ZOMBIE 108 (2012) review

Zombie 108 (2012) d. Chein, Joe (Taiwan)

The first midnight offering of BIFFF 2012 bears the distinction of being Taiwan’s vanguard (and at this point) only full-scale zombie feature. Unfortunately, other than that, there isn’t a whole lot of distinction to be had, since it’s pretty much just another high-energy undead flick pitting cops and gangsters against the shambling hordes. The characters range from silly (a bon mot-tossing American free runner) to thoroughly unpleasant (a nauseating nutjob holding half a dozen women – and another handful of zombies – captive in his basement). The makeups (especially on our aforementioned sadist, who looks like nothing more than someone wearing a latex mask, complete with visible seams) and zombie characters are another mixed bag, evoking as much eyeball-rolling as thrilled gasps. Bottom line, with the exception of the main druglord’s arm’s balloon/squid prosthetics, there’s nothing here you haven’t seen before and better.

Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF) - Day #1 (Friday, 4/6)

My first day at the festival, hereafter to be referred as BIFFF, was a rewarding and enjoyable one. The night before, when Gert was off at the opening night ceremonies, I spent my first real solo time in the city, managing to navigate my way around the myriad of twisting, turning, inner-GPS defying streets.

Seriously, you know how when you’re out in the forest and you decide to go off-trail for a while and lose your way, but then stumble upon a field of psychedelic mushrooms, chow down on them, trip out for the rest of the day and after waking up in the middle of the night in a pile of your own sick, try to navigate your way back to the car in the dark but just keep passing what looks like the same pile of rocks over and over again? I mean, we’ve all been there, right? Right?