Director: James Lee, Shemaine Othman, Gavin Yap
Year: 2017
Country: Malaysia
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie; Horror/Comedy
Plot:
With a deadly virus affecting the country, several random families and survivors are soon confronted by a slew of ravenous zombies running through the city and must try to band themselves together to individually get through the ordeal and survive against the disease affecting the city.
Review:
Overall, this was a fairly strong and enjoyable genre effort. Among the better aspects to be had here is the immensely likable and engaging starting point where this becomes a fun convergence of stories that are being told. The first storyline, with the put-upon workers at the PR company trying to please their demanding boss only to find his antics based upon him catching the disease and going crazy, is a great way to get this going with the goofy characters, the bizarre setting, and gradual release of the virus outbursts that provide this with the kind of setup to get an idea about the kind of content within here. This carries over nicely into the second story, with the guy bringing his girlfriend home to meet his family only to get the infected zombies appearing at the house and running rampant, resulting in a generally exciting time here trying to make sense of the unfolding chaos around them. The final story, with the family trying to make sense of their sick housemate in the midst of the outbreak and determining what’s going on, takes the action into a more comedic bent, trying various tactics to determine what’s happening or if she’s really infected, is a great way to change things up and carry on the storyline quite well.
The result of all of this is a film that not only mixes up the various characters in this scenario but also the absolutely goofy and silly zombie action here that also includes plenty of great comedy. The businessmen storyline sets this off with the inclusion of the first notices of the outbreak, forcing them to realize what the symptoms are, what they’re going to do with their boss when he starts to display the same issues, and giving this some laughs when the whole thing starts to come true. The second story is the most overt action here, with the single-location setting and generally wild concept about the family trying to come to terms with the different members getting bitten and succumbing to the disease. This has plenty of great comedic chops as well as the various action around the building as the different sidestories are utilized to help tie everything together with some nice gore and the best zombie make-up featured here. The finale is a bit lighter in terms of action, but goes more for laughs with the family dynamics of having multiple wives fighting each other trying to keep the infected wife from spreading to the others, adding some more fun with the family getting infected, but this is more on the funny side with what’s going on here.
While this all works incredibly well, there are a few minor drawbacks on display that bring this down. The first story is a bit too short, featuring the quickest introduction to the virus and working its way through the contamination to the point that it feels incredibly flimsy why anyone would ignore what’s going on when the boss is starting to get sick. Even if the outcome of the situation is unknown, with the virus just starting to make its way through the country and not everyone would be aware of what exactly is happening, openly displaying the signs he does is a bit weird due to the speed with which it has to work through the whole thing. The second story is pretty similar in that the family is so openly flouting common sense and general observation skills that it’s hard to feel sorry for them when so much is brought on by their stupidity to let it all go through. They’re all the worse when the virus is known to the public by this point, so everything makes even less sense as to why they would behave in this manner. The final story is based more on comedy to the point that it does feel like a slog waiting for the infected to turn, as we’re waiting around with this soap opera dynamic about the different wives bickering about what’s going on, which isn’t bad, but all of which come together to bring this down.
Overview: ****/5
A generally effective and likable zombie effort, there are a lot of likable elements here within these stories to counteract a few flaws that emerge to hold it down. Those with an appreciation for this style of genre fare, who are huge fans of the approach taken here, or who are curious about it will want to give it a chance, while most others out there should heed caution.
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