Monsters & Mayhem in OPERATION UNDEAD

OPERATION UNDEAD (Blu-ray)

2024 / 110 min

From Well Go USA

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

In many zombie movies, the living dead aren’t always the real monsters…it’s the characters who display the worst aspects of humanity. The monsters in this case are the Japanese army during World War II. As a form of biological warfare, they figure out how to reanimate the dead, then release one of those experiments during an incursion on a Thai province. 

Operation Undead doesn’t begin that way, though. In fact, the goofy opening scene features a young squad of Thai soldiers watching their buddy get it on with a prostitute while they collectively jerk off. That, along with the playful score, suggests more of a comedy…and a dumb one at that. 

The tone quickly turns serious (and more melodramatic) with the introduction of the film’s protagonists, Mek (Chanon Santinatomkul) and Mok (Awat Ratanapintha), two bickering sibling soldiers. Of course, one’s dedicated to his country, the other is a flaky free spirit. There’s also an added subplot of Mek’s pregnant girlfriend, who largely exists to be put in peril, as does the local village where most of the squad was raised.

"SMMMOKIN'!"

For reasons not made convincingly clear, the Japanese now need the Thai army’s help finding the rampant hungry zombie, which wastes no time infecting others on both sides…including Mok. But unlike the mindless hordes in most flicks, the undead speak, think and are filled with rage over what’s happened to them. Though they’re perpetually ravenous, Mok manages to rally them into exacting revenge and protecting the village.

The film tries very hard to get the audience emotionally invested in its individual zombies. But while we do side with them as a whole, simply giving each a chance to explain what they’re gonna miss by being dead isn’t enough. Ultimately, we just want to see them wreak havoc…which they definitely do. Operation Undead is never as affecting as, say, Train to Busan, but it delivers the gore goods, often spectacularly. There’s gobs of gut-munching, artery-spewing, brain-bursting mayhem on display, all vividly depicted with pretty convincing effects. 

With a sky-high body count - including children - Operation Undead mostly maintains interest through violence and action alone. It also grows increasingly bleak and culminates in a climax that’s somewhat underwhelming and kind of a downer. But until then, the film offers some nasty fun for gorehounds.

Craptastic CROCODILE

CROCODILE (Blu-ray)

1979 / 92 min

FROM SYNAPSE FILMS

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Of all the Jaws rip-offs that oozed into theaters for a slice of the killer critter pie (and there were a ton of ‘em), 1979’s Crocodile is a strong candidate for the crappiest, kookiest and most comical of them all. Considering how many hailed from Italy alone over the years, that’s really saying something…

…which means, for some viewers, this flick will be irresistible. You know who you are.

A Thai-Korean co-production, Crocodile opens with an ominous voice-over about nature striking back, followed by about five minutes impressively apocalyptic hurricane footage that’s clearly lifted from another movie. However, this disaster actually has nothing to do with the story because the giant title creature is the result of nuclear testing. 

Now when I say “giant,” it actually depends on the scene. Sometimes this ravenous reptile is as large as the awesome cover art depicts, other times he’s the size of a kayak. Either way, he indiscriminately chows down on tourists and villagers alike, including the families of a couple of doctors, who vow to destroy the beast themselves. That’s the nutshell plot, with a final act lifted right out of Jaws...the protagonists charter a boat owned by a hunkier version of Quint, leading to a similarly explosive (yet baffling) climax.

"We're gonna need a bigger budget."

But that isn’t what makes Crocodile comedy gold. As they say, the journey is more important than the destination. Along the way, this journey serves up a smorgasbord of endearing ineptitude. This is the English language version, meaning we’re treated to some truly daffy dubbing. In a scene featuring ducks in a pond, even the ducks are dubbed! And not only can this croc change size at-will, he can change eye color, too, even turning them into hellish red headlights in a night scene. 

Elsewhere, there’s plenty o’ stock footage, histrionic performances, borrowed music, weed-whacker editing, underwater sequences obviously shot in a swimming pool, and the piece de resistance, a ridiculously abrupt climax that leaves the viewer wondering what the hell just happened. I could go on, but poking fun at a movie like this is like shooting fish in a barrel, with the fish already dead. What matters is that the serious tone and sincerity of its filmmakers makes Crocodile more consistently entertaining than the smarmy self-awareness prevalent in today’s nature-run-amok cheapies.

But the fun doesn’t stop at the film itself. This disc features a 30-minute interview with director Won-Se Lee, whose recollections of the film might be a little hazy, but we're certainly convinced he thought he was making a good movie at the time. What makes the interview priceless is, when asked how he felt about his name being replaced by Sompote Sands in the credits of foreign releases, Lee was completely unaware this had happened. Upon hearing this - 45 years later! -  he’s genuinely surprised and vows to “look into this.” Poor bastard.

EXTRA KIBBLES

INTERVIEW WITH WON-SE LEE - Lee is director of the original version, titled Crocodile Fangs.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By film historian Lee Gambin

5 DELETED/ALTERNATE SCENES

TRAILER