Versus
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If you like your movies chunky-style, this is the film for you. Note: By the way, none of the characters has a name so I had to make them up.
Before the title, a samurai battles zombie swordsmen. He cuts them down only to be cut in half by a living man. Then the movie really gets going! Two escaped convicts are in a forest waiting for their ride. Convict KSC2-303 casually tosses away the dismembered hand in his cuffs. Their ride shows but they can't leave until "he" arrives. They also have a chick for "him". Tensions rise, guns are drawn and somebody I'm going to call "Snakeskin" ends up dead. But not for long. Snakeskin dispatched, again, "Giggles" experimentally shoots convict POCH-182. He also rises. KSC2-303 takes off with the chick while the thugs are occupied. To make matters worse, the gang's many victims start rising, slightly nonplused, the gang gleefully offs them again. Meanwhile KSC2-303 trades his jumpsuit for a zombie's leathers, only slightly the worse for wear and bullet holes.
"He" finally shows up and he wants to open a portal to the other side and you know that can't be good.
Versus is gruesome, gobbety fun; full of black humor and action, with no redeeming social value. Maybe a little too much action. The fights are very well done but there's just too many of them. They do mix it up. There's unarmed combat, swordfighting, and of course, good old automatic gunfire. The zombie fighting before "he" shows up goes on a bit too long but once "he" arrives the plot moves along, pausing frequently for further carnage.
Kenji Matsuda as "Giggles" was the most diverting thug. I never knew what he would do next except it wouldn't be nice. Later, "he" rips out Giggles' heart and Giggles starts running around on all fours. It is really a tour-de-whackjob.
However, the real star of Versus is the prosthetics guy. Just about everyone gets mortally wounded, some multiple times. Then there are the holes all the way through head, stomachs, and what have you. Oh, by the by, its not for the squeamish.
All in all, Versus would probably get five stars if it had a little more story for its length or a little less length for its story. As it is...
Images:
"He" (Hideo Sakaki) and KSC2-303 ( Tak Sagaguchi or Sakaguchi ) (~29K)