AKA: Oneechambara
Director: Yohei Fukuda (Japan 2008)
Starring: Eri Otoguro, Manami Hashimoto, Taro Suwa

Review By: David Austin
Rating: 1 1/2 out of 4 Stars (Below Average)

CHANBARA BEAUTY IS PLAYING AT THE NYAFF ON FRIDAY, JUNE 20 AT 10:45 PM, AND ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25 AT 4:00 PM, AT THE IFC CENTER

Generally, I’m inclined to be pretty forgiving of any movie that features zombies, and girls in bikinis, and girls in bikinis with swords fighting zombies, but Chanbara Beauty just didn’t grab me. Like most movies based on games, plot, character and script are all lacking a little something. Sadly, the world still awaits the great video game adaptation (Bionic Commando: The Movie, where are you?).

Chanbara Beauty is based on the game “OneChanbara” (or Sister Swordplay, not to be confused with Sister Streetfighter). The movie, like the game, utilizes a similar premise to that of Resident Evil, another video game film that achieved a sort of competent mediocrity. The plotline is pretty simple: our heroine, Aya, the heir of a long line of assassins, along with her sidekicks, fat Katsuji and MILF Reiko, is fighting an evil zombie plague unleashed on the world by the nefarious Dr. Sugita. Complicating things is the fact that Aya’s sister Saki is a homicidal little schoolgirl minx who is on the wrong side of the fence in the human/zombie conflict. Each of our heroes has a reason for seeking vengeance – Reiko’s daughter was zombified, Katsuji’s sister has been kidnapped by Sugita, and Aya is out to elminate her sister.

Chanbara Beauty, as might be expected, is coasting entirely on attitude and style. It doesn’t just have zombies, it has kung fu fighting zombies with pop idol hair that dress like Isaac Hayes at Wattstax and a zombie Go-Go Yubari knockoff complete with giant morningstar death-ball. Not content to have a cute girl as its tough-as-nails lead, the filmmakers dress her in a fur-lined bikini, like a Malibu Barbie version of Red Sonja.

For all that, Chanbara Beauty does not bring much new to the table. We’ve all seen the badass Japanese schoolgirl before. We’ve seen super-tough zombies with martial arts skills (heck, Billy Chong brought that action back in 1982 with Kung Fu Zombie). I’m fine with a rehash as long as it surprises me every now and then, but if you’re going to be predictable, then some element of the film needs to be better than average, be it acting, special effects or set design.

Possibly seeking that unique edge, director Fukuda employs a video game style for the fight scenes. Aya slashes her way through hordes of zombies with a set of moves cribbed from video games and The Matrix. Later, she is able to dart about in a highly stylized way and use mystical powers to destroy whole groups of enemies. It is actually quite neat at first, but gets tiresome after the first couple of battle scenes. Frankly, this sort of thing done to much better effect in Casshern (review here).

The cast is also a mixed bag. Eri Otoguro is cute enough as Aya, but her fighting moves are unconvincing and I don’t buy her as a butt-kicking zombie-fighter. You can see it in her face - even on the film’s poster, the body and swords say, “I’m going to f— you up and make you like it” but the face says, “What am I doing here?” Meiko Kaji was just a wisp of a girl but sold herself convincingly as a tough customer. Same goes for Joey Wong and Brigitte Lin. Otoguro’s performance is more Denise Richards in The World is not Enough. To be fair, she is saddled with a lame origin, a role as a mute, and an utter lack of personality.

Manami Hashimoto is actually much more appealing as the leather-clad, double-barreled sawed-off shotgun wielding Reiko, and I’m not just saying that because she’s better looking and brings the cleavage in a big way (well, perhaps I am). Reiko actually manages a little pathos and has more of a character arc, but unfortunately is consistently overshadowed by Aya and the bumbling Katsuji. Taro Suwa, one of my favorite Japanese character actors (you may recognize him as the dad in Uzumaki, and a cop, dad or salaryman in numerous other films) is quite fun as Dr. Sugita, camping it up as a cartoonish, cackling madman, but his scenes are limited.

All that said, Chanbara Beauty is amusing enough to justify its short running time, especially as a midnight movie. I can’t say it doesn’t deliver on its premise. The gore flows thick and fast, with wacky fight scenes and gruesome zombie killings. The film is also long on shots of Aya’s tush and Reiko’s “double-barrels,” and even takes a time-out to throw in some utterly gratuitous nudity. Fans of Uwe Boll’s awful but occasionally amusing video game adaptations will find a kindred spirit in director Fukuda.

Recommended? You could do worse – it’s short and packed with sexy girls fighting evil.

If you like this, you might like: Casshern, Resident Evil, Plaga Zombie, Evil (To Kako), Yo Yo Girl Cop