DVD Review: Naoyuki Tomomatsu's ZOMBIE SELF-DEFENSE FORCE

Zombie Self-Defense Force (Zombi jieitai) is the first film in the Nihombie series. The film is a lo-fi Japanese zombie slapstick that aspires to Evil Dead II or Dead Alive status, but with a Frank Henenlotter budget. As these types of films go, Zombie Self-Defense Force is really uneven. However, the film has a gung-ho attitude and a lot of WTF moments.

The plot is brutally simple. Members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces head out to the woods on a routine mission. A UFO lands in the area. Soon, the local people start turning into zombies.  Are the zombies and the UFO connected? Of course, they are connected.

Unlike the other Nihmobie films (Girls' Swim Team Versus the Undead and Zombie Hunter Rika), Zombie Self-Defense Force is completely sexless. To compensate for the lack of sleaze, Naoyuki Tomomatsu piles on the usual biting, shooting, and spewing. The film packs plenty of practical effects, but leans heavy on the CGI graphics and blood. The thing that separates this movie from the rest of the pack (if only slightly) is the way it bolsters the guts with humor and tasteless sight gags. For example, some of the film's absolute best moments occur when a zombie fetus enters the story. The humor is low-brow and occasionally kind of head-scratching (e.g., the tongue-in-check intro).

Section 23, which formed from the remnants of ADV Films, is handling distribution on this  Switchblade Pictures title (Switchblade bought it from GP Museum Soft).  Like other Switchblade releases, the packaging and presentation on this film are barebones (i.e., English subtitles, a few trailers).