I don't think that I can recall a movie that has made me feel absolutely nothing. Usually even when I don't like a movie, I have something to root for whether it be a cool character, nifty effects, or at least a plot that I care enough about to see what happens. In this case, however, I was nearly catatonic by the end of the 80 minute running time and I cannot find any redeeming qualities. What disturbs me even more is that there were some relatively gory moments and buckets of blood but I was so withdrawn from the experience that they had absolutely no effect on me. I get more riled up watching reruns of "The Waltons".

The story is set in a world where 15 to 17 year old girls are mysteriously dying and coming back as zombies. For reasons unknown, people have begun to call them 'Stacies'. The loose plot incorporates a death squad that rekills the dead girls, a rival female death squad, a crazy looking scientist, and an unfinished back story about some past killings. The main focus of the plot seems to be on a pack of zombie school girls as they run rampant looking like a gang of teenage Evil Dead-demon impersonators trying to slam dance at a Hillary Duff concert. They also like to wag their tongues around like cokeheads with peanut butter on their teeth. A lame love story subplot is taking place as well about an older puppeteer and an extremely annoying giggling schoolgirl that was more creepy than it was romantic especially during a dream sequence when we have to sit through a two minute puppet show about a boy and his cat.

I wish I could identify what the problems were with this film but they are hard to place. It had the elements of a great B-movie with the schoolgirl angle, the trio of cool chick assassins who used weapons like nunchakus and a samurai sword, and numerous gore effects including spine removals, chainsaws to the head, and mucho dismemberment. None of these things were able to save the film from the lame plot and extremely confused storytelling style. The worst culprit of all was possibly the most annoying music I have heard in a horror movie which alternated between a cheesy 30 second loop, which was on endless repeat, and a short reprieve from this thanks to some awful disco. This is the kind of music that they should be playing outside of 7-11's to keep the bad kids away but it would probably end up keeping everybody away. It was like elevator music from hell. It gets even worse when you add some terrible sound effects including a horrific bell that rings so often that Jimmy Stewart can rest assured that every angel in Heaven certainly has their wings by the end of this flick.

Stacy was bad and although it was kind of fun venting in this review, I would not recommend it to anybody. I'm usually pretty forgiving when it comes to a low budget but this was a little too much even for me. The effects reminded me of the Guinea Pig series, as did the cinematography which coming from me is not a good thing. I wish I had something positive to say but I don't and I wonder if I just didn't understand what they were trying to do but I don't think there was anything to understand. If they were trying to deliver a political satire on Japanese culture, I guess I need to learn more about Japanese culture. All I saw was that the filmmakers took a cool concept and totally blew it by complicating the basic element of Japanese zombie schoolgirls with way too much padding. If you make it to the end, all that you will be thinking about is where that 80 minutes of your life went. (Josh Pasnak, 11/20/05)

Directed By: Naoyuki Tomomatsu.
Written By: Chisato Oogawara.

Starring: Natsuki Kato, Toshinori Omi, Tomoka Hayashi, Shungiku Uchida.