Locarno defends right to show 'gay zombie porn' flick

After "examining the film’s synopsis" and Canadian director Bruce LaBruce’s classification track record, Australian censors rejected LA.Zombie, the so-called "gay zombie porn" movie which depicts a supposed alien engaged in acts of necrophilia and features full-frontal male nudity.

Their ruling effectively barred the film from the Melbourne International Film Festival which gets underway on Thursday.

With L.A. Zombie shortly set to make its world premier at the Locarno International Film Festival (August 4-14), new artistic director Olivier Père, told Swisster: "I’ve chosen the film for its artistic value. Furthermore it’s not a pornographic film, it’s a genre movie, which plays with erotic and horror codes."

Unlike their Australian counterparts, Swiss censors are not required to pass judgement on a movie if it's to be screened at a festival rather than on general release.

"Of course we are aware that the film could shock the sensitivity of some viewers, that’s why we have taken various measures. In fact, the film will be screened at 11pm, and we will warn the audience in all our publicity material. And the film is for over 18-years-olds only," he added.

Père's communications department also emailed Swisster LaBruce’s own press release (issued in wake of the Melbourne decision), which said: "Intriguingly, the version of L.A. Zombie [also to be shown in Switzerland] that has been banned by the Australian Film Classification Board is the softcore version, which features no explicit anally penetrative sex."

"Although this version does contain a few brief shots of flaccid penises, the only erect member in the show belongs to the alien zombie, played by French porn star Francois Sagat, and it is a prosthetic (fake) cock, not the actor’s own."

The Locarno festival, famous for showing movies from the vantage point of beautiful piazza (though not LA.Zombie), recently announced acceptance of the work as an entry for the event’s Golden Leopard competition, a decision that has thus far prompted little reaction in Switzerland aside from the odd press report.

Shot in what has been described as "guerrilla" style on an extremely limited budget, L.A. Zombie stars scary looking French blue-movie specialist Sagat as the film’s protagonist. The film has already been shown at a Berlin gallery.

Judging from the trailer, the movie's universal appeal is likely to be limited. But despite its questionable subject material, the film addresses a plot flaw that has plagued the zombie genre since it first appeared in 1932 – namely, that by lumbering about at the speed of a tranquillized elephant, zombies (reanimated corpses) in reality would clearly be challenged to catch anyone.

This LaBruce appears to have finally solved by having the protagonist satisfy his pecadillos on those unfortunate victims who are already deceased, or as the director puts it: "The alien zombie proceeds to find dead bodies in Los Angeles with which he has sex in order to bring them back to life – not as zombies, but as true resurrections."

The Canadian followed that up with: "Although apparently the Australian Classification Board has no problem passing all manner of mainstream torture porn movies which feature, amongst other things, the rape and dismemberment of women, it’s interesting that they have no stomach for a movie that reaffirms life."   

"The alien zombie may or may not be a homeless schizophrenic, so the film also serves as a kind of document of the epidemic of homelessness that currently ravages the city [LA]."

One of nearly 300 films at the festival, L.A. Zombie will be screened at the Locarno International Film Festival at 11pm on August 5.