SARS Wars / ขุนกระบี่ผีระบาด | 2004
This story revolves around fictional type 4 SARS virus infected individuals turning into zombies. The outbreak is confined to an apartment building in Bangkok, and the health department is determined to contain it at any cost. However, the building also serves as a hideout for a teenage girl kidnapped by a gang. She must be rescued by a sword-wielding superhero crime fighter, who battles against both criminals and zombies while racing against the government's plan to blow up the building.
The film features popular comic actors Suthep Pongnam and Somlek Sakdikul, but it did not perform well in Thailand. However, it gained a cult following after screenings at film festivals like Fantasia and the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, and it became more widely known through a DVD release with English subtitles. The film is available on DVD in the U.S. region 1 from Discotek Media.
Similar to "Kill Bill," it includes animated sequences, with an animated opening title sequence that sets the film's main zombie fighters as comic book superheroes. There are also references to "Star Wars," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and "The Matrix."
Ratsuda, the Minister of Public Health and a key health official in Thailand, declares that Thailand is free from the SARS virus, stating that the country's excellent technology and medical research will prevent outbreaks within the kingdom.
However, a mutant type 4 SARS virus outbreak occurs in Africa, where infected individuals turn into bloodthirsty zombies upon death. A wasp carrying the virus collides with an aircraft and lands in Thailand, flying through an open window of a Volvo driven by a foreigner, who is bitten on the back of the neck. This man becomes patient zero in the SARS 4 outbreak, returning to his apartment and infecting others in the building. Among the transformed creatures is a giant Burmese python named Albert.
Meanwhile, a Catholic schoolgirl named Liu is kidnapped by a gang led by a transgender individual named Yai. Yai distracts attention using a person dressed in a sexy bikini and fur. Liu's father, an influential businessman, does not want to involve the police and seeks help from his long-time friend, Master Thep. Injured, Thep instructs his best student, swordsman Khun Krabii, to rescue Liu.
Krabii soon arrives at the building to find and rescue Liu but is thwarted by Yai and his henchmen, who encounter zombies.
Feeling that his student needs help, Thep heads to the building. At that moment, several men and Dr. Diana from the health department are dispatched, with her wearing restraining equipment under a biosafety suit for no apparent reason. She carries an experimental vaccine hoping to cure zombies but ends up exploding their heads instead. Thep attempts to use his magical sword, but it fails due to a dead battery.
Krabii and Liu share a romantic moment, after which they encounter a pregnant woman who has turned into a zombie, and her baby also becomes a zombie. The fetus bursts out of her womb and bites Krabii, infecting him. In despair, Krabii attempts to "commit suicide" by drinking household chemicals. Fortunately, the chemical combination does not kill him but instead cures the virus.
Liu is eaten by a giant zombie python, but Thep rescues her, retrieving a swallowed battery from the snake's stomach to reactivate his sword.
However, the building is set to explode as part of the health minister's containment plan. But Thep possesses the remote control to stop the explosion.
Ultimately, it is revealed that Liu is actually Yai in disguise, wearing a rubber mask, implying that Krabii lost his virginity to a man. An animated backstory shows how Yai found Liu's clothes. Another animated segment reveals that Liu survived her fight with Yai, and she and Krabii will live happily ever after.
The main zombie, Andrew Biggs, is an Australian journalist based in Bangkok. He speaks fluent Thai and is a well-known figure on Thai TV Channel 3, co-hosting a talk show and providing English speaking tips. In deleted scenes from the DVD, it is revealed that his character was originally intended to be a scientist trying to create an antiviral drug, but his plans were thwarted by the health minister. He later goes mad and becomes infected with the SARS virus. However, that part of the script was revised to change him to simply being a man bitten by the SARS virus in his car.
Minister Ratsuda, played by Naowarat Yuktanan, resembles Sudarat Keyuraphan, the then Minister of Public Health in Thailand. Sudarat was a key cabinet member in the Thaksin Shinawatra government.
