Stacy

On a purely gut level, "Stacy" sounds like a great movie. An extremely low budget film that looks like director Naoyuki Tomomatsu shot on video, the movie consists of a bunch of young Japanese schoolgirls turned into ravenous zombies running around tearing people to shreds. That one line alone ought to inspire the avid horror fan to run, not walk, to the nearest DVD dispersal point for a copy. Another selling point for the film, in my eyes, is the fact that Synapse films performed the transfer to DVD. This company is a true hero for the horror fan, releasing obscure film after obscure film from around the world for our viewing pleasure. I recently read an article concerning the DVD release of "The Deadly Spawn" that claimed Synapse spent more money on the restoration than the filmmakers did on the entire movie! And we're not talking pocket change, either. That's what I call dedication. A final reason to pick up this film, if the above two reasons don't do the trick, is the superiority of this shot on video production compared to the dreck spooned out over here by companies like Sub Rosa. It is obvious Tomomatsu has enough talent to move on to film, something I can't say for the directors of "Shatter Dead" and "Peter Rottentail."Something sinister on a global scale is occurring in the film "Stacy." Some malady--whether biological, chemical, or psychological no one knows as of yet--is causing pre-teen girls everywhere to perish suddenly. As bad as that sounds, what happens afterwards is a real nightmare: the girls emerge from their tombs as mindless flesheating zombies willing to prey on family members, friends, and total strangers. At some point, a talking head attached the moniker "Stacy" to these hapless victims, a name that stuck and now applies to zombies in every country. The implications of such a catastrophe should be very clear: without these girls growing up to bear children, the human population will move rapidly towards extinction in the coming years. In the meantime, the authorities take all manner of precautions to stem the tide of Stacy related disasters. Governments urge parents to look for the warning signs, including bouts of giggling immediately preceding demise called NDH (Near Death Happiness), and prepare to do the unthinkable. Armed with "Bruce Campbell" chainsaws purchased through companies advertising on television along with a ready supply of government provided trash bags, mother and father must be willing to dispose of their out of control daughters before the child hurts anyone else. Just in case a few milquetoasts can't fire up the old chainsaw when the moment arrives, Romero Repeat Kill soldiers move in too clean up the mess.None of the above takes center stage in "Stacy," however. We do get to see a few of the messier scenes involving Romero troops and a rampaging Stacy, and we do see a few of the advertisements on television for the Campbell chainsaws (you can wear them on one hand!), but other issues move to the forefront. Specifically, the movie follows the relationship between a puppet designer and a soon to be Stacy. Director Tomomatsu spends a huge amount of time following this budding relationship between an older man and a younger girl. They go out for walks in a garden, engage in long, meaningful talks, and the puppeteer even stages a show for his new girlfriend. It's disconcerting in the extreme for American horror film fans to watch what is essentially a romance movie taking place in the middle of gory carnage. It's all apparently related to the overarching theme Tomomatsu is trying to get across to his audience, about the social position of young girls in Japan in relation to male domination and expectations. Or something along those lines. Whatever it is, "Stacy" sure is a strange, schizophrenic film. Imagine "The Professional" fused with a George Romero gutmuncher.The horror fan in me wants to reject the social messages of this film--messages I had to read about in the liner notes because I haven't a clue as to how Japanese society works--and focus instead on the extreme gore. And there is a lot of gluey stuff going on, especially during the final scenes when a doctor working on the causes of the Stacy phenomenon loses control of his test subjects. For such a low budget production the gore effects look quite remarkable. Regrettably, the bloody effects work will only take you so far. The rest of the trip consists of the romance angle and cornball antics so inane that will take your breath away. What was up with the girls that formed the underground Romero type group? That they offer to help squeamish parents kill their Stacies is all fine and dandy, since a law requires parents to dispatch their own troublesome female offspring leaves the faint of heart in a quandary, but to name their group after Drew Barrymore? What's next, the Christina Aguilera Attack Squad? The Britney Spears Revolutionary Army? Egad! Too, that constant NDH giggling is likely to work your last nerve to a frazzle long before the movie grinds to a halt.I can't find it in myself to take "Stacy" out behind the woodshed because of its problems, however. The movie is such an inventive twist on an old horror idea that I generally enjoyed it despite the often impenetrable plot. As for the DVD itself, the picture quality looks fantastic for a shot on video project. Synapse throws in a trailer as an extra, but nothing else. I heard Tomomatsu is in Japan making another zombie film as I write, so perhaps we can expect another weird take on the zombie theme in the future. Give "Stacy" a watch if you like a movie that mystifies as much as it churns the stomach.

