The plot is so simple as to be almost classically schematic. Eunsik (Chang Jung Lim) is a nerdy, wide-eyed freshman law school student hopelessly prone to accidents and embarrassment in the best Jerry Lewis tradition. (The actor playing him is obviously too old for the part, his age explained in a line that military service prevented him from entering university earlier.) He instantly falls in love with beautiful college senior Eunhyo (Korean scream queen Ji-won Ha), who's practicing for a national aerobics championship.

He falls head-over-heels, but she falls in with slimy ne'er-do-well Sangwook, a roguish character straight out of one of those sappy Korean soap operas, who caddishly dumps girlfriend Jiwon (Jae-yeong Jin) for casual sex with Eunhyo. The film inter-cuts this story with the adventures of their pals, the girls and guys in the same dormitories: clubbing, singing karaoke and, of course, getting horny and having sex (or, more frequently, masturbating).

The film is nothing if not outrageous. The first half-hour includes everything from realistic drunken vomiting (immediately followed by slurpy French kisses) to pan-fried sperm accidentally consumed (with rat poison) after being mistaken for a fried egg. Don't expect this at your local church social.

Things take an expectedly abrupt turn into melodrama near the end, featuring an abortion and a freaked-out parent, but it's not clear if we're supposed to take any of it too seriously, particularly with its self-parody retro soundtrack of disco and Bread songs mixed with cutaways to humor that undermines even the most intense dramatic scenes. (And boy howdy, Koreans seem to love to wail in agony!)

The picture is appropriately fast and loud, with tight close-ups of beautiful bodies every ten seconds (imagine Phoebe Cates coming out of that pool x 1,000) to keep at least one-half of its audience glued to the screen, though a little more effort at creating interesting characters instead of genre stereotypes would have helped. The film was a colossal hit in its native Korea, reportedly out-grossing (in more ways than one) Titanic three-to-one. All those boob shots couldn't have hurt.

Video & Audio

After several knock-out releases, Panik House disappoints with a 4:3 LBX (1.85:1) widescreen transfer that looks okay but is not enhanced. (The Korean DVD is 16:9.) Fortunately, the image can be zoomed / reformatted for most widescreen TVs without cutting off the good English subtitles. Menu screens and subtitles are offered in English and Spanish, with the choice of aggressive 5.1 and 2.0 surround mixes.

Extra Features

There's no faulting Panik House here. Sex Is Zero is crammed with supplements, more than 90 minutes worth of video extras along, many carried over from the Korean DVD. Behind-the-Scenes: The Making of Sex Is Zero runs 40 minutes, while Memories of Sex Is Zero: An Interview with the Director and Cast (23 minutes) catches up with the gang and their careers since the hit film. Both are full frame.

There's also 20 minutes of Bloopers & Outtakes and seven minutes worth of Deleted Scenes, as well as two Trailers and some sort of music promo. The Poster & Still Gallery, Production Notes, Press Kit, and Biographies are modest but worthwhile.

Finally, there are two Audio Commentary Tracks: an English one featuring Mike McPadden and "Mr. Skin" of The Howard Stern Show, while a Spanish track, not subtitled, features Jesus "El Pelos" Olvera, editor of something called El Pelos.

Parting Thoughts

Sex is Zero is not a good film, but it does deliver the goods by raunchy sex comedy standards, and it's interesting to see another country's take on a much-overworked genre.

Stuart Galbraith IV is a Kyoto-based film historian whose work includes The Emperor and the Wolf - The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune and Taschen's forthcoming Cinema Nippon. Visit Stuart's Cine Blogarama here.