Review

In this high-voltage Japanese gore-comedy, there are strippers with large breasts. There are hordes of flesh-eating zombies. And there are 3-D glasses. We had you at “hello.”

A full description of the new Japanese horror-comedy Big Tits Zombie seems superfluous – the film’s title not only says it all, but many (including Roger Ebert) noted that it was the best movie moniker to crop up at this year’s Cannes festival market. Everything the name promises, the movie delivers, in excess: beautiful and buxom exotic dancers battling flesh-eating zombies (with chainsaws and samurai swords, of course), comin’ at ya’ in 3-D. You’re either in it to win it at this point, or you’ve already stopped reading this. The story (stop laughing!) finds stripper Rena (Sola Aoi) arriving at a deserted hot springs resort, where she teams up with fellow dancers Ginko, Maria, Nene and Dana. Because all desolate Japanese strip clubs have a Book of the Dead in their basements, this volume is discovered and read aloud by Maria, the “black-clad Gothic-Lolita occultist” stripper of the group. This causes the dead to rise and attack the dancers, leading those bitten to join the ranks of the marauding zombies. Writer-director Takao Nakano is a veteran of bloodbath spoofs, having previously helmed Sexual Parasite: Killer Pussy and Sumo Vixens, and – adapting Big Tits Zombie from a popular manga — he brings just the right tone of ludicrous, campy fun to the proceedings. Sola Aoi is one of Japan’s most popular adult video stars, and a mere glimpse of her makes it easy to see why. As the film’s press release exclaims, “Our new movie is about pretty girls with big tits and zombies and it’s in 3D! It will absolutely be the best movie you have ever seen! Are you ready?” Well? Are you?!?

 -- Travis Crawford