Wild Zero

MOVIE #1,228 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 11.08.23 This movie is meandering and almost entirely void of any normal plot, but it does have A TON of fun stuff in it, for instance: a dude villain wearing daisy dukes with a comical bowl cut toupee, a blatant blast of transphobia which turns into some genuine trans acceptance that feels way ahead of its time, an incredible soundtrack featuring Japanese garage punks Guitar Wolf (who also act in the film) as well as an eclectic mix of other music (I discovered this fantastic lo-fi song, for example), aliens AND zombies, a chick arms dealer (?) character who enters the fray randomly driving an army vehicle and wearing a plaid onesie, so many late 90s CGI heads getting blown off, etc etc etc.

By the time the main guy from Guitar Wolf saws the alien mothership in half with his hybrid sword instrument…


… what else is there to say, really?

So in lieu of saying anything, allow me to present: A smattering of delights:


THE BIG ALIEN INVASION SEQUENCE


I THINK DAVID LYNCH GOT THE RED ROOM GOLDEN BALL THING IN TWIN PEAKS SEASON 3 FROM THIS


CGI HEAD EXPLOSIONS!!


GRENADE LAUNCHER!!


THE MAIN VILLAIN JUST GETS LASER EYES FOR SOME REASON? SURE!!

I guess it's implied that the aliens are controlling and/or the cause of the zombie infestation. But there's zero exposition in regard to this, which — let's be honest — is probably for the better. In all, it's probably twenty minutes too long but there's more than enough wacky and random shit here to make it worth watching. And this is a cool message to end on, and an especially surprising one coming from one of the dumber movies you'll ever come across…

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,227 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,229 ⫸

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Wild Zero is a 1999 Japanese comedy horror film directed by Tetsuro Takeuchi. It stars Masashi Endō as Ace, a fan of the Japanese rock power trio Guitar Wolf (who star as themselves). After assisting the group, the band's eponymous vocalist makes Ace his blood brother and gives him a whistle to blow during times of trouble. Ace later meets Tobio (Kwancharu Shitichai) during a gas station robbery. The group later find themselves in the middle of a zombie outbreak. It was released on August 8, 1999.