Review of Versus (2000) by Chris M — 17 Oct 2007

An utterly absurd, balls to the wall, action/zombie flick. This movie is obviously a complete labor of love from Kitamura as it seemingly appears that he took everything he loves in movies and mashed it together into a practically unclassifiable, over the top, camp-fest.

The plot, which is completely summed up in the opening title crawl, is absolutely irrelevant to one's enjoyment of the insanity that is to follow. Samurai, zombies, samurai zombies, yakuza, zombie yakuza with guns, crazy spider demon men, heart eating reincarnated former samurai hero turned evil, handless murdering smart-ass government agents.

.. the list goes on and on. The acting, fight choreography, and special effects all try so hard to live up to the source material they were so obviously inspired by, but never quite make it. What makes it all work is that the love and dedication of the cast and crew to their movie shows through everything.

It's completely obvious that everyone involved wanted to make an utterly over the top homage to all their favorite movie genres, damn the critics, studios, film snobs, and anyone else that doesn't share their vision.

I'd personally say they came through in spades. I don't think I've heard of anyone that's thought this movie was just "OK". It's a love hate affair, and, in the case of a zombie/yakuza/martial arts/action movie, completely understandable.