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| Release Date: | April 12, 2002 (US) |
| Runtime: | 119 min |
| Rated: | R |
| Genres: | Action, Comedy, Horror, Fantasy |
| Directed by: | Ryuhei Kitamura |
| Written by: | Ryuhei Kitamura, Yudai Yamaguchi |
| Starring: | Hideo Sakaki, Chieko Misaka, Toshiro Kamiaka, Kenji Matsuda, Minoru Matsumoto |
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 From the days of Classic Horror to the madmen at Spuffjockey’s Cult Movies and now even at Movie Compound, I’ve been told of a renowned copy of action goodness that couldn’t be missed by any movie fan. It took me over two years to get my hands on a copy of the Japanese cult classic Versus, and I can say it was actually worth the wait; however, it wasn’t in the way I intended to enjoy it by all means.
Careful not to spoil anything about this bizarre cult classic, I’ll try to sum up the movie the best I can. Basically, two criminals escape from a prison and are rendezvousing with an unidentified gang to help the fugitives escape the remote dark forest they are fleeing the cops in. However, personalities clash between the gang and one of the unknown fugitives over a girl and a gang member is killed. The only problem is that he immediately reanimates before all present and attacks in good ole fashioned zombie tradition. The bunch of hooligans and two criminals join together in killing the living-dead gangster and now realize that there is much more involved in their meeting here. Turns out the forest is some sort of evil portal that an ancient stranger has been leading this group into to enable him to open all the gates and control the world. One of the mysterious fugitives ends up becoming the last hope for the world in this epic horrifying shoot-em-up flick.
The plot for Versus goes into a lot more depth of oddity as it goes along, and take it from me, it has very little stability to hold its own without all the blood and gore throughout the film. The movie tries to take itself very seriously as a piece of action and that’s where it foremost fails as a good movie. Scenes of terror end up becoming scenes of comedy as the script gets more and more lame as the movie progresses through the extensive two hours of run time. The budget is primarily spent on the makeup and silly gore scenes that make this such a cult phenomenon. Due to the Japanese language barrier, I can’t judge all the acting through the film based on dubbing alone, but from what little you get out of it, it’s easy to assume the Academy won’t be calling them for best foreign language film.
But none of this really matters for a movie of this caliber. It is still very cool, and deserves its distinctive glory. Versus is the film you wish you could film yourself in the backyard when you were ten years old. The action scenes are fairly weak but have enough flair that you can dig them in the end. The story, despite how pot-holed it is, is pretty amusing and involves some cool characteristics like a twist ending and flashback sequences. The characters are distinguishable also which leaves you with a good impression of their purpose in the movie. I was personally pleased with Hideo Sakaki who did a great job playing the menacing villain of the movie. But what really drives this movie is the bloody mess that it is. This film makes Evil Dead 2 look like an Olsen Twin made-for-TV movie when it comes to obscene horror. If that’s what you’re into that’s what this movie is all about.
Now, would I recommend this movie to anyone else dumb enough to wait two years to see it? Hell yeah I would. Versus is radical and hilarious! It should remain a cult hit and spawn better sequels down the road in its genre of films like Evil Dead and Battle Royale.
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