Versus (2000/II)

Director:

Ryûhei Kitamura

Writers:

Ryûhei Kitamura
Yûdai Yamaguchi

Release Date:

20 February 2002 (France)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Horror

Tagline:

Witness a battle no one has ever seen

Plot:

There are 666 portals that connect this world to the other side. These are concealed from all human beings. Somewhere in Japan exists the 444th portal.... The forest of resurrection.

Plot Keywords:

Forest | Escaped Convict | Samurai | Back From The Dead | Zombie

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Tak Sakaguchi	...	Prisoner KSC2-303
Hideo Sakaki	...	The Man
Chieko Misaka	...	The Girl
Kenji Matsuda	...	Yakuza Leader with butterfly knife
Yuichiro Arai	...	Motorcycle-riding yakuza with revolver
Minoru Matsumoto	...	Crazy yakuza with amulet
Kazuhito Ohba	...	Yakuza with glasses
Takehiro Katayama	...	Red-haired assassin
Ayumi Yoshihara	...	Long-haired female assassin
Shôichirô Masumoto	...	One-handed cop
Toshiro Kamiaka	...	Samurai warrior
Yukihito Tanikado	...	Cop with Barrett
Hoshimi Asai	...	Short-haired female assassin
Ryosuke Watabe	...	Yakuza zombie in alligator-skin coat
Motonari Komiya	...	Other prisoner
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Reika Kirishima

Directed by
Ryûhei Kitamura

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ryûhei Kitamura
Yûdai Yamaguchi

Produced by
Hideo Nishimura	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Nobuhiko Morino

Cinematography by
Takumi Furuya

Film Editing by
Shûichi Kakesu

Makeup Department
Susumu Nakatani	....	special makeup effects artist

Sound Department
Matt Hovland	....	assistant sound engineer
Kenji Shibazaki	....	sound

Stunts
Hiroyuki Yoshida	....	utility stunts

Other crew
David Beinlich	....	video encoding
Christian Alexander Moran	....	post-production project manager
Yûji Shimomura	....	action director

Production Companies

• KSS
• Suplex
• WEVCO Produce Company
• napalm FiLMS

Distributors

• AV Channel (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Lolistar (France)
• Madman Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (all media)
• Media Blasters (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Media Blasters (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Millennium Storm (2006) (Italy) (video)
• Miramax Films (USA)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Tartan Video (2003) (UK) (DVD)
• Tokyo Shock (2009) (USA) (DVD) (blu-ray)
• WE Productions (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• e-m-s the DVD-Company

Special Effects

• Kid's Company (special makeup effects)
• NTT Media Lab

Other Companies

• U'Den Flame Works  stunts

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for strong pervasive violence and gore, and language (cut)

Runtime:

119 min | Australia:115 min | South Korea:102 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Germany:18 (cut) | Germany:Not Rated | South Korea:18 | Finland:K-18 (self applied) (2004) | Australia:R | France:-16 | Japan:PG-12 | New Zealand:R18 | UK:18 | USA:R (cut) | USA:Unrated | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

KSS

Trivia:

First considered and even advertised as a sequel to Kitamura's movie Down to Hell (1997) with the title 'Down 2 Hell'. But because of the many fights in front and behind the camera Kitamura changed the title to 'Versus'.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: One of the detectives says (in the subtitled version) that he was trained at FBI HQ at Langley. Langley is the headquarters of the CIA, not the FBI. This fits the character, though, who seems to lie about his abilities throughout the movie.

Quotes:

Fighter:You'll never hit me with a bullet that slow.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004) (VG)

Zombies vs. Yakuza

You can't beat that combination, unless you add in ninjas, or samurai... or Godzilla, but zombies and yakuza alone make a very compelling film, even if it has no sensible plot.

The storyline is simple enough - prisoners escape, get double crossed, then find out they're in a "forest of resurrection" full of zombies that don't like yakuza very much. That's all you really need to know.

Sit back and relax as you watch hilarious gory and impossibly bad acting. The movie is based on its visual appeal alone, forget the plot and the characters, watch the fight scenes, the strange standoffs, bad monologues, and hideously bad acting.

There are parts, however, where the movie drags on a bit. Killing zombies, even though enormously awesome, does become monotonous after an extended period. But these lulls are few and far between them. The action definitely keeps you hooked for most of the film.

Overall? Great action film.

7/10