VERSUS (Japan, 2000)
Directed by: Ryuhei Kitamura
Starring: Tak Sakaguchi, Hideo Sakaki, Chieko Misaka, Minoru Matsumoto

No meaning, no sense, no redeeming features whatsoever, VERSUS is best described by its director as: NON-STOP, FREE-FALL ULTRAVIOLENCE ACTION ENTERTAINMENT! Does it describe a political situation? Only if by “politics” you mean “Zombie Monster All-Out Attack!” and by “situation” you mean, “Ultra Cool, Badass Attitude Brutal Combat with Swords and Feet.” This is the high octane cinematic moonshine that launched director Ryuhei Kitamura to international celebrity after years in the no-budget trenches and it’s also the movie that kick-started the careers of co-writer Yudai Yamaguchi and its star and action choreographer, Tak Sakaguchi. So how do you make this celluloid cocktail? Take five Yakuza thugs, two escaped convicts, one evil wizard, and a forest full of gun-toting zombies. Mix with gasoline and serve. High on style, low on budget, delivering non-stop, blood-spurting fun, it's Sam Raimi's EVIL DEAD for a new millennium.

Prisoner KSG-301 escapes from the slammer with one bracelet of a handcuff clamped around his right wrist, the other end clamped around some poor sap's severed arm. A fashion-forward yakuza gang is supposed to get him to safety, but they insist on hanging out and waiting for the boss, passing the time by tormenting a random female hostage. They're getting on KSG-301's nerves, he tells them to stop, they won't, there's a short, sharp eruption of violence and the yakuza guys wind up in the dirt with sucking chest wounds.

Movie over? Not quite. See, this is a magic forest, and the recently deceased yakuza come back to life, and KSG-301 and the hostage make a run for it, with a growing army of kung fu kicking zombies on their tails. Proving just how far a determined director with a simple goal, a shameless cast, and some cool ideas for new ways to kill zombies can go, VERSUS has nothing on its mind but pure cinematic anarchy. Irredeemable, inexcusable, indefensible - but undeniably fun!