This week’s Guest Star Michelle Kisner writes about Tetsuro Takeuchi’s Wild Zero (1999). Keep up with her on Instagram at @robotcookie!

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Guitar Wolf is more than just a band; it’s an idea. Although they are known for their loud and untamed “jet rock ‘n’ roll,” they also starred in a film called Wild Zero (1999). The film features the musical trio as themselves as they try to navigate an alien invasion, a zombie outbreak, and some squares who are trying to say “Rock is obsolete.” It owes quite a bit to a few outlaw films that preceded it, specifically Crazy Thunder Road (1980) and Burst City (1982), two works that also incorporated a lot of metal mentality with their stories and presentation. Even a few years later, in 2001, movies like Electric Dragon 80.000 V were still breaking the mold.

The film starts as it should, with a raw, energetic performance by Guitar Wolf in a packed dive bar. This sequence buzzes with energy and quick cuts; the director, Takeuchi Tetsuro, was known for making music videos, and it shows. After the gig, the band gets into a heated argument with the bar owner, who doesn’t respect the love they put into their music. As the fight escalates, a groupie named Ace (Masashi Endō) overhears the shouting and barges into the back room. Guitar Wolf and the owner have drawn guns on each other, and Ace’s surprise entrance gives the band the upper hand. After getting shot in the hand, the owner runs off to lick his wounds, and Guitar Wolf has been granted another day to rock out.

Ace seems to harbor a lot of insecurity about himself, and he looks up to Guitar Wolf as an example of masculinity and the ability to throw away one’s inhibitions. Seiji, the lead singer, decides to share a blood oath with Ace, cutting their hands and mingling their life force. Now they are brothers by blood and by music, almost as if Seiji has passed some mythical powers and some of his courage to Ace. He also bestows a whistle upon him, telling him only to blow it in dire need and that Guitar Wolf will come to his aid.

At this point, the film’s tone switches gears and turns into a zombie flick, heralding the zombie craze of the early ’00s. These zombies sport a grey-blue shaded makeup that feels like an homage to the Tom Savini style undead in Dawn of the Dead (1978). New characters are introduced: Masao, Hanako, and Toshi, a bunch of young people traveling to see a meteor crash site. Their paths cross with Ace after stopping at a gas station (to rob it, apparently), and afterward, Ace encounters a shy woman named Tobio (Kwancharu Shitichai), with whom he shares an instant attraction. As Ace goes on his way alone, the zombies start encroaching on his position, and he decides to go back and save Tobio.

The budding romance between Ace and Tobio delves into what was, at the time, a taboo subject: gender expression. Tobio reveals to Ace that she is transgender, and initially, this sends him into a panic, and he runs away. However, Guitar Wolf isn’t having any of this transphobic nonsense and appears to Ace in a vision to rebuke him, saying: “Love has no borders, nationalities, or genders.”

This is quite the progressive statement for a twenty-five-year-old film, and it is totally in the punk rock spirit. Actual punk spirit rails against the status quo, and gender expression is a part of that. That being said, Tobio doesn’t have much of a character outside of being a love interest for Ace, so the trans representation isn’t quite all there. Still, the film also avoids fetishizing her or resorting to stereotypes for the most part.

Guitar Wolf is intriguing in this film; they are more of a collective concept than individual characters. First of all, they look cool as fuck; clad in all leather, badass sunglasses, and perfectly coiffed pompadour hairstyles. Guitar Wolf is a force of nature, neither good nor bad, as inconsistent as fate and eternal as a rock. They reach mythical status, like rock gods, and later on in the film, when Ace toots on his whistle, they are summoned to his side (with rocket launchers in tow).

Fire imagery is all over Wild Zero; it shoots out of Guitar Wolf’s microphones, jets out of the exhaust of every vehicle, and even a few of the editing transitions are just giant explosions. The pace is frenetic, even disjointed at times, mimicking punk songs’ fast and sloppy tempo. This movie has shit to do and places to see, and if the audience can’t keep up, they will be left in the dust. Bam, a meteor hits! Oh shit, there’s zombies! Now, the evil bar owner can shoot lasers out of his eyes! What the hell, there is a massive alien mother ship looming overhead?! As all this stuff is going on, for most of the film, Guitar Wolf is just jamming out in the background, providing a pulse-pounding soundtrack to the insanity.

At the end of this crazy road, in the midst of the chaos, love still finds a way, though. Ace finally achieves self-actualization and accepts his love for Tobio, and a couple who got turned into zombies rekindle their undying passion for each other. Ace gleefully shouts, “Rock ‘n Roll is NOT over, baby! Rock ‘n Roll NEVER DIES!” And he’s right; it lives on forever burning in our souls, even after the musicians have passed on and the feedback from the speakers has finally faded.

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Michelle Kisner writes about film. Keep up with her on Instagram at @robotcookie