Dave from Ottawa For a low budget horror / girl-buddy road picture, with two pretty girls taking on zombie hordes, this could have been worse. The budget was well used, and the camera-work was enthusiastic and imaginative, including an effect where blood spatter would appear to land on the lens. The effects were below the standard of something like Tokyo Gore Police, but good enough to convince and the massed Zombie attacks actually got more elaborate as the movie went on, as if the director got more confident with his action scene staging. The actress playing the central role of the bikini wearing samurai, Eri Otoguro, is a cipher. She handles the action well enough but gives nothing in the way of a performance beyond the occasional stern look, which frankly comes off looking more confused than anything else. The secondary lead, Manami Hashimoto as a leather clad, shotgun-toting bad girl, is an older and obviously more competent actress, and she actually winds up carrying the middle part of the picture. Very watchable, but like all Japanese ultra-violence, this one is not for the squeamish.

masercot If you watched all of the movies involving both bikinis and samurai and took the time to absorb their message, you probably have more time on your hands than is good for you. This movie is the standard of its genre, you must remember that its genre isn't very good.The movie seems to be shot on video tape. Instead of squibs, special effects handle most of the blood and bullets. It isn't a bad effect for such a cheap one. Since the work is based on a comic book, they might even say that they planned the effects to look somewhat gaudy. And, more power to them.The movies starts off well, with some great magic sword effects and splatterly gunshots; however, it devolves into a wizard of oz type scenario, where each character finds who they are looking for...albeit ironically. By the end, it looks more like an episode of power rangers. The acting is sincere, but this movie is definitely one best chosen when the only other alternative is infomercials.Not for kids. Amazingly unappealing exposed breasts...

chaos-rampant This is probably another case of the description being better than the movie, but not for lack of trying. Chanbara Beauty is a video game adaptation of OneChanbara and another entry in the latest trend of Japanese over-the-top action/horror hybrids. If it's a win as a VG adaptation that has more to do with how low the likes of Uwe Boll and Paul WS Anderson have set the bar in the VG field than how inherently good Chanbara Beauty is.The plot is thinly stretched and silly, with various subplots filling in the backstory of the characters. Not that it matters really cos it's all about the bikini splatter here, right? Sure the movie delivers lots of katana splatter as dozens of zombie extras in crude makeup get hacked and slashed, but everything is so CGI heavy it takes some getting used to. The action scenes are reeking of video effects: CGI blood, gun flashes, smoke, fast forwards and all kinds of live action anime silly SFX. There's probably some wire work involved as well and the choreography and swordfighting is surprisingly decent.Chanbara Beauty is bursting apart in the seams but it's entertaining enough to warrant a view for exploitation hounds. If you can stomach the cheapo video SFX (which are becoming a staple in Japanese flicks lately), you'll probably have a good time, but not without a yawn or two in the middle. It plays like a less gory, less insane, less action-packed, less well-made version of The Machine Girl but if you want your fix of Japanese action/horror exploitation this one's OK I guess.

ajax_magnetoface Who doesn't love the vastly successful Japanese video game The Oneechanbara? You got a hot sexy bikini cowgirl killing zombies? Add some extra characters for each iteration of the game series and its gets even better. (Im sure the new Wii version makes slicing zombies heads off all the more physically exertive so as to stay in physical parity with the main character who seems quite fit.Now the plot of the video game is pretty slim to none, so the movie expands on this by adding SOME plot. Some back-story on the characters is good, as well as a motivation to kill zombies and why of course there ARE zombies running amok. But nowhere does anyone ever bother to mention why she is always wearing a bikini and cowboy hat. Perhaps there is a vague "Fistfull of Dollars"/"Galaxy Express 999" reference here, but still, for those of us probing the sartorial functions of Oneechanbara's battle dress, I guess we should just sit back and enjoy it without asking such pointless questions.The film action then is very much like the game action and therefore lots of fun. The fight scenes are the highlights and really shine. The pathos and drama are pretty standard but necessary. The whole picture tho is quite low budget and lacking any sort of quality acting talent. I believe the main actress was either a DVD pinup idol or a soft core porn star, so we'll just say she's got a good future if the movie turns franchise. Maybe they'll explain more in a sequel. In the meantime, hell, she's a hot zombie killing bikini girl! Take that Milla Jovovich!