A shoestring budgeted zombie flick is being shot in a desolate building specifically picked out by the film's tyrannical director. Though the Z-grade filmmaker's harsh demand for perfection and realism does a number on the two newbie actors and four jaded crew members, true terror begins to emerge from the woods when zombies home in on the pitiful production. And as it is famously touted it the actual film's title, the violent proceedings are filmed entirely in one go. ONE CUT OF THE DEAD is a phenomenal delight and helped revive two of my formerly favorite sub-genres back from the dead. I have to be deadly serious when I say that it is absolutely essential that you go into the movie completely blind. Just stop reading this review now if you are at all immediately interested. I like many eager moviegoers have had earmuffs on for more than a year to finally see it after all of the glorious praise and hype it got as a humongous sleeper hit in Japan and it is totally worth the wait. But for those still needing a little nudge, all I will say is that the first half is clearly a well-constructed puzzle made of pathetically engineered parts. The empty scenes of stalling, gaudy auto-white balancing, and fumbling camerawork just to name a few? All intentional. What happens in the film's back half is a total surprise that will knock you off your feet before then locking you into a walloping fun ride. Your mileage may vary however as the film's high concept, ultra cheap budget nature will be a tough pill to swallow for some but trust me when I say that there's a lot of sugar later on to make the medicine go down. Additionally, anybody who has knowledge of the Japanese entertainment industry or have partaken on Japanese schlock genre pics will positively marvel at the film's satirical edges. I was left beaming after seeing ONE CUT OF THE DEAD and was a sliver away from doing something I have never done in my entire life: I wanted to catch the next screening to watch it again. A definitively stupendous horror-comedy and one of (if not the) best films of the year.
FINAL REVIEW: 5 / 5
