Bio-Cops (2000)

A few years ago there seemed to be a fad in Asian horror and exploitation films. This seems to have died down, or at least stabilized to a low key interest in recent times. A lot of the higher volume posters in the Asian horror forum seem to have left the board and activity has dropped. But just recently there was an Asian themed round of the ID the screen cap contest that seemed to illicit some interest.

Years ago UZUMAKI posted a series he called Asian Movie of the Month where he would focus one a particular film and talk about it at length. I am going to try something similar, only a twice weekly series posted on Fridays and Tuesdays. They will feature screenshots as well as buying information for anyone wanting to check out the films the legal way. The focus of this series if the Asian Zombie film. I will go over well and little known films. Maybe this will generate some new interest in Asian horror.

Bio-Cops is a very loose companion piece to the surprise hit Bio-Zombie. Its linked in that a few of the principal actors from the previous film have come over, but as new characters and it does not reference the events of Bio-Zombie.

The story involves a bio weapon that turns individuals into the living dead. A scientist/unscrupulous businessman is accidently infected and travels to Hong Kong on business, where, feeling the effects of the zombie virus he gets into a fight with triad members and is taken to a rural police station. Thus enter the films main characters.

Instead of a group of slackers at a mall as in Bio-Zombie, we have a group of incompetent cops trapped in a police station. Before you know it a gang of triad members have laid siege to the building while an army of zombies led by the self proclaimed King of the Zombies resides within.

This film is a typical mix of seriousness and whimsy found in most Hong Kong horror. The gore content is nice mix of a few very graphic scenes mixed throughout and a low level maintained for the rest of the film. The comedy cops might annoy some people, but they don’t overwhelm the story. It does not have the dark streak its more famous counterpart Bio-Zombie possesses, but it’s a fun ride.

The Mei Ah DVD is a little hard to find at the moment. For a while Tai Seng was releasing the HK dvd, repackaged in the US, but it seems harder to find. The DVD is NTSC ALL REGION so it can be payed on any American or Canadian DVD player. It seems to still be available on Ebay, also HK Flix has it listed on backorder. The HK based site buyoyo.com only lists the VCD as being available and lists it under To Order, so no guarantee they can get it in. Ebay seems to be the best choice. The links for Buyoyo and HKFlix are bellow. Also, I would be interested in hearing feedback on this new series I am running.

http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.543759/qx/details.htm

http://www.buyoyo.com/buyoyo/eng/ProductDisplay.do?prrfnbr=341911