Wild Zero Movie Review

The film starts off from outer space we see the planet Earth. Moving swiftly towards it is a fleet of flying saucers. After the opening credits we join Ace as he gets himself ready to go out and see his favourite band - the gun-toting, fire-breathing punk heroes Guitar Wolf. At the gig Ace, resplendent in biker jacket and big Elvis quiff, stands looking at the stage in complete awe as the band churn out their rauccous punk rock set. The crowd around him go absolutely hysterical to the ferocious blast of a song called 'Jet Generation'.

After the gig, Guitar Wolf go backstage to meet up with the shady club owner known as the Captain (who makes me wince every time I see him in his ultra tight hot-pants). Guitar Wolf confront the Captain and pull a gun on him, but the Captain draws his own pistol and they all stand there waiting on something to happen. Luckily something does, Ace, who had been meandering around backstage trying to look for his heroes, bursts into the office and this results in a volley of shots being fired. One of the Captains men has his head blown apart while the Captain himself has the ends of his fingers blown off and rolls around the floor in agony. Ace's bravery (after launching himself into the room with a cry of 'rock and roll!!!') has earned Guitar Wolf's respect and he is made a blood brother of the band. Guitar Wolf (who is incidentally the lead vocalist in the band as well as providing the overall band name) also gives Ace a whistle and instructs him to blow on the whistle when he needs help. The band will then come to his aid.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of a small town called Asahi-Cho, three bored teenagers are travelling to see some of the meteorites that have been falling in the area. Toshi and his girlfriend Hanako spend most of their time shouting abuse at each other while Masao, with his wild afro hairdo, simply grips the steering wheel limply and looks half dead.

Not far from them, a young girl called Tobio stumbles away from a roadside and heads towards a petrol station on the outskirts of Asahi-Cho. As she inspects the deserted shop at the station Masao and his group arrive and the former suddenly goes crazy, holding up the shop - although it's only Tobio and two strangers who are in it!

Ace turns up on his way to travel to another Guitar Wolf gig and saves the day by opening the main door and hitting Masao right in the face. As Toshi's group run away in panic and confusion Ace strikes up a conversation with Tobio and they sit and talk for a while. Developing a soft spot for each other Ace's love for Guitar Wolf ultimately drives him on and he says his goodbye's and leaves.

On another road Yamazaki, an arms dealer, is waiting patiently on her buyer to turn up. The latter is already running late but his journey ends completely when their car becomes surrounded by zombies and everyone is eaten alive. Meanwhile, during a break in their travelling, Toshi and Hanako return to their car to find a bunch of zombies chomping down on poor Masao. In terror they flee back into the woods and just keep running.

Meanwhile Ace and Tobio are on the run from a horde of zombies. Seeking refuge in a small building they barricade themselves in and Ace sees this as an opportunity to unburden his soul to Tobio. Tearfully, he admits to Tobio that he feels like a loser, enforcing this view by sobbing that he can't even play guitar. In surely one of the greatest responses ever to an emotional outburst Tobio simply stands up, undresses and asks Ace to look. In his moment of internal anguish, Ace screams and runs in terror into another room after realising that Tobio is actually a bloke! However, on hearing Tobio's screams he goes back for her but the place is now swarming with zombies and there is no sign of Tobio. In desperation he reaches for the whistle and blows it.

Meantime Guitar Wolf arrive and have picked up a hysterical Toshi and Hanako on the way. Driving to the gas station they are soon joined by Yamazaki, who arrives in her armoured car which is absolutely covered in zombies. Taking refuge in a warehouse they gather their forces and prepare to fight the final battle.

Elsewhere, Tobio is on the run from the zombies. Running down a deserted street, avoiding a few corpses here and there, suddenly a huge flying saucer flies overhead. Meantime, on news bulletins from around the world, commentators speak of alien ships flying in. During this apparent alien invasion, the Captain - still with a grudge against Guitar Wolf - finds out that the latter are playing in a nearby town. Grabbing some guns he gets into his car and speeds onwards to try and settle the score.

And that is as much as I'm going to write on the plot for this one, even I can't spoil the end for you. But I will give you a flavour of the lunacy of the last reel:- killer plectrums, alien motherships, true love conquers all and of course, rock and roll. A LOT of rock and roll.

Comment:

I've heard and read a lot about 'Wild Zero' so I was pleased to finally get hold of this zombie cheese-fest. Maybe my dithering in tracking this one down was influenced by my somewhat cynical approach to some of the rock and horror hybrids we've had in the west. This is a particularly foul sub-genre that has all the customary charm and charisma of sticking your head in an industrial mincer and kicking the ON switch.

Still, after watching it, I breathed a sigh of relief and felt a huge sense of intense satisfaction that someone somewhere had actually managed to throw everything at the rock and roll horror show and create anything even remotely worthwhile.

Not to put too fine a point on it, 'Wild Zero' is an absolutely mental film, ripping its spiritual influences from Peter Jackson's 'Bad Taste', Tim Burton's 'Mars Attacks' and any Troma film you care to mention. On the subject of the latter, there's even a sequence involving Ace at the petrol station where he grabs a mop to fend off the zombies. I don't know if this is an in-joke or not but certainly this is one film that gleefully follows Troma's no script too small policy. The sheer lunacy of this one is going to be difficult to match by anyone else.

Our anti-hero Ace is fantastic, spending his life veering drastically from brylcream vanity to comedic self-pity. His quieter moments, of which there are few (if you have heard Guitar Wolf you'll know what I mean) are often spent pondering over his tiny lot in life and the troubling fact that he can't play the guitar. The latter is a source of some anguish to the clueless Ace and represents one of his chief dilemma's; he lives for his music but he doesn't actually play anything himself. However, the over-riding theme in 'Wild Zero' - basically what the viewer gets punched in the face with over and over again - is that everything is rock and roll.

The extent of all this is that even taking a piss in 'Wild Zero' is a rock and roll act, as exemplified with the brilliant urinal sequence at the beginning of the film. The viewer sits looking at a urinal as a jet of wee gushes forwards and then the flow stops, then goes to fits and starts, then back to one long stream, slightly left, slightly right etc etc. So dyed in the blood of mutant rock and roll is this film that even when Ace has a slash he's having a musical slash. Not just you're ordinary pee but a rock and roll pee.

The 'fuck them' sentiment of the film is enhanced with Guitar Wolf's frequent spiritual meanderings, offering Ace some pearls of wisdom and continually prompting Ace to see the rock and roll solution all around him. And if that solution involves finding true love with your girlfriend who just happens to have shown you her love spuds in a blaze of white light then hey, that’s just the kooky rock and roll true love ending boy. And you know that you have to sacrifice everything for true love don't you now?

Heads are burst open like watermelons in Wild Zero, fingers are blown off, flesh is ripped open, innards are munched, zombies are despatched with killer plectrums, the tightest hot-pants in the entire world are on show and alien motherships are destroyed by the spirit of rock and roll. Amen brothers and sisters - trash doesn't come any cooler than this. So stay weird, play loud and bid ye welcome to the ultimate rock and roll death trip.

Check out the flick on Amazon, you will have a good long hard laugh.