Bio-Zombie is a horror movie in the great Hong Kong tradition of extremely (and I do
mean extremely) silly horror movies. It is basically a long series of jokes about
brainless youth, videogames, and of course, zombies. There are a few scary moments
but mostly it is jokes and gross-outs (very campy gross-outs).

The basic plot of the movie seems to have been drawn from George Romero's classic
(well, in some circles at least) film Dawn of the Dead, in which a few people are
trapped in a mall with a bunch of zombies. Dawn of the Dead was a fairly tense movie
with a lot of limbs being ripped off and flesh being eaten. Bio-Zombie is pretty gross,
but the special effects are low enough in budget that they mostly provoke laughter.
The director and screenwriter seem to realize this, and make no effort to force us to
take any of it too seriously.

Jordan Chan and Sam Lee make a great pair for this film. They're wannabe
tough-guys who run a pirate VCD shop (provoking some topical humor) in a mall.
They are joined by two young women, Jelly, and Rolls (where's Morton?), and a
slightly older wannabe gangster, Brother Keung, and his wife. The first half of the
movie is largely setup and jokes. The second half gets a bit tenser but is still largely
focused on the humor. Jordan Chan and Sam Lee play the roles pretty much as
you've seen them do in previous films (time to branch out) but are highly entertaining
nonetheless.

Unlike many earlier Hong Kong films (particularly Hong Kong horror films),
Bio-Zombie is a fairly polished production, despite its obvious low budget. In fact, it is
reminiscent of the classic B horror movie Evil Dead 2, which sets a standard for good
films on low budgets. There are also some strange moments of artsy direction thrown
in for no apparent reason, though they're fairly amusing when they happen.

Hong Kong movies (like zombies) will not die, no matter how hard the industry is
punished. Bio-Zombie is a sign that the spirit of Hong Kong films lives on. Silly,
frenetic, goofy, and gross. How could it be better?