In 2002-2003, SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) caused mass panic around Asia, with victims dying in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. It also spawned this bad-taste, Thai horror-comedy that didn’t go down too well with Asian audiences still virtually quarantined inside their homes, but enjoyed cult notoriety around the western world. A fictional Type-4 strain of SARS is carried out of Africa by a CG mosquito and starts turning Thai citizens into zombies just after Health Minister Ratsuda (Naowarat Yuktanan) announces, “There will be no SARS outbreak in Thailand.”
Meanwhile, an inept gang led by Yai (Somlek Sakdikul), a transvestite master of disguise, kidnap sexy schoolgirl Liu (Phintusuda Tunphairao), hoping her rich daddy will payout big time for her safe return. Instead, daddy calls on bald, decrepit kung fu guru Master Thep (Suthep Po-ngam) and his klutzy student Khun Krabii (Supakorn Kitsuwan), who wears a plate-mail vest, carries a sword and behaves like a chivalrous knight of old. After searching trendy Thai dance clubs, Khun discovers Liu being held hostage in the same building where the zombie virus has broken out. Their escape attempt is cut short when Health officials quarantine the building, while a SWAT Team storms inside to battle zombie flesh eaters and a ravenous, giant CG snake. Sneaking inside, Master Thep gets horny for dishy Dr. Diana (popular TV pinup Lene Christensen), who is heroically testing her anti-virus serum and beneath her decontamination suit, wears sexy leather bondage gear for some reason.
Think Shaun of the Dead (2004) on helium. Gag-a-minute with squeaky voiced delivery, this frantic fright-farce weaves in Saturday Morning cartoon flashbacks, a lightsaber-style magic sword that runs on batteries, drug-addicted zombies whose heads explode after their latest high, the aforementioned monster snake and non-stop gloopy gore and sex gags. As Master Thep exclaims: “Wow, this film is really aiming for some cash!” Heck, we even have a Zombie 3 (1988) reference (and who the hell would want to name-check Zombie 3?) when a pregnant woman births a cackling, CG zombie-baby that bursts forth, Alien style, until caught on its umbilical cord. Plus a kung fu sex scene with Krabii calling out positions (“I call this, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Noodles!”) before a sick twist reveals he’s lost his virginity to the transsexual villain! Cue much vomiting. Hyper-manic from the get-go, this comes across like a gory, foul-mouthed, sex-obsessed Hanna Barbera cartoon, complete with “boing!” slapstick sound-effects. Some of the gags are very funny, but the hectic tone grows rather wearying.
While there is a faint whiff of racism about the origins of the Type-4 virus, spread by Aussie journalist-turned-Thai television personality Andrew Briggs (who plays himself!), the satirical jibes are more domestic in nature. Health Minister Ratsuda is a thinly veiled caricature of Thailand’s health minister at the time of the SARS outbreak, while gags about oxygen bars, transsexual prostitutes and cheap knockoffs of brand-name merchandise are clearly aimed at local audiences. One amusing gag has Ratsuda announce the new “Stop Virus Bullet”, only for crowds to recoil: “Oh no! Made in Thailand!” Although fun while it lasts, SARS Wars is relentlessly juvenile and adds little to a genre that is fast-growing overcrowded. Still, it’s better than watching Zombie 3.
