Episode 154: Tokyo Zombie and Burial Ground

The Undead Symphony

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How to unpick this one? Toyko Zombie first. 2005 Japanese and based on a Manga of the same name that is classed as one of the best.
It certainly hit a lot of the zombie movie themes. We have the reluctant hero, the cause, it happening in the background, societal collapse, and then the rich controlling the poor, before marauders take it for themselves.

But I found it quite slow, a little dull in places. Maybe, like Zom100 Bucket List of the Dead, the manga/anime is better and it just didn’t translate as well as it should.

The school boy/girl perversion at the start with the school teachers, and old man was limited to then, if there was any depravity I would bet it would have been later, after the collapse of the rule of law.

A few too many random characters, the guy from TV becoming the prince, the bald guy who stole the van wanting Calpis and becoming the marauder leader.
The oddest thing was seeing Tadanobu Asano from the Thor movies, Mongol, Shogun and Mortal Kombat in a stupid role.
And Burial Ground, 1981 Italian by Andrea Bianchi. In a nutshell a bunch of Italian couples descend on a remote rundown villa for 70s style soft core sex whilst perved over by creepy supposed teen Peter Bark's Michael. He is a truly weird and creepy character as he is playing a young teen but he is clearly in his late 20s or early 30s and looks older. Think the Martin Short movie Clifford but a really, really creepy version
Everyone is an idiot. They stand transfixed as full body suited rotting zombies slowly close in, then only react when they are within spitting distance.
It will annoy you. Janet screamed the whole time. The boys couldn't fight for shit. It has such little plot that they had to tack this final explanation blurb on the end.
If you watched Zombi 2 (Zombie Flesheaters) or Hell of the Living Dead (Zombie Creeping Flesh), or any of the other European movies from the same time and think you will give it a go, then sure, but it is the weakest by far.
4.5/10 for both from me, and will talk about them in a discussion episode with Michael soon