If
a group of bikini-clad women are attacked by marauding zombies, you are apt to
see a lot of bikini-clad zombies before long.
That inescapable logic is pretty much the guiding principle for Joey Boy’s
Dead Bite (trailer here), which screens
with authority during the 2012 New York Asian Film Festival.
Joey
Boy is a Thai rapper, who convinced his group, Gankor Club, to play themselves
in his scrappily independent zombie-mermaid religious cult movie, probably with
the help of their co-stars’ wardrobe. Due
to the framing device, we know Gankor Club’s latest gig went profoundly
wrong. Basically, it was supposed to be
the old three hour cruise, shooting promotional videos while partying with some
gorgeous women. Unfortunately, they chose
the wrong isle: Mermaid Island.
The
first clue would be the marine zombies shambling out of the waves. Trying to take refuge inland, they run smack
into the Forest Goddess, who rules her Mermaid sect through fear and sexual
tension. Of course, Joey Boy and his mates
had no idea what they were stumbling into.
Yet, for some reason inexplicably connected to WWII, Japanese tourist
Miyuki intentionally came to Mermaid Island to plunder a mermaid mummy. It might hold the secret of immortality or
something. Meanwhile, the Gankor dudes
are dying like flies and then popping up again as the undead.
Dead Bite is sort of like
a Piranha 3D, except it is 2D and
Thai, both of which make it way cooler. Evidently,
Joey Boy and Gankor Club are the real deal in Thailand and also have major cred
with their American counterparts. As
actors they certainly do not seem very self-conscious, throwing themselves into
their Scooby and Shaggy roles with admirable energy.
As
an auteur, Joey Boy keeps it all quite snappy.
There is also a strange postmodern aspect to his self-referential story
that might be purely accidental. Of
course, Dead Bite would not be
possible without its game supporting cast of attractive women, including Kumiko
Sugaho and Lakana Wattanawongsiri as Miyuki and the Forest Goddess,
respectively, whose contributions are obvious.
Despite all the lunacy and ogling, they more or less maintain their
dignity throughout. Surely, their next
stop will be Cannes with Joe “Uncle Boonmee” Weerasethakul.
