Versus (2000) May 19, 2007
Posted by Cal in : Blogroll, Horror, Action, Supernatural , trackbackDirector: Ryuhei Kitamura Cast: Tak Sakaguchi, Hideo Sakaki, Kenji Matsuda, Chieko Misaka Territory: Japan
AKA: The Forest of Resurrection
A couple of recently escaped convicts (including Tak Sakaguchi) rendezvous with their Yakuza cohorts on the outskirts of a forest. The convict is not too pleased that they’ve brought along a female they’ve kidnapped (Chieko Misaka) for no readily apparent reason. Shots are exchanged, and the convict’s partner goes down. And gets back up again. It turns out that anyone who dies in the Forest of Resurrection (which is placed over the 444th portal to the land of the dead) will return to an undead state. The trouble is, the Yakuza have been using the forest to bury the bodies of their dead victims, and when they return to life they’re not in a forgiving mood. Which in itself is bad enough, but then the boss of the Yakuza shows up and it becomes apparent he’s more than he appears to be, and holds the answer to why the convict and the girl have been brought here.
Versus is a bit of a “difficult” film for a number of reasons, not least because no one is ever referred to by name. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film in which not one name is uttered by anyone for the entire length of a film. Another problem is that I’m sure there are some cultural references I’m still just not getting. The final one I’ve started to come to terms with – Versus has some blacker than black comedy that will leave some completely nonplussed. Comedy is perhaps the hardest thing to translate and put across to a foreign audience, and on first viewing I thought this was as straight a film as you could make. Now, I find it hard to believe I ever had that view – at times, Versus is bloody hilarious.
It’s also one of the goriest films I’ve seen, and the gore effects are pretty damn good. An army of zombies is dispatched early on in a bloodbath that would turn Romero green with envy. And it doesn’t stop there – with Yakuza, immortal swordsmen and zombies about, you can be sure there’s enough of the red stuff thrown around to keep even the bloodiest gorehound happy. It also has a lot of Kung Fu (yes, in a Japanese film) which is pretty effective most of the time, but is let down by poor wirework. Unfortunately, this seems to be the Achilles heel of the action scenes in that the wires are pretty much always visible.
It’s also a little overlong (at just under 2 hours) and the relentless woodland setting (apart from a brief car interior shot and the coda, the entire film takes place outdoors in the forest) can be a bit much. And it can still be a trifle confusing. But I’d have to say that Versus worked a hell of a lot better second time around.
Comments»
Yes, after reading quite a few reports that Versus was shit-hot I found myself slightly disappointed after getting to see it, perhaps due to unreasonably heightened expectations (I think sometimes an excessive combination of action and gore can stimulate the wrong kinds of crowds to loudly make their opinions known, e.g. teenagers, distorting accurate general perception somewhat). It certainly doesn’t help when nobody has an audible name, plus the limited use of locations can be tedious as you suggest (although occasionally something like that can work in a film’s favour), but I’ll try and give it another go at some point.
On first viewing, I was hoping for a zombie-fest along the lines of the Evil Dead (the back of the box sort of hinted in that direction) so when I saw it I too was disappointed too. Without those expectations, and knowing its limitations, I found Versus one hell of a lot more enjoyable. Apparently, they’re now working on a sequel!