Do we really need yet another lousy, unmemorable, low-budgeted and gratuitously repulsive zombie movie? No, of course not. Do I gladly stand in line amidst dozens of other outraged horror fanatics when it's premiering at the Brussels Festival of Fantastic Films? Why, of course! Because even though you know from beforehand that you won't see anything new or innovating, and presumably that it'll even be a stupid and terrible film, there's something irresistible about watching zombie fodder at a festival's midnight screening. The only unusual but noteworthy elements about this "Zombie 108" are that it's a flick from Taiwan (usually the genre flicks come from Japan or South Korea) and that the contains a few illuminative – but sadly underdeveloped – ideas. Following the Tsunami and the subsequent nuclear disaster in Japan, (yes, that's how fast the horror industry exploits news dramas!) a deadly cloud full of radioactive chemicals comes flying over one of the most pauperized and crime-infested districts of the capital Taipei. People die but immediately resurrect as a flesh-craving monsters, the government places the area under quarantine and the continuously decreasing number of human survivors have to battle for their lives. There are two rather interesting subplots in "Zombie 108". A SWAT-team that was about to do a raid on a mafia night club are now forced to combine forces with the criminals against the zombies invaders. This results in a couple of amusing moments, particularly involving the 400lbs mafia leader. There's another intriguing – but mostly bizarre and unfathomable – subplot about a perverted serial killer/kidnapper (who replaces his own skin with cooked meat) who abuses the zombie mayhem to make even more victims. One would say, especially with positive aspects like these, that "Zombie 108" is an adequate horror effort, but unfortunately the wholesome is too chaotic, incoherent and amateurishly put together. The gore and make-up effects are nauseating, but laughably inept and cheap. The extremely young and over-enthusiast director Joe Chien (he was present at the festival to introduce his movie and barely looked twenty years old!) clearly doesn't grant any importance to tension or ominous atmosphere and goes straight for savagery, including loud heavy metal music and plentiful of scarcely dressed beauties in the supportive cast.
