their fellow mall workers alike. They’re terrible dudes, but when a biological weapon that turns people into zombies is unleashed in their little corner of the world, they become unlikely heroes. Sort of.
Director Wilson Yip has had quite an interesting career since Bio-Zombie (1998). He has gone the action movie route and directed the wildly successful Ip Man (2008) and it’s three sequels. At the time of this review, he’s in the pre-production stages on a kung-fu zombie film. You know I will watch the heck out of that. Also, I’m morbidly curious to see his 2011 remake of A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), which I can’t imagine being very good. If I’m wrong about that, I will eat some finger sushi. Anyway, back to Bio-Zombie.
Good old Sam Lee is a riot in this movie. I’m a big fan of another horror comedy he starred in called The Stewardess (2002). It’s zanier than Bio-Zombie and is worth seeking out for some silly and just plain wrong insanity. Lee’s pairing with Jordan Chan is truly inspired as the two have a brilliant chemistry. They’re slime, but they’re also sweet. And who doesn’t love movies about sweet slime? I really like the super cute and funny Angela Ying-Ying Tong as a beautician named Rolls(?), even when she pukes on Woody’s shirt. He still wants to kiss her shortly afterwards! You know what? He’s a good guy.
It feels so good to be transported back to the days when I first discovered the magic and the madness of Hong Kong horror movies. My brain was hungry for the extreme and wide open for the weird. While not as totally unhinged or perverse as films like The Eternal Evil of Asia (1995), Wicked City (1992), or a dozen other key titles that I discovered in the early 2000s, Bio-Zombie has its own unpredictable energy and kooky sensibility. I will confess that nostalgia plays a big part in why I enjoy this one so much, but you’re gonna dig it.
If you’re into Hong Kong horror or even mildly curious about it, Bio-Zombie is a must see. The kinetic camerawork, physical comedy, goofy energy of the cast, tacky colors of the shopping mall setting, and the zombie action are quite a satisfying combination. All of the usual tropes are covered along the way, but somehow Yip’s film still feels as fresh as it did the first time I saw it all those years ago. Dawn of the Dead? More like Dawn of the Dumb! Amirite?!
Vinegar Syndrome’s disc of Bio-Zombie is a home run. This Blu-ray is a mighty step up from the old Media Blasters DVD. You’re going to want to go with the original Cantonese version, though the Mandarin dub is also on this release. I do not, in fact, speak either of these languages (thank you to VS for the English subtitles), but the cast all spoke Cantonese during filming. Film historian Frank Djeng provides an excellent fact-filled commentary track. There’s a great video essay from film historian Chris O’Neill and a cool interview with Wilson Yip himself. This comes with a booklet with words by writers Rod Lott and Ariel Esteban Cayer. And last but not least, the disc includes the alternate ending of Bio-Zombie.