Ace is Wild

Wild Zero (1999) is another entry into our rock ‘n’ roll horror comedy festival. This was originally metal horror comedy, but we’ve included indie and hair metal, so now we’re doing Japanese punk.

It starts with a Japanese news program where the hosts are joking about the flying saucers in the area. Then we meet the protagonist, Ace (Masashi Endo). He is a rockabilly greaser with a leather jacket and a pompadour that he combs ritualistically. He’s at a Guitar Wolf show and he’s trying to get up the courage to meet them. They are a punk-a-billy trio, Guitar Wolf, Bass Wolf and Drum Wolf. By the way, they are a real band, and their songs are pretty rocking.

The band goes to get their money from the manager, a sleazeball called Captain, and find him abusing a woman, so GW draws a gun on him. Things are getting tense when Ace walks in, letting GW get the upper hand. In appreciation, he gives Ace a whistle to blow when he needs help.

We now switch over to three oddballs driving around in a car. They stop at a gas station and one of them suddenly decides to rob it. But there’s nobody there, but zombies, so they take off. The zombies must be related to the flying saucers seen in the area.

Ace happens to be passing through on his bike (moped) to see the next Guitar Wolf show, when he runs into a beautiful (SPOILER!!!!) boy, dressed like an average Japanese girl. I thought it was a boy right off, but Ms. Spenser was fooled until the Crying Game reveal. Ace falls in love with her, but lacks the self-confidence to tell her.

That’s almost everyone - there is also a beautiful arms dealer hanging out on a country road by a humvee, for some reason. She wears a kind of Burberry leotard, and turns out to be a friend of Guitar Wolf. She will come in handy when they have to fight the zombies and Captain.

If you get the impression that this is kind of a scattershot movie, you’re spot on. It’s sort of the Ramones meet Plan 9 from Outer Space. It’s mostly trashy, goofy fun. But Guitar Wolf is the best - BW and DW stand back to back, combing their quaffs, while GW guzzles beer and makes wise pronouncements. Like when Ace tells him he is in love with a man, GW shouts, “Love has no nations, boundaries or gender! Rock and roll!” Wise words indeed.

The sound track has a lot of obscure (to me at least) international punk, and it’s all great. Oddly, the movie is set in Asahi Japan (Nowheresville), but was filmed in Thailand, and it shows.