After the insanity that was GTO: Tokyo Fish Attack, I thought I'd see what other great movies I could find from the far East that would be good to add to this list...and One Cut Of The Dead is absolutely perfect! Check out the trailer for this bit of fun.
Witness how a tiny, independent film with a budget of just $27,000 was able to gross over $30 MILLION domestically despite opening on just 2 screens and with an advertising budget of $0! Winning many awards at over 30 festivals including Fantastic Fest, Fantaspoa Film Festival, Bifan Fantastic Festival, Vevey International Film Festival, Fantasia Film Festival, Motel X Lisbon, Singapore Film Festival, San Sebastian Horror Film Festival, Udine Far East Film Festival, Morbido Film Festival as well as getting 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie is loved by critics and fans everywhere!
ONE CUT OF THE DEAD (original title Kamera wo tomeruna! which translates as "Don't Stop Shooting!") opens in a run-down, abandoned warehouse where we see that a film crew with rather bad actors are attempting to make a zombie film… But as you would expect these people are not filming in any ordinary warehouse, oh no...many say that the warehouse is a site where military experiments had taken place during World War II...
While they are filming, suddenly out of nowhere, real zombies arrive and start to terrorize the cast and crew making a boring film shoot into a fight for survival!
Yes, I know, this does indeed sound like the plot of some really bad clichéd zombie film, but I can assure you that One Cut of the Dead is a totally different beast! Starting off with a non-stop one-take 3
7-minute shot, the film then completely switches direction and turns the zombie genre movie completely and utterly upside down into a rather quite charming, audience-friendly comedy (I will not say any more than that about it, however, because I do not want to ruin too much, the less said the better, truly) that then has charm and is something totally different and something you probably didn't expect. Certainly something different and refreshing. Young director Shinichiro Ueda and his cast of non-professionals have created something highly entertaining which has become a massive hit not just in Japan, but all across the world, with 25 award wins and 21 award nominations. If you want to pick up a zombie movie that is a little different then this is certainly one to check out, I certainly agree with so many that say that this has to be one of the funniest Zom-Coms since Shaun of the Dead!
I'm actually reviewing the 2 Disc Edition, which was a limited run and I do believe is now out of stock (although, as always you can try various auction sites and maybe grab a copy). The first disc has the movie and trailer, where the bonus disc has some great extras including the making of, a short film called "Take 8" (quite entertaining), outtakes, a Go-Pro version of One-Cut, and an interview with Ueda. The Blu-Ray case also has a limited Slipcase.
If you are interested there are a further 2 spinoffs to this, one being a TV Special in Hollywood and the other made remotely during the Pandemic. One Cut of the Dead is an absolute blast. I've not been comically entertained so much in ages, and hope to see more from this team in the future. One Cut of the Dead is rated 18. The Limited Edition is out of stock from stores, but the standard edition can be bought from Third Window Films HERE.
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