[KFCC] Zeiram Review

Story: Teppei (Kunihiro Ida) and Kamiya (Yukijiro Hotaru) are two electricians who are pissed off that they have to work on a Sunday. Zeiram (MIzuho Yoshida) is a genetically engineered killing machine who's on his way to Earth. Luckily for us, Iria (Yuko Moriyama) and Bob (voiced by Masakuza Yoshida), an intergalactic bounty hunter and her computer sidekick, are on the case; they've set up a 'Zone' - an alternate dimension where they can fight Zeiram, without causing too much destruction. Unluckily for Teppei and Kamiya, they are sent to investigate the illegal power supply that Iria and Bob have commandeered and end up getting sucked into the Zone. Things see to be going well until Iria is sucked out of the Zone, leaving our hapless electricians trapped and with no alternative but to fight Zeiram, until help arrives. As Bob says; "Things are getting problematic"...

Review: If you come to 'ZEIRAM' safe in the knowledge that the bulk of Keita Ameyima's other work has been on 'KAMEN RIDER' films, then you probably have an idea of what to expect. Fun. In this respect, 'ZEIRAM' doesn't let you down. Sure, it is a pretty schlocky affair but its good, honest, sense of fun, makes it hard for me to say anything nasty about it.

It certainly helps to have a good set up, and it does; this spin on a couple of sci-fi staples makes for a good foundation. Having bounty hunters pursue their target across space to earth would have been too simple, however, the introduction of the 'Zone' adds that little extra ingredient; I usually baulk at the use of such devices but, here, it works. When you add in some good, if not stereotypical, characters, that helps too. The unrelenting Zeiram (who is meant to have echoes of the Edo period in her design, but ends up looking more like a mutant space pirate), plods menacingly through the film. Making her faceless, save for the small, rather evil, painted white face-on a stork that protrudes from her hat every now and again, was a nice touch. Bob, the computer, is as dry as you'd expect, but it's the humans (I think we can class Iria as human) who really make the film.

In her debut role, Yuko Moriyama, has the right mixture of toughness and bounty hunter chic, whilst Kunihiro Ida and Yukijiro Hotaru, after I had warmed to them, provided a good mixture of bumbling comedy relief and the ability to pull some heroics out of the bag, when required. The film moves at a pretty swift pace and crams in plenty of confrontations between our three heroes, Zeiram and her fleshy, rubber-suited minions; while Ida and Hotaru throw bikes and try to attack them with a mechanical digger, Moriyama has a varied arsenal of guns and explosives at her disposal. She (or, more likely, her stunt-double) is also quite tasty in the realm of unarmed combat: you shouldn't expect to be blown away be slickly choreographed and executed martial arts sequences, but you should find yourself entertained.

For me, the highlight of the film is probably its extensive use of good, old fashioned visual effects and the design of its latex-rubber inhabitants. As the 1990's wore on, uninspiring CGI effects would, more often than not, replace the ingenuity and creativity of such creations. If you're a fan of this style, then 'ZEIRAM' should make for pleasant viewing, there's even some reasonable quality stop-motion thrown in for good measure. One thing I must say, is that a lot of Bob, the computer and Iria's kit, seems to be made from cheap digital drum machines that I used to use. Kinda made me chuckle...

Overall, I don't think 'ZEIRAM' will ever make it into my list of favourite films but, its sense of fun, imagination and style mean that, I will probably find myself revisiting it at some point in the future. File under 'Guilty Pleasures'.