Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on July 23, 2003, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
It’s been said that one reason U.S. audiences tend to look upon foreign films as superior to American product is that generally, only the best, export- and import-worthy movies from overseas tend to be shown and seen Stateside. There’s plenty of less-visible mediocrity from Europe and Asia, this line of thinking goes, that levels the playing field. And while it’s true that Japan has provided some of the best horror and fantasy from any country in the last few years, not everything it has issued has been Ringu or Gamera 3 or Pulse. Some of it is on the level of Stacy, which plays like nothing more or less than a Japanese Troma movie (which is fitting, considering that production entity Gaga Entertainment had a hand in Troma fare like The Toxic Avenger Part II).
It’s both Stacy’s potential advantage and ultimate disappointment that it has more on its mind than simple exploitation. Director Naoyuki Tomomatsu, working from a novel by Kenji Otsuki, doesn’t intend to simply dwell on the spectacle of teenaged Japanese girls in sailor uniforms becoming the bloodthirsty living dead; he aims to make statements about the big themes like death and loss and love. The gap between his ambitions and his execution, though, is a wide one indeed.
“Stacys,” in this storyline, are schoolgirls who have become afflicted with a virus that first causes them to experience overwhelming “Near Death Happiness” and then to become rapacious zombies who can only be stopped through that old standby, total bodily dismemberment. “Repeat kill squads” have been established to deal with the Stacys whose families or boyfriends can’t bring themselves to dispatch them. Early in the movie, a puppeteer is approached by young Eiko (Natsuki Kato), who’s in the throes of N.D.H. and wants him to kill her when she becomes a Stacy, and who is so annoyingly chirpy and giggly that one is tempted to ask, “Why wait?” A subplot involves a scientist working with imprisoned Stacys in an attempt to find a cure, and another subplot focuses on an illegal repeat-kill group comprised of young women who idolize Drew Barrymore. Part of the problem with the movie is that it’s all subplots, without one clear narrative line established or explored.
The would-be serious themes sit uneasily alongside in-your-face in-jokery, with the official repeat kill army named after George Romero and a commercially sold Stacy-killing chainsaw apparently deriving its moniker from another famous horror icon, though on closer inspection it proves to be called the “Blues Campbell’s Right Hand 2.” There’s even a completely gratuitous cameo by Fango’s Japanese correspondent Norman England. Some of the humor is fun in an obvious sort of way, and gore fans will groove on the many instances of way-over-the-top mayhem. But those seeking a truly successful, rambunctious slice of Japanese zombie horror/comedy are advised to wait for Wild Zero, coming to DVD later this year.
Shot on video and filmlooked, this was clearly a quick-and-dirty production, so it’s not surprising few supplemental materials were available for Synapse Films’ DVD release. The company has done about as much with the disc as can be expected, showcasing the movie with a bright, clean 1.78:1 transfer with good colors and pretty solid blacks, given its digital origins. The sound is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo with no faults or real highlights, and the film is accompanied by easy-to-read, removable subtitles. The only extra is an unusually good set of liner notes by TokyoScope author Patrick Macias, who explains how Stacy fits into Japanese culture and Tomomatsu’s personal history. Be sure to read them, because you’ll certainly look at the Eiko-puppeteer storyline in a different and more disturbing way if you do.
