Zombies Advance in Operation Undead

4 stars

There’s a reason the zombie genre has stayed so strong over the years. Much like the undead that stars in such films, the genre regenerates. It stumbled out of the gate in the 40s with films like I Walked With a Zombie but became its own thing in 1968 when George Romero released the definitive zombie film, Night of the Living Dead. That film and its sequels served as a template for all things undead  – creatures mindlessly shuffling along looking for the living to eat while the living came up with ways to kill them once and for all – until 2002 when director Danny Boyle flipped the switch by making his zombies aggressive and much faster in 28 Days Later.

With the release of his latest film, Operation Undead, writer/director Kongkiat Komesiri lifts the potential of the genre to another level by giving us undead who can not only think for themselves but have the ability to communicate with each other. He gives them a sense of what’s happened in the past and what is happening to them now, underscored by raw emotions. They’re angry, organized, and out for revenge.

The movie takes place in Thailand during WWII, where a recently trained band of Youth Soldiers join the fight to repulse an invasion by the Japanese Army. Along with better-trained and equipped men, the Japanese invaders brought a secret weapon to test on their enemy. It’s a soldier infected with a new virus the Japanese hope will be ground zero for developing an army of undead super soldiers. This one goes awry like most super soldier plans – at least those outside the Marvel Universe – and the Japanese and Thai soldiers must join forces to stop the infected and their infection from spreading.

Operation Undead hits all the marks that genre films look for: the creatures are disgusting, the gore is gut-wrenching, and the kills on both sides of the alive/undead dividing line are brutal. For horror fans, that’s entertainment. And it’s only the beginning, because while the horror of the film is immediate and palpable, it’s the emotional resonance of the work that will haunt you long after it’s over.