Product Details

• Actors: Yûko Moriyama, Kunihiro Ida, Yukijiro Hotaru, Masakazu Handa, Mizuho Yoshida
• Directors: Keita Amemiya
• Format: Color, Dubbed, DVD, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Tokyo Shock
• DVD Release Date: November 7, 2006
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000HDR89G
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,564 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #44 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > Asian Cinema > Japan > Science Fiction & Fantasy
  #62 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > By Original Language > Japanese

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Japanese-made Zeram perfectly captures the spirit of the old Japanese monster movies: men in monster suits, dubbed voices instead of subtitles, and a mix of bumbling comedy and cartoonish violence. The title character is a vicious space-outlaw, a bulky monster controlled by a little baby face on his forehead. Newly arrived on Earth, Zeram has been followed by an attractive female bounty hunter, Iria, and her assistant, Bob (a computer). When she sets a dimensional trap so she can fight the monster without raising the awareness of the earthlings (secrecy increases the amount of the bounty), two power company employees accidentally stumble into the trap, too. If the outcome is predictable, the journey is fun. When Iria's fighting the guy in the rubber suit, the scenes are as clumsy and energetic as you could hope, and when the earthlings are fighting it, well, it's like Abbott and Costello in a Japanese monster movie. Either way, it's entertaining. --Andy Spletzer

Product Description
Zeiram A vicious space-outlaw Zeiram, escapes to earth, and has been followed by an attractive female bounty hunter, Iria, and her assistant, Bob (a computer). When she sets a dimensional trap so she can fight the monster without raising the awareness of the earthlings, two power company employees accidentally stumble into the trap, too. Iria now has to save the earthmen and defeat the monster before her Dimensional trap closes on them all forever. Zeiram II Finishing up an important case, the beautiful bounty hunter Iria returns to Earth. Along with her computer, Bob, and her assistant, Fujicrow, she is also assigned an android trainee. The research team charged with building the combat android decided to implant the android's brain with the most cunning combat life form in the universe, a vicious Zeiram unit!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Japanese Alein Type Movie., February 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Zeram [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In Zeram a weird creature from outer space escapes from somewhere (it dosen't realy say.) and flies to Earth. A female bounty who is played by the same actress as the Ornthalogist in Gamera The Gurdian Of The Universe, is sent to destroy it. She comes with a computer called bob, that looks like a hour glass. While she is battleing the creature Zeram she acidently traps to men in another dimension with Zeram. She then has to save them.He has a humaniod head on a nerve that tries to eat the 2 men.I realy liked the movie, I thought it was as good as most of the Godzilla and Gamera Movies.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Over-the-Top goofiness, January 3, 2001

By	Eric Sanberg (Berwyn, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Zeram [VHS] (VHS Tape)

As other viewers have stated, this harkens back to the (now nearly archetypal) world of Japanese rubber-monster movies. It sports a great monster, a lively female hero and two bewildered, would-be heroes who find themselves in the thick of things and are forced to come to terms with the situation.

Zeram is an invincible monster who has just escaped prison (even though he's being assaulted by more fire-power than you'll find in most third-world countries)and now has a bounty on his...hers...it's head. Enter the female bounty hunter and her computer sidekick Bob. Bob has a droll sense of humor while she is a hard-hitting, armed to the teeth, walking death machine. (She does look nifty in her tight-fitting, Star Wars type get-up though). Together they need to snag Zeram, put him back in the slammer and collect the dough, all while keeping a low profile and dealing with a couple of not too bright earthlings who mistakenly stumble on the entire mess.

This is not a great film but it's great fun. The characters are noteable, the monster is cool (he sems to be controlled by this rather phallic looking organ that emerges from his head and has a face on it. (A nasty Kibuki looking one at that). There are some rather deformed looking baby monsters present as well. They resemble the mutant offspring in Peter Jackson's Dead Alive, and manage to cause a degree of mayhem while in the picture. On top of that you have some great fight scenes and some nail biting tense moments. The look of the film is pretty good as well. The opening scenes of Zeram's escape sport muted (almost black and white) tones, and a lot of misty fog. It actually looks like a more serious western hemisphere sci-fi feature. Then it switches to the more primary colorful and sharper edged visuals seen in many Hong Kong flicks. And when the dust has settled in the end, you feel as though you've been through this excruciating escapade along with the characters.

I'd bump this up another star but the normal movie viewer (whatever THAT is)wouldn't get it. But it's a definite 4 stars for fans of this sort of thing. There are much worse ways to spend 90 minutes of relaxation time.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Live Action Anime, September 26, 2005

By	SRFireside "ZOOM!" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Zeram (DVD)

It’s been a while since I have had this much fun watching a low-budget Japanese movie. We’re not really talking cheesy production values fun or lame acting fun. I am talking about straight up legitimate movie viewing fun! Think of it as a live action anime and that will get you closer to the experience that is Zeram.

The plot is pretty simple, but it is executed in a solid manner. There are really only a handful of characters in Zeram so there was a nice amount of subtle development involved. The two electricians, though tend to be a little like Laurel and Hardy or Abbot and Costello at times, have a charming dynamic going between them which helps ground the whole story. Yuko Moriyama also does a good job being the beautiful yet bad to the bone bounty hunter Iria without taking if over the top.

Special effects aren’t bad considering the budget. A few people in silly rubber suits come in, but Zeram itself looks really nice. The rest of the effects are obviously of the lower quality caliber, but they use them so very well. The cinematography in some scenes emulates what you would see in an action packed anime, which again works very well. Props are cool, but I noticed Iria’s base of operations is loaded with props that are actually various electronic drums machines from Roland, Korg and Yamaha. Only a drum machine fan would get that though.

Zeram is simply a fun movie. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. In spite of the apparently low budget it comes off as a top-notch, though eclectic, movie. If you are an anime fan I recommend the experience. If you like the cyberpunk sci-fi I recommend it also, just don’t expect another Bladerunner. This is, after all, light fare.