Wild Zero

What the hell can one say about Wild Zero? Depth and substance are mostly abandoned in favour of explosive style, overwhelming coolness and extreme loudness. Wild Zero doesn’t give a fuck about what you think, it just does whatever the hell it wants to. Rock and Roll? Hell yeah! Zombies and aliens? Sure, why not! Guitar Wolf angrily sculls a beer a few times for no reason, some guy’s head explodes just because and the main villain runs around in his underwear. Jets of fire come out of motorcycles, microphones and just about everything, there are about two dozen explosions, most of them random, some zombies can talk and one guy starts shooting lasers out of his eyes. Why? Because fuck you, that’s why.

It’s loud, it’s ridiculous and it’s sort of all just about J-Rock band Guitar Wolf looking cool. But that’s perfectly fine. The sheer energy this film has is overwhelming and infectious. Wild Zero is a really fun movie.

 

Ace is the Number 1 Super Fan of J-Rock band Guitar Wolf. He follows them when they’re playing in seedy clubs and is determined to become a rock and roll superstar to rival them. When he accidentally aids them in a violent standoff with a deranged club manager named Captain, he becomes blood brothers with Guitar Wolf, who gives him a whistle to blow (which might be magic) if he’s ever in need of help.

Meanwhile, a meteorite shower in the desert (caused by aliens) has caused an outbreak of zombies that are slowly spreading towards Asahi city in Japan. Ace falls in love with Tobio, a gas station clerk who isn’t what she seems, after accidentally foiling a robbery attempt. As the zombie onslaught gets into full swing, Ace needs Guitar Wolf’s help to fight the zombies, rescue the girl (?) and save the day. He blows the fabled whistle and Guitar Wolf comes to help out, while also being hunted by the psychotic Captain, determined to get revenge. 

The enigmatic Guitar Wolf, with his bandmates Drum Wolf and Bass Wolf (who look exactly the same), are portrayed as wandering badasses. They never take their sunglasses off, aren’t phased at all by zombies, aliens or danger and are always cool regardless of the situation. Guitar Wolf himself is some sort of awesome badass of ultimate coolness. He yells and howls all the time, rides a kickass motorcycle (in the shape of a wolf), constantly drinks (there are like three scenes of just him drinking a beer), kills zombies by throwing guitar picks ninja-style and eventually pulls a sword out of his guitar. He also has a weirdly strong commitment to helping Ace, despite only meeting him once (though his ‘help’ seems to consist solely of finding him). At one point Guitar Wolf jumps from an exploding building, strums his guitar in mid-air, lands perfectly and then instantly tunes it as though nothing had happened. It’s that sort of movie.

‘There are no boundaries in Rock and Roll!’ yells Guitar Wolf at one point. It’s one of many such Rock and Roll based pronouncements he makes in the movie. There are a few scenes just of Guitar Wolf (the band) playing songs (often with silly electric special effect shooting out of their guitars, and flames out of their microphones). Their music is comprised entirely of loudness, reverb and yelling – all of which fits with the rest of the movie. This is, all things considered, their movie.

 

Ace is a likeable idiot whose enthusiasm for rock and roll is all-encompassing. Unlike most characters from zombie movies, he actually has something of a character arc and an internal conflict he has to get over (So what if the love of your life turns out to be a shemale? Be courageous and save her! Rock and Roll is love and life!). He constantly sees images of Guitar Wolf egging him on throughout the movie, yelling about Rock and Roll. In fact the words ‘Rock and Roll!’ get yelled out constantly.

Captain, the main villain, has a ridiculous wig and wanders around in his underwear discharging a shotgun constantly. He actually removes his pants expressly so he can go hunt down Guitar Wolf. Eventually he starts to fire lasers out of his eyes, just because it looks cool. All this weirdness makes up for the fact that he lacks any sort of characterisation other than ‘crazy weirdo’.

Other characters include a bickering couple who eventually find true love (as zombies), their somewhat psychotic (and useless) would-be-robber friend and a super angry arms dealer (who gives the movie its brief glimpse of female nudity). One again none of these characters have much characterisation, pretty much being given a single personality aspect and that’s it.

 

Wild Zero is a loud and dirty movie, and this extends to the plotting, directing, effects and cinematography as well. The movie has its issues, but ultimately you probably won’t notice or mind them. Wild Zero is like an explosive music video that goes all out, pumping you full of adrenaline and not giving a damn about the consequences.

At the time of release (1999) there hadn’t been too many Asian zombie flicks, so the zombie make-up is actually pretty good for the time. They have green skin and sallow eye sockets, and look a bit decayed. They act zombie-like and eat a few people, but to be honest they’re not much of a threat in the movie. The zombies are more of a detail than the focus. Same with the flying saucers. Cheesy effects abound. The flying saucers looks super fake to a ridiculous degree. While most gore is prop work, every head explosion (there’re actually quite a lot) is silly looking CGI. The explosions are fun though.

The plot, despite all of the nonsense going on, is really thin and most characters don’t have anything to do with the overall story. In particular Ace’s story with Tobio is completely separate from Guitar Wolf dealing with the zombies, aliens and Captain. Ace himself doesn’t really do much at all, and many of the smaller side characters don’t feature into anything. At times the movie is just a bunch of cool things happening, mostly involving Guitar Wolf. Many scenes with Captain also seem out of place with the rest of the film, particularly the opening which involves drugs and a woman being beaten, and at one point they have a purposefully dull pop idol-wannabe sing a really crappy song for no reason. A lot of the movie has characters either stranded somewhere or returning to the same few locations (everybody keeps going to the gas station).

With so much noise and energy, it’s bound to let up at some point. And it does, with Tobio. Tobio is a bit of a weak point in the movie, not having much to say or do and being more of a plot device than a character. Ace’s character arc and plot with her slows things down a little, particularly towards the end, and his scenes eventually all tend to be about her. Once again, Ace and Tobio don’t actually do much at all in the bigger scheme of things. That being said, these segments do give a little bit of a breather.

From a technical viewpoint the movie isn’t the best. Underneath all the style is competent filmmaking, but it’s not the best looking movie. It’s all style and no substance. It's often quite dark. There are a few inconsistencies and mistakes throughout. The camera crew have a real problem with reflections – in a few scenes you can actually see the camera, and even some of the film crew, reflected in mirrors and windows. In one scene ravenous zombies are trying to get through a large factory sliding door, which has a gap you can see under. Once it’s closed, underneath you can see the feet of the zombie actors who immediately stop being zombies and start walking off. These errors are incredibly minor though, and most probably won’t notice them under the high-octane craziness.

One warning - the Eastern Eye DVD at times can look very pixelated on a large television (though that might just be my copy).

 

‘Love has no boundaries, nationalities or gender’. That’s the ultimate ‘message’ of the film, which is really strange if you think about it. Underneath all the explosions, zombies and rock and roll is a message about love and acceptance. Of course this gets sort of sidelined and overwhelmed by all the explosions, zombies and rock and roll, but that’s all part of its charm.

Wild Zero is crazy fun, where sound and fury explode on the screen.