"Stacy" is a movie that few people who watch it seem to really "get," and I can hardly hold that against them. It does hold a very interesting concept underneath its mindless gore and bizarre characters.A strange phenomenon is causing girls age 15-17 all over the world to die and come back as flesh eating zombies. Before they die, they are overcome by something called NDH (Near Death Happiness) which causes them to run around acting giddy and lovestruck, and giggling with delight at everything they see. After they die, their friends and family members are asked to chop them up into little pieces before they are brought back to life as something called a "Stacy."I'm not a great fan of Zombie horror. However, I can appreciate this as a new take on the whole thing. The zombie gore is fun, if you're into that sort of thing. But what made this movie so interesting to me was the whole reason why the teen girls became zombies, and that's that part that's easy to miss. Near the end, the mad doctor studying the "Stacies" says, "I finally know what brings you to life. It's love." If it sounds like I ruined the ending for you, I haven't. This seems like a big explanatory scene near the end of a horror film, except that it makes no sense whatsoever. But as you may know (and you probably do, if you looked up this title), Asian horror doesn't usually have an explanation for everything the way American horror does. And Stacy is no exception. There's much more to it than just that.The image of a young woman in a school uniform represents an idealized image of female sexuality that doesn't exist. The disease these girls suffer from is caused by (male) society's obsession with a feminine ideal. When the girls first become infected, they act like mindless bimbos, giggling and professing their love for any man who walks toward them. This goes on for a while, until this cultural stereotype kills them, and they are reborn, transformed from nearly mindless bimbos into literally mindless zombies. As it is stated over and over again in the film, the girls have a natural desire to be loved. As if forced by evolution, the girls move toward the mindless state that will allow them to be loved. In short, this film is a metaphor for idealized images of submissive women, and how dangerous those images can be to girls.Having said all that, this movie is incredibly goofy. I wouldn't blame you if you watched this and failed to see the depth I just described. But that's what I came away with. There are some fun zombie scenes, and the unusual premise makes for some wacky characters. By far my favorite were the three teenage girls who formed an illegal "repeat kill" agency they named after their idol, Drew Barrymore. They contact families who can't bring themselves to chop up their dead daughters, and do it themselves, for a fee. Their goal is to save enough money to pay their favorite star to "repeat kill" them after they die. The girls want to die by the hand of someone they love. When one of them giggles, someone makes a remark to her about "NDH," and she gets very defensive and belligerent. I interpret this, not so much as a fear of dying, but a defiance of what is happening to her. Despite the fact that this comes from a desire to be "loved," she does not want to become what a male dominated society wants her to be. NDH may be a certain "happiness," but she would rather live as a real person with real feelings and ideas. And since she can't, she wishes to be repeat killed, instead of living in a mindless state.I quite liked this film, although I can't give it a very high rating, because sometimes it just gets way too silly. The "I think I'm at my prettiest" speech just makes you go, "huh?" All in all, this is much better than average cheap, gross out special effects zombie movies. If you're one of those zombie purists who hates zombie movies that don't stick to the arbitrary zombie movie rules, stay away. But if you want a low budget movie with something different, I'd recommend it, because horror movies don't get much more different than this.

