Zeiram (1991) & Zeiram 2 (1994) Movie Review

Zeiram is a franchise created by science fiction and action film director, art designer and artist Keita Amemiya. The main character, Iria (played by Yūko Moriyama), a female space bounty hunter, has become wildly popular among Tokusatsu fans and because of the success of the first feature film outing a prequel animated series was released in 1994, months before a sequel.

The first film is about a bounty hunter named Iria who, along with her partner Bob, catches intergalactic criminals. They travel to earth so they can get Zeiram, an extraterrestrial creature that could become a great threat to humanity. Two electricians (Kamiya and Tepei) help Iria fight the alien creature in a virtually constructed alternate dimension called a "Zone", where the battle for the fate of mankind will take place.

The script for the sequel is kind of similar with a few modifications here and there. This time, Zeiram is back in the body of a robotic supersoldier and summons new minions and threats the protagonists have to defeat.

Featuring abundant dynamic action, pretty fantastic practical special effects that bring to life the biomechanical H. G. Giger-like creature designs with the charm and spectacle one can expect from Tokusatsu, both Zeiram films deliver the goods when it comes to enjoyable and fun thrills and top notch VFX for a film of its kind.

There´s also some solid direction going on, with great shots, well done cinematography and fun fight sequences that entertain all throughout. I will say that the actual plots are perhaps a bit too uninvolving and dry, sometimes you feel like there's not enough dramatic force or character progression going on, even feeling borderline repetitive.

Another problem is that the character of Iria isn't the main focus of the movies and she sort of steps back from a lot of the runtime and more character development is given to the human male characters, who aren't awful but are far from interesting. I think there was a lot of wasted potential when it comes to Iria, she has the personality, the looks and the abilities to be a great heroine in media but it's all bogged down because there aren't any character arcs or personal conflicts going on with her. I understand that she is kind of non-human, but you can still do a compelling story with her. Her relationship with the human guys is also quite stale and too distant to work fully, but it's far from bad or incoherent.

I think that when it comes to production design, art design and just pure kineticism these movies have you covered because they involve all of the basic ingredients for a fun time with an action flick, especially if you are particularly fond of delirious japanese sci-fi with outrageous stunts and creature designs.

Check these movies out and have some fun with the cool Iria and Bob.

Species (1995) Review

This film started life as a project titled The Message in 1987 and was inspired by Arthur C. Clarke's comments about an alien arriving to earth through a spacecraft being unlikely, so screenwriter Dennis Feldman decided the extraterrestrial would arrive through information. The concept was changed and spiced up with a female alien-human hybrid who turns more animal-like and after several rewrites we got the 1995 horror thriller directed by Roger Donaldson we know today. 

Species starred Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, and Natasha Henstridge as the sexy alien lady. It’s often considered to be top tier 90's trashy horror, featuring some intriguing concepts handled in a rather vulgar way. What could have been a serious alien contact film turned into a strange freakshow blend of sensual chills and action. It's hard to contradict the critics when the concept is about a female alien looking for men to breed with. Having said that, I do believe it's a rather interesting story that not only delivers the sex and violence it promises but also packages it in a nice and round sci-fi adventure.

This is the basic gist: Aliens contact earth and send out instructions for a communication device as well as instructions on how to mix human DNA with alien DNA. The government then decides to create a program with the objective of constructing a human-alien hybrid. The result is Sil, a girl with superhuman abilities. Sil develops at a faster rate than normal humans, going from a baby to a 12-year-old-looking girl in record time. She turns violent and escapes the lab she was created in. Outside, she speedily grows into an adult woman, played by Natasha Henstridge (Ghosts of Mars, She Spies), and looks for a partner to procreate with.

Charming, thrilling, action-packed, deranged and visually appealing, Species is one of the most memorable creature features of its decade. Featuring a captivating performance by Natasha Henstridge as the main lead, the film becomes a wild and unpredictable ride that isn't afraid to turn the tables on you. It's a well told story of  mankind's careless experimentation and ignorance.  

There's lot's of adrenaline fueled action, with impressive practical effects that could have only been done in the 90's before CGI completely took over. There are some rather dated computer effects but nothing too distracting. I think the film still stands to this day in the special effects department.   

