Moral-Flexibility.Net

“Stacey” (2001) Directed by Naoyuki Tomomatsu.
Starring: Norman England, Tomoka Hayashi, Yukijiro Hotaru, Natsuki Kato, Masayoshi Nogami and Toshinori Omi.
(MF Title: “Oops, I killed her again…”)
Zombie Film Rating:

Overview: At the beginning of the 21st century girls aged between 15 and 17 begin to die around the world. Shortly after their death they rise as zombies and attack the living. Called “Stacies” the world struggles to deal with the consequences of having a good portion of the population either turning into zombies, or being eaten by them.

The movie follows Shibukawa a man who falls in love with Eiko who knows her own transformation is imminent and has selected him to “Repeat Kill” her, and Arita who has joined the “Romero Repeat Kill” force (after the death of his sister) and has been posted to the Riruka Womens Art School where experiments are being conducted on the “Stacies” to try and learn more about them. As it turns out Aritas girlfriend Momo is one of the Stacies being held at the school, and when the zombies inevitably escape he tries to save her.

Summary: The movie starts off fairly quietly, with a few young kids playing “Sleeping beauty” with a schoolgirl in a field, naturally this turns horribly wrong and as the kids mother arrives the schoolgirl stands up and eats the children.

We’re then treated to a voiceover that explains that at the beginning of of the 21st century girls aged between 15 and 17 began to die, almost immediately after their death they would become zombies and attack the living. This phenomenon and the resulting civil disorder had resulted in the loss of approximately half the worlds population. Special “Repeat Kill” instructions are supplied to families to assist with the disposal of their girl-folk, and the state organized “Romero Repeat Kill” troops assist with public maintenance and disposal of the “stacies” when they appear.

Shibukawa is an average puppeteer trying to make a living in a zombie filled world gone mad, until one day he meets Eiko, a schoolgirl who is experiencing the “Near death happiness” that immediately preceeds zombification. She makes him promise to kill her when the time comes, and in exchange spends her remaining time with the lonely puppeteer. Of course as time passes Shibukawa falls in love with Eiko and becomes accutely aware that their time together is rather limited, reminded fairly regularly by Eiko between her irritating giggling fits.

Arita is a young man who joined the “Romero Repeat Kill” Squad after his sisters death at the RRKs hands, and has been posted to the Riruka Womens Art School. The entire female population of the school has been zombified, and the school is now being used as a research center where a cure or answer is being sought (of course the school is garrisoned by 5 RRK staff…more than adequate, right?).

Aritas girlfriend Momo was a student at the school, and Arita spends a good portion of his time cleaning up zombie schoolgirl guts, and wondering where Momo is.

We’re also introduced to an RRK squad who’s members are having some issues dealing with the day to day execution of schoolgirls. The more emotional member of this squad routinely breaks down and reminds the world that he killed his rebelious teenage daughter, while another keeps asking random people if they remember a string of schoolgirl murders ten years before.

Just to keep things entertaining we’re then shown the lair of the “Drew Illegal Repeat Kill” troop, three 15-16 year old girls who offer private repeat kill services in an effort to accumulate 1,000,000 Yen to pay for their Idol to repeat kill them (as it turns out it’s illegal for a third party to repeat kill a Stacey, only immediate family and the RRK are authorized to do this - So be carefull killing a zombie, it may be against the law!).

In a “Day of the Dead” moment, one of the soldiers releases the Stacies at the school, and the small garrison is almost immediately overrun. We discover in the end that the Stacies are killing the living out of love, and the closing voiceover tells us that soon the Stacies stopped eating people, and men were able to love the Stacies, resulting in an evolution of the species.

Critique: Say what you will, I enjoyed this movie. It’s largely awful, but it seems so lighthearted its hard not to enjoy watching it. There are homages a plenty, and I particularly enjoyed the commercial for the “Blues Campbell right hand” (an Army of Darkness style one handed chainsaw for dismembering Stacies). The movie doesn’t concern itself with alot of logic, and unfortunately the “evolution” ending felt tacked on, like they’d run out of ideas at this point.

Overall an entertaining flick, definately one I’ll be watching again in the future.