Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (2023)
I'm not inherently opposed to a zombie comedy. When done right, blending the undead with sharp, dark humour can yield absolute classics. From Shaun of the Dead to the chaotic fun of the Return of the Living Dead series, the genre has proven it can handle laughs and lurching corpses in equal measure. So I wanted to enjoy Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead. The premise alone should have had me hooked. Instead, I found it thoroughly, persistently annoying, and that's a feeling I'm still struggling to shake.
The central conceit is clear enough: our protagonist Akira discovers that the zombie apocalypse is, for him, a genuine liberation. His corporate job has been so soul-destroying, so relentlessly toxic, that the end of the world actually feels like a holiday. On paper, that's a cracking idea. It's sharp, it's timely, and it gives the film somewhere interesting to go. I've written before about how Japanese cinema has a particular knack for skewering salaryman culture, and I thought this might be another entry in that tradition, something like what I explored in my review of Salaryman (2021). But where a more disciplined film might let that satirical bite actually land, Zom 100 smothers it under layers of neon and noise.
The film, directed by Yusuke Ishida, leans so heavily into surreal, manic comedy that it loses any grounding needed to make the horror elements work. Zombie films, even funny ones, need some kind of tonal anchor. Without it, the scares feel weightless and the jokes feel forced. Here, the pacing is a proper mess, whipping from one absurd set piece to another without ever letting genuine tension or character development breathe. You don't get the chance to care about anyone before the film has already hurled you somewhere else entirely.
I'll give it this: purely on a visual level, the picture looks great. Ishida and his team have clearly poured real effort into crafting a vibrant, comic-book-inspired aesthetic that pops off the screen. The colour palette is bold and deliberately overwhelming, and the practical makeup effects for the zombies are undeniably fun to look at. There's craft here. Real craft. But flashy visuals can only do so much heavy lifting when the script underneath them is this hollow. You're left watching a film that mistakes sheer, unadulterated chaos for actual comedic brilliance, and the two things are not the same.
It reminded me, in some ways, of the frustration I felt with Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022). That film also wrapped a potentially sharp social premise in an aesthetic package that occasionally mistook style for wit. At least that one had a killer final gag. Zom 100 doesn't quite find its equivalent payoff.
This is a film that will absolutely find a devoted audience. Younger viewers who are completely on board with its frantic, anime-adjacent energy and its anti-corporate messaging will likely have a whale of a time with it. I can see exactly why it appeals. The enthusiasm is infectious, in its way. But enthusiasm without discipline produces a film that exhausts rather than exhilarates, and by the time the credits rolled, I was worn out rather than won over.
A genuinely fun premise. Genuinely impressive visuals. And a script that squanders both at almost every turn. Two stars.
Rating: ★★ | Year: 2023 | Watched: 2026-07-29
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Netflix · Netflix Standard with Ads
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Netflix · Netflix Standard with Ads
Physical: Amazon US
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