Wild Zero (1999)

Are you ready for something that is absolutely bonkers, yet at the same time a special kind of awesome? Something that, even though it absolutely makes no sense whatsoever, is so much fun that you will keep on watching until the very end?

Then 'Wild Zero' is the flick for you.

This Japanese/Thai coproduction centres around Ace, a goofy rock 'n' rollfan, complete with leather jacket and gelled up hair, who is probably the biggest fan of the band Guitar Wolf there is. By the way, this band is real and eponymously named after it's guitarist. The other two members are Bass Wolf and Drum Wolf, so there. They get into a spat with a bizarre nightclub owner whose hair changes colour, who wears clothes that seem to be baby's underwear (or at least fetish), and if that's not enough, a crashed meteorite has turned the people of the town of Asahi-Cho into zombies.

Oh yeah, and the zombie outbreak has something to do with aliens as well. Think this is enough already?

Ace falls in love with Tobio, who turns out to be something special as well, but that I won't spoil. And then there's a couple of nitwits who get embroiled with a female arms dealer, and all this insanity leads up to the final confrontation between Guitar Wolf and the alien mothership.

Yes, it's quite a lot to take in. I haven't even mentioned the funky transitions from time to time. Shots get connected by explosions, or hearts when people fall in love and the shenanigans are bizarrely entertaining. You also get a couple of songs by Guitar Wolf for free in their entirety and if you listen closely about halfway through the film, there's a song on the soundtrack by The Kids. They might not mean anything to you, but they are a legendary punkrockband from my home country of Belgium and that was a nice surprise to suddenly hear.

I mean, where to start with this one? If you read all that stuff I put down earlier, you'd think this was a hot mess. In a way, it is, but it is so much bloody fun, you can't help but get invested. Not only that, this is a film that grabs you by the balls and doesn't let go, even though nearly nothing of what's happening on screen makes any sense.

You can tell I like this one, can't you? I knew you could.