Zonbi asu
Director: Noboru Iguchi
Writer: Noboru Iguchi, Ao Murata, Jun Tsugita
Cast: Asami, Mayu Sugano, Asana Mamuro, Yûki, Kentaro Kishi, Kentarô Shimazu
Part of: /slash Filmfestival

Plot:
A group of young people drive into the woods for a weekend trip, but when one of the girls announces that she only came on the trip to catch a fish carrying a tapeworm that will make her thin, things quickly unravel. And then to top it all off, a horde of shit-covered zombies show up and start hunting them.

I was pretty certain before I saw the film that I probably wouldn’t like it a whole lot. I’m just really not into scatological humor and it was clear right from the title that the movie relies heavily on fecal jokes. But even with those expectations I hoped for some entertainement, but found the film pretty shitty (no pun intended).

I just don’t get the (apparently for so many people inherent) funny of farts and shits and other bodily functions. Yeah, you can have fun with those things, as they achieve for example with the sheer random crazyness of the sisterly backstory. But the fun there doesn’t come from the fact that the girl farted, but that it is such a social transgression to fart that she has to kill herself afterwards. The fart itself is just a fart, not fun.

What probably disturbed me more than the (literal) shit in this film though, was the blatant objectification of the women in it. I mean, the other two Iguchi movies I saw already where not objectifcation-free, either, but it never got as much out of hand as in this one. I mean, how often can you pan over a girl’s ass (or have it grabbed) in one film? Maybe he was trying for a record…

I’m not sure actually if the film was that much worse in that regard than the other films by him, or if I was just more sensitive to it this time, but it just really pissed me off.

There was just nothing in this film I could hold on to and that would tide me over during all the shit jokes. And without that the film didn’t work at all.

Summarising: even with low expectations that film was disappointing.