Sperhauk found a copy of Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu on NetFlix and took a chance. It's a Japanese movie from 2006 that is out here under the title The World Sinks Except Japan. It's a terrible title, I thought. The movie is a parody of Japan Sinks!!! or The Sinking Of Japan which is a remake of a 1973 Japanese movie, part of which was used in the Roger Corman disaster pic Tital Wave. The movie we were watching tonight is a low-budget comedy which has the USA sinking first. Then the rest of Asia and Europe sink, followed by Africa and the other two subcontinents. The only thing left is Japan and the mountainous areas near Tibet. Mostly barbarians live there. The Japanese have been reduced to 20% of the population but they still maintain the position of power and all the jobs. The foreigners get all the crappy jobs and live in cardboard boxes. The Japanese are overwhelmed by the foreigners who are stealing and causing all sorts of trouble. Gaijin Attack Teams round up the trouble makers and deport them to Tibet where it's said they are raped by the barbarians. Hope they enjoyed that. The humor is often crude and stupid but mostly it was entertaining. There's lots of harsh commentary about the way nations and people behave, some delightfully sarcastic and right on. There's a lot of jokes, so occasionally something was funny enough to get a chuckle. The acting is nearly non-existant, especially from the foreigners, but that's ok since most of the characters are characitures anyway. I think they were picked because they vaguely looked like famous people or they actually showed up to the set. The special effects are pretty poor but they get the job done. It's not a movie about that anyway. We don't often see Japanese comedies, especially low-brow ones, so that was kind of refreshing, but I don't think I'll run out and pick one up.
Battle Girl: The Living Dead In Tokyo Bay was something Gregg found somewhere. It's a 1991 Japanese zombie action flick called Batoru gâru: Tokyo crisis wars. It's our second feature from Synapse DVD. Their catalog is a selection of mixed quality mostly old and lowbudget films. A meteor falls into Tokyo Bay. First it creates a barrier over a big chunk of the city. That stops the sunlight and the city is always in darkness. There's lots of smoke too. The meteor also gives out a green gas with turns the dead into zombies. It fast actin', those zombies jump right the fuck up. Chomp! There's a power struggle going on in the darkness and the general sends his ninja-skill-havin' daughter a battle suit and instructions to come a runnin'. She fights the zombies and the Human Hunters, the zombie like slaughtering soldiers of the upstart Lt. Fujuka. He wants to use his easily controlled army to take over the world. Lucky for us it only takes one girl in a battle girl suit to kick his ass and save the world. It sounds more entertaining that it was. It seemed to drag after the fast pace of our first movie. The fights aren't any great shakes and there aren't many of them. The effects, both graphic and physical, are poorish, even for 1991. We've seen a few worse zombie movies and I wouldn't rush out to buy it. It's $22.49 on Amazon right now. That's a great incentive to buy something else.
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