Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
This is what I love about AICN. God bless our readers, each and every one. When they love something, they write to let us know about it, and it's because of that sort of effort that I've seen some great small gems in the four years I've been here. Well, here's RENI, one of our avid chatters from across the pond, with a look at a film that was released last year in Japan, but that I haven't seen here in the US yet. Sounds like a total freak show, and in the best sense of the word...
What is WILD ZERO? It's the feature debut by Japanese Punk Legends Guitar Wolf. Who are they? After this, they are the coolest human beings on the planet. What do they do? They fight zombies. What else do they do? They look cool. And? They use lightning guitar picks to blow things up.
So?
So... you must see this film.
Let's start at the beginning. Guitar Wolf are on tour. Kind of. They play most nights at a small club owned by their longtime associate The Captain. Tonight young Ace is in the audience, watching his heroes and dreaming of being Rock N Roll's Number 1. After the show, Guitar Wolf and The Captain get embroiled in a fight over the beating of a young woman, and Ace intervenes. For his trouble, Guitar Wolf gives him a special whistle to use if he's ever in danger. Unfortunately a meteor has crashlanded in a nearby town and turned everyone into zombies, and it looks like the whistle's gonna come in handy...
WILD ZERO is a brisk, hilarious zombie movie. Even the subtitles are cool.
It references NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and just about every other zombie film ever made, and it even manages a scream-out-loud homage to THE CRYING GAME which had me in tears.
The soundtrack veers between hard punk (this ain't the bloody Sex Pistols; the Wolf go to 11) and some beautiful accoustic tunes played by Greg Oblivion and Ramblin' Rose.
Actually, the use of music helps this film a lot. Despite the lack of any real background, all the characters seem sympathetic, and it's the music that takes them out of the far-fetched and into a place where they actually begin to represent something real. Think PRETTY IN PINK meets XTRO.
Or something...
I digress. Let's talk about the band. Guitar Wolf, Drum Wolf and Bass Wolf. Imagine Chris Walken playing Joey Ramone in a film by Ed Wood. We're talking crazy and we're talking Big Time star quality. Are they making any more films? I certainly hope so. They're the real reason this film is so good. Their sage-like advice to young Ace and their steadfast belief in rock n' roll is as hilarious as it is poignant.
Okay, the direction is a little off in places, and the first half is admittedly not that cohesive, but it's sheer joy watching your heroes screaming "Rock N Roll!" as they blast yet another CGI head clean off with their 357's.
Wild Zero is unique. And it deserves to be found again by a much larger audience. Forget big budgets. Forget foreign languages.
