‘Operation Undead’ explodes with war, blood and human horror

War is hell. It is nothing new, but it should also come as no surprise that the feeling is not unique to our own country’s wars. Whenever people, predominantly young men from the middle and lower classes, are sent to fight and die on battlefields anywhere in the world, the result is sheer hell for those on the front lines (and their loved ones back home). Operation Undead It explores anguish and terror from a perspective rarely seen on Western shores – that of Thai soldiers fighting to defend their homeland from invading Japanese forces in the early days of World War II. It’s a moving and powerful look at the human cost of war – be it physical, emotional or psychological – and it’s one you won’t soon forget. Oh, and it’s also packed with hungry zombies.

Mek (Chanon Santinatornkul) is a newly promoted sergeant in the Thai army, loyal to his country and excited by the news that his girlfriend is pregnant with his child. He proposes to her, but their happiness is overshadowed by an impending invasion by Japanese forces. His younger brother, Mok (Ratanapintha Temple), lacks such ties and instead enjoys his freedom with friends – at least until he too gets caught up in the carnage of World War II. The enemy quickly gains the upper hand, but the two sides are forced into an uneasy truce when a biological weapon (a Japanese soldier infected and turned, for all intents and purposes, into a zombie) spreads to some of the Thai fighters, including Mok’s own unit.

As with vampire movies and found footage horror films, it can be an uphill battle to make a zombie movie that stands apart from the rest. However, that doesn’t stop filmmakers from trying, resulting in a flood of gut-eating films that, more often than not, get lost in the gory shuffle. Operation Undead It succeeds by delivering spectacular war drama and then doubling down with thrilling, bloody, and emotionally resonant zombie action.

Writer/Director Kongkiat Khomsiri finds a kind of touchstone in the work of Steven Spielberg. Saving Private Ryanfrom a frenzied beach assault to a family at risk of losing all of its young people to the end of the war, and it has enough of a budget to bring to life both the action and the quieter moments before the undead arrive to shake things up. The gunfights are intense and the cruelties meted out by the Japanese forces reveal pains that are still felt today, even when Operation Undead The protagonist empathizes with the Japanese soldier who became his country’s test subject. Zombies arrive in a familiar enough fashion, but Khomsiri quickly changes the subject on that front with a very atypical approach to the undead hordes.

Though they can easily be driven into pure homicidal rage that leads them to tear at flesh and bite at teeth, the infected retain a degree of consciousness. They remember their families and mourn the loss of their innocence, and Mok even feels guilt and disgust when he realises he has torn apart and partially devoured a small child. At one point, something that could easily have fallen into silliness, Mok and his undead unit are seen singing a song that reflects on all they have lost. These children had dreams, but war and the callousness of those in power have robbed them of them. It’s surprisingly effective given the presence of zombies, and speaks to the sincerity of the filmmaking as well as the strength of the performances.

Like Bob Clark’s Dream of death (1974) before her, Khomsiri Operation Undead It uses genre ideas and zombie tropes to explore themes about the vivid, heartbreaking trauma and tragedy of real-world war. The result is a horror that hits hard with the realization that humans are ultimately and eternally the real monsters, but also with the simple truth that we can’t always protect the ones we love from powers greater than ourselves in situations where there are no real winners. Of course, on the off chance that none of those emotional, human moments matter to you, you’ll still get zombie beats that bring the gore, which means that, at the very least, there are no losers on this side of the screen.

The 2024 edition of the New York Asian Festival It will take place from July 12 to 28. Follow our coverage here.

Related topics: Horror, New York Film Festival

Rob Hunter has been writing for Film School Rejects since before you were born, which is strange considering he’s so young. He’s our chief film critic and associate editor and considers “Broadcast News” to be his favorite film of all time. Feel free to say hi if you see him on Twitter. @FakeRobHunter.