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Stacy
Stars:
Natsuki Kato, Toshinori Omi, Chika Hayashi, Sungiku Uchida, and Yasutaka Tsutsui
Writer:
Chisato Ogawara
Based
On The Book By: Kenji Otsuki
Director:
Naoyuki Tomomatsu
Feature
length: 80 minutes
Extras:
Trailer
Languages:
Japanese Dolby Stereo Sound
Subtitles:
English Language Stereo
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 16
Sound:
Dolby Stereo Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2001/DVD Release: 2003
Home
Video Distributor: Synapse Films
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“Stacy”
is one of the most fun zombie horror flicks I’ve seen since seeing “28 Days
Later…” It is actually the polar opposite of “28 Days Later…” in
nearly every way. Both films pay homage to the horror features that paved the
way before them, but while “28 Days Later…” is a more serious and downbeat
zombie picture, where the creatures are actually not even undead at all,
they’re simply the “infected,” “Stacy” is a humorous post apocalyptic
zombie horror film that is as much about pop culture and unrequited love as it
is about flesh eating ghouls.
In
the early part of the 21st Century, young teenage girls between the
ages 15 and 17 begin to mysteriously fall victim to a strange phenomenon called
NDH or “Near Death Happiness.” In this blissful state the girls die and are
then subsequently reanimated into flesh eating zombies nicknamed “Stacy”
presumably after the first girl to fall victim to the infection. Soon the entire
world becomes infected and women and men are no longer able to reproduce. At the
brink of extinction, worldwide martial war is declared and subsequently wars
have broken out in third world nations leading to the use of nuclear weapons.
With half of the human population still alive on the planet, troops of United
Nations sanctioned “Second Death Squads” are charged with literally picking
up the pieces of the dead for orderly body burning sites. However a mad
scientist has been performing desperate experiments on select “Stacy” to
determine what is the cause of the disease and why they feast on the flesh of
the living.
Several
military guards protect his grotesque lab, but as despair turns to madness so
does the order of the lab as characters begin react irrationally and follow
their own agendas. We have one soldier desperate to be reunited with his undead
love interest at any cost while a group of teenage ninja girls with Samurai
swords and machine guns break into the facility to collect a bounty on a girl
they were contracted to put out of her misery after she became a “Stacy,”
and these funky chicks are dedicated to their job too! Outside the facility an
older man has been chosen by a teenager who knows she will soon fall subject to
the affliction to be the one who dismembers her with his “Bruce Campbell’s
Right Hand” brand chainsaw. Yes even at the end of the world, as we know it,
capitalism lives on!
The
film’s final explanation for the reason why the girls are returning from the
dead, as hungry flesh-eating ghouls is original if not somewhat profound. About
the only thing I did not like about the film I cannot even discuss since it is
too much of a “spoiler” so let me just note that I would have liked to see
what was being referred to in narration. “Stacy” is hip, funny, gross,
perverse, and poignant all at the same time.
Synapse
Films has done a terrific job bringing “Stacy” to DVD as a part of “The
Asian Cult Cinema Collection” with a great looking anamorphic widescreen
(1.78:1) aspect ratio presentation that presents both the filmed and video
sequences with remarkable clarity. The Japanese Stereo Soundtrack is quite full
and clear and optional English Language Subtitles are encoded onto the DVD too.
The menus are well rendered and easy to navigate and the theatrical trailer
(2:00) is included too. There is also a terrific essay by Author Patrick Macias
that covers the cultural background to the film.
As
a whole “Stacy: The Asian Cult Cinema Collection” is great gory fun and an
easy DVD to recommend that is available now at retailers on and offline from
Synapse Films.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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Stacy