A day late and a dollar short: Cinema Saturday: Zeiram

Cinema Saturday Presents: Zeiram

Alternant Titles: Zeiramu, Zeram

Run Time: 1 hr and 32 min
Year: 1991

Rating: not rated

Movie grade: B+

Principal cast:

Director/Writer…. Keita Amemiya

Yûko Moriyama/Edie Mirman(dub)…. Iria

Kunihiro Ida/ Steve Bulen (dub) ….Teppei

Yukijirô Hotaru/ Robert Axelrod (dub) …. Kamiya

Masakazu Handa/ Jeff Winkless (dub)…. Bob

Mizuho Yoshida…. Zeiramu

Synopsis: a bounty hunter team lands on earth in order to catch one of the most dangerous and vicious intergalactic villains, Zeriam. However their plans go awry when a pair of electricians stumble into their base and find themselves trapped in a virtual world with the deadly Zeriam.

Spoiler free review: If you like 90’s sci-fi action films then this film will not disappoint. This movie has it all lasers, bounty hunters, electricians in gaudy uniforms and an indestructible monster bent killing everything in sight. This is the kind of stuff that made the 90’s so great.

Review:
Bring a torch with you because were delving deep into the vaults today to bring one of the best alien movies to come out of Japan into the light. Zeiram is a true gem among the Japanese action sci-fi genera; it has everything anyone could want from a movie of this caliber, indestructible monsters, sexy bounty hunters, snarky computers and a lovable but bumbling comedic duo.   Zeiram follows the story of two electrician’s Teppei and Kamiya, played by Kunihiro Ida and Yukijirô Hotaru respectively, who upon a routine inspection find themselves transported into a virtual zone where the bounty hunter Iria has trapped the dangerous Zeiram. Hi jinks ensue as our two reluctant heroes’ are chased all throughout the virtual zone by the lumbering Zeriam. The plot itself is basically what you would expect but that in no way dampens the enjoyment level of watching this movie.

The performances of the cast are immensely enjoyable; they are just over the top enough to be entertaining but serious enough to be believable which fits the style of Zeiram very nicely. Even the English dub deserves some praise for being a fun and pleasurable experience that not only does a rather decent job of distracting from awkward lip movements but manages to keep a lot dialogue close to its original source material; I would even argue that I prefer Bob’s dubbed voice to his Japanese one.   Whether it’s dubbed or in Japanese Zeiram never takes itself too seriously but doesn’t let its self get too silly either. The pacing of the film is pretty well set with the slowest part of the movie being right after the opening credits as we get acquainted with our cast, which is still peppered with an assortment of amusing antics for the viewer to enjoy. The actors themselves are a lot of fun to watch and for this being most of the casts first film they do a very good job, especially for Yûko Moriyama who truly creates a likable and relatable character in Iria, and a personal favorite of mine from Shusuke Kaneko’s Gamera trilogy Yukijirô Hotaru who steals the show away from his younger co star a little too easily.

Truthfully all the actors are very entertaining in their respective roles but I always like to make a special shout out to the suite actors who are often the unsung heroes of these old monster movies and Mizuho Yoshida certainly knows his stuff as his performance as Zeriam is very believable for a creature with no facial expressions Yoshida manages to convey a lot of personality and menace through simple body gestures and little help from some fantastic visual and audio effects. It does help that the visuals of Zeriam are a real pleasure to look at and show an almost zealous amount of detail to the craft.

All of Zeriam’s forms and Iria’s weapons are unique and fantastic from Zeriam’s secondary Oni head to Iria’s crazy laser bazooka. Even Bob her computer partner has a fun a unique avatar that lets it expresses itself. I really can’t praise the visuals enough as very few lower budget Japanese movies look this good. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the amazing score the film has; from the incredible synthesizer opening to the haunting Gregorian like chant that serves as Zeriam’s personal theme all of it being an incredible auditory treat.    Zeriam is one of those movies that seem to embody everything that was great about the late 80’s and early 90’s it’s that weird movie you stayed up really late on a Saturday night to watch on some late night marathon and you never forget. Any fan of cult cinema should absolutely give Zeriam a try.

Fast facts:

. Zeriam managed to produce an anime OVA and movie sequel

. Actor is also well known for his character in the Gamera trilogy

. Director also directed two season of Super Sentai entitled Zyuranger and Jetman

. during one night of shooting oil was used to help thicken the fog on set but since they had been shooting in a residential area some of the oil clung to drying cloths of several residents.

*Quotes:

Opening Line: “Keep the change maybe you can buy yourself a car” -Kamiya

Ending line: "Big Smile!" -Bob

Kamiya: “It’s Sunday and I don’t feel like going to work and this gorgeous babe walks by, I notice she drops something so I went after her like a gentlemen.”

Teppei: “What she do? Scream?”

Bob: *Rambles on about the mission*

Iria: Bob will you please shut up! If you don’t, I will be forced to infect you with a virus.

Bob: let’s not get carried away; after all were all friends’ right?

Kamiya: looks like a movie set; these filmmakers are always stealing from us.

Teppei: “(it’s) some kind of alien. when I asked for directions it tried to shoot me.”

Score: take a listen to a small clip of the awesome opening theme.

Mini Commentary:

. GAHH! This movie just started and it’s already insisting that I never sleep again. – (:59)

. Massive carnage, head impalement's and creepy monster this movie is going to be great!- (1:00)

. I’m not usually a big fashion critic, but what in the seven galaxies are they wearing? -(3:15) (17:20)

. that’s a clever segway and a wicked cool intro theme.-(13:36)

. wow, space people really are advanced, she’s already got the new PlayStation VR system.- (32.52)

. And I thought the last one was ugly. What did Zeiram eat that had fetus faces all over it? That’s seriously messed up and potentially disturbing that a multi baby faced aliens are running around the cosmos.- (40:00)

. Rummaging through a lady’s purse? Not cool man, she might be really sensitive about you seeing what types of grenades she uses.- (42.11)

. I’m guessing this is how the Japanese salary man feels when dealing with their difficult boss- (56.40)

. And Now You Know: In Japanese superstition if you sneeze for no reason it means someone not near you is talking about . You and if you sneeze twice they are talking poorly about you. For the sake of the joke most artists correlate just one sneeze with both good and bad gossip.- (58:50)

.Painfully Obvious Product Placement for: kirin beer- (1:04:30)

.That got him… oh, Well, not quite got him.- (1:13:49)

.There we go now he’s out for the coun…. What’s it take to kill this thing!- (1:21:00)

.Wait, Are those monster boobs? Japanese are weird.- (1:23:00)

.Boom! Head shot! About time!- (1:29:20)