H. R. Giger's psychosexual and biomechanical designs are present here as he worked on the film as a concept artist, particularly on Sil's design. I also noticed a lot of elements seen in Alien (1979) that were incorporated into this film's she-creature. Giger also served as a consultant, which explains why the film, while not amazing, manages to have small touches of brilliance. 

I love a fish out of water story, so the first two acts with Sil entering our world were actually very fun to me. You also feel quite bad for the creature, she never wanted to do harm, she mostly acted on instinct and wanted to belong to the world but you do understand why her nature is dangerous to mankind. At first you believe Sil is going to get the E.T treatment and become the heroine, but as the movie progresses she increasingly becomes more vicious and monstrous. It's surprising because they really make you feel for her and suddenly she loses whatever humanity she had left. 

Sil's arc reminds me of not only a typical alien invader movie, but it’s also very similar to Frankenstein, being created in a lab, looking for a mate and being unleashed into a world that doesn't like her and doesn't understand her only to be hunted down. The monster was originally going to die by fire like Frankenstein in its 1931 movie but it was changed to a bullet in the head. Damn. Sil is a solid new interpretation of the Frankenstein story.

It’s also funny seeing how usually supernatural women who hold a sort of power and are aggressive (usually sexually) are portrayed as villainous and “horrible monsters” as the image of the ghastly beastly female can be seen in movies like She Beast (1966), The She-Creature (1956) or in The Wasp Woman (1959) and its 1995 remake, the same year as Species. This movie follows in that formula but I think it adds more compassion for the creature than in previously seen works. So it is a bit progressive, maybe. As always, it’s a small step forward but at least it’s something.

There's a great moment where Ben Kingsley explains that they made the experimental subject female because then it would be more docile and controllable but Michael Madsen’s character replies “More docile and controllable, eh? You guys don't get out much.” It could be just lampshading but the idea that real life and common sense often deny pseudo-scientific notions about sex stereotypes is a very accurate and transgressive critique. 

A perfectly sleazy exploitation film for the season. Relentlessly entertaining and fascinating with its exploration of sexual power and animalistic desires. Species amuses you with its straight-for-the-jugular approach to its rather crude premise.

Natasha would return to the series as Eve (Sil’s offspring) in Species II (1998) and Species III (2004) but the series would then end with Species: The Awakening in 2007. All of them cheaper and dumber but with some fun stuff, however, far removed from the big budget caliber of this first outing.

Danny Phantom S2E1: Memory Blank and the Trinity of Doom

For this halloween season we can take a look at a very interesting Danny Phantom episode. This second season opener deals with Sam, the shows token goth sidekick girl, having issues with her friend, Danny (the show's main character) and Tucker (the nerdy helper of the hero), who are invited to a party by the popular chick in school instead of accompanying Sam to see a movie she's been eagerly waiting for: Trinity of Doom. 

The movie within the show is actually the most interesting part. The poster shows three female versions of horror and science fiction icons: Femalien (Nothing to do with the softcore movie of the same name, this is a Predator parody), Terminatra (a woman terminator) and Nightmerica (a female counterpart of Freddy Krueger). Now, this is a movie I would watch, and by the way Sam describes it, it's sure to be a riot. Imagine a big budget movie with three ass-kicking female action ladies and monsters in an adrenaline fueled rollercoaster. It would have been beautiful to see that.

 Femalien

Terminatra

Nightmerica

With a setting like that, one would think by the title card and scenario that it would deal with the characters fighting against these monster women, but instead the plot takes a more character driven focus. It's about Sam accidentally wishing that Danny and Tucker never knew her in the first place (because she's so angry at them for being selfish) and having to gain their trust once their memory has been wiped by the ghost genie named Desiree, who serves as the episode's real antagonist. 

The monster ladies are only there for a couple of action scenes and they aren't properly implemented, they are mostly irrelevant, used as stock enemies.

Sam in an improvised ghosthunting outfit.

It's a fun half-hour overall, and it's nice to see an episode that features Sam saving the day with both her wit and skills. There's also some seeds of the eventual shipping that would take place. I just kind of wish they did more with the creature ladies, because a premise like that is too good to be wasted.

Watch all of their scenes here: