Zombie Hunter Rika aka Zombie Killer Rika and High School Girl Rika: Zombie Hunter is a 2008 Japanese comedy horror film directed by Ken’ichi Fujiwara and co-written with Takeyuki Morikaku.
The movie stars Lisa Kudô (as Risa Kudô playing Rika), Mina Arai, Lemon Hanazawa, Chris Ryô Kaihara, Kôtarô Kamijô, Ryûnosuke Kawai and Eiichi Kikuchi.
Plot:
When typical Japanese high school student Rika skips school to visit her grandfather, she fails to take into account the fact that his remote village is infested with the living dead. What happens next isn’t pretty, but fortunately, Grandpa Ryuhei just happens to be the greatest surgeon ever! Picking up what’s left of Rika, he dusts her off and rebuilds her, better than she was, into the ultimate zombie fighter!
Now, together with her friends Takashi and Yuji, Rika must take on the monstrous master of carnivorous cadavers: the grand-high lowest of the low, Zombie Boss Glorian.
Reviews:
“Modern Japanese zombie flicks tend to boast cheap budgets, extreme gore, gonzo comedy, illogical plotting and are sometimes peppered with an unsettling degree of sleaziness in regards to the treatment of women. You get most of that here, too.” Dread Central
“Sure, there are some great sleazy moments […] but the overriding essence of this movie is just crazy gory nonsense. Oh yes there is some nice gore going on here – loads of rubbery flesh ripping and head decapitation, blood aplenty and some great makeup too (particularly the suspiciously friendly zombie with the disgusting googly eye!)” Devouring the Zombie Films of the Living
“An amateur script that felt like it was being made up as it went along, dry lacklustre acting performances from people who genuinely looked like they didn’t want to be there, and shot capture and direction that looked cheap and harried as if Ed Wood with his one-take what-ever happens approach was in charge; it’s bad film.” Watching the Dead
“There is not much style to the Ken’ichi Fujiwara’s direction, and the film tends to lack a certain snap, but Tak Sakaguchi’s action choreography adds an occasional burst of liveliness (e.g., a zombie fight featuring a guy flopping around, kicking zombies, and bouncing off cars is fun).” Twitch Film