Director Naoyuki Tomomatsu (Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl) have given us a slice of japanese pop subculture that is one part supersweet girls and giggles, and one part blood-soaked gorefest. Based on the novel by Kenji Otsuki, Stacy is a movie with zombies - but not really what a Western viewer would call a "zombie movie".From the back cover:"In the early 21st century, teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 17 begin dying all over the world. Shortly before they die, the girls succumb to NDH (Near Death Happiness), a "pre-death" state of absolute bliss and joy. Once dead, girls come back as a flesh-eating zombie nicknamed "Stacy". The world is in chaos. Countries suffer from famine, war, and zero-population growth because of this teenage death epidemic. To keep the zombies from returning and eating innocent people, families are urged to kill their daughters before they are allowed to die by this mysterious disease (chopping them up and leaving them in garbage bags for govern-ment-sanctioned pick-up). In a Japanese military base, some undead schoolgirls are held and tested by a scientist who tries to unlock the secrets behind the girls return from the dead. Suddenly, the world turns upside down yet again as a soldier, in a fit of depression, lets the girls free to storm the base and devour anyone in their path. Based on the popular Japanese novel by Kenji Otsuki, Stacy is a bloodbath of extreme gore effects and comedy with elements of Resident Evil and George A. Romer's classic Day of the Dead."To really "get" this movie, a mix of glittery romance and Tom Savini style gore, you rather need something of an understanding of Japanese culture and the habit of portraying young girls in the media (anime, j-pop music videos, manga, even out on the streets a number of girls "act out" a certain character) as an idealised representation of the girls themselves. If you have seen any of the media I have mentioned then you probably already have a good idea of what I'm talking about.Stacy isn't a movie that is easily understood, sadly the "message" that the director is trying to get across (which from reading the liner notes may be best left unkown anyway) gets lost in the poorly tied-together storylines.If you are a gore-fan or zombie-nut, there is a chance you may enjoy this movie for the splatter sequences and the multitude of references and homages to American zombie movies like those of George Romero, or the Evil Dead series. If you are a fan of all things asian and weird, you will probably like this film. If you are approaching this film as you would any other off the shelf at your local rental store, you probably won't enjoy this film!Other than the aforementioned liner notes (which go a long way to understanding the director's motivations and intent with Stacy), the only other extra on this relase is a trailer for the movie.

Stange and uncanny B movie, with some serious and some parodic touches. Turn in super 8, with a cheesy soundtrack, but nice effects. You need the japanese cinema to find gems like this.

各所に、首がもげたり腕が食われたりという表現があるが、全体を通して見てみると、それがこの作品のすべてではない。テーマはあくまでも「愛」である。　大槻ケンヂの特異な感性が光るこの作品は、その音楽性もなかなかのものである。終始バックに流れているピアノやアコースティックギターの旋律が、メジャースケールなのに、それがかえってもの悲しい雰囲気をかもし出しているところがさすが、といえるのではないだろうか。　全体的に脇役の出演者の演技に関しては、お世辞にも上手いとはいえないが、主役の尾美としのりとヒロインの加藤夏希の演技はいい味が出ており、特に、加藤夏希に関しては今後が楽しみである。

加藤夏希主演ということもあり興味があったこの作品。自分はかなりのゾンビ映画を見てきたがこのステーシーは自分の中でかなり上位にランクできる。特に加藤夏希の美しさをうまく前面に出せている数少ない作品でもあると思う。同じ主演のエコエコアザラクに比べれば何倍もお買い得感あり。あの作品はひどかった・・・演技その他チープさはその辺の日本のＶシネレベルではあるがその中でも非常に味のある作品に仕上がっている。いつもは諦め半分でＤＶＤを買っているがこれはある意味掘り出し物ともいえる。作品のところどころでジョージＡロメロをリスペクトしているところも目立つ。しかし原作ストーリーやテーマがいいだけにもう少し予算をかけてほしかった。本当にもったいない作品である。あと不満をいうならばもう少し映像特典などがほしかった・・・・