VERSUS

VERSUS (THE ULTIMATE VERSUS) (2000)
JP
Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura

CAST:
Tak Sakaguchi - Prisoner KSC2-303
Hideo Sakaki- The Man
Kenji Matsuda - Yakuza Leader

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.

REVIEW:
      This month I've reviewed  a decent amount Japanese gore films. And I'll be reviewing more next month as well. Yet with Versus, this was one of the main reasons why the whole genre of gore films really got started. Well that and Ichi The Killer. I was planning to review this last year but other things came up and it got pushed to the back. So with me reviewing so many films this month with actors that really became famous from being in Versus, and it being out for over 12 years now, I decided that I really can't wait any longer with this review. I should note that this is going to be the review for the Director's Cut, hence the other name of the film.

     I might as well start with the actors and Tak Sakaguchi as Prisoner KSC2-303 first. Sakaguchi plays a cock-sure amnesiac that knows he's a bad ass and it shows. Sakaghuchi even though was an unknown at the time made a big enough impact with this that he now is part of the Sushi Typhoon production company and has his own stuntman group called Team Zero all thanks to his role in this film, of which his role is the second most memorable in Versus. The Man, played by Hideo Sakaki is a more toned down kind of a monster. Make no mistake he is a monster. Instead of coming in and boasting of what he can do, Sakaki instead of saying all of his lines with craziness just plays it cool and collected, as if nothing surprises him. This in return makes his character truly scary. Yet the one actor that sticks out the most is Kenji Matsuda who plays the Yakuza leader. Now the reason why Masuda sticks out is because he comes on the screen and you know he's there. He chews every scene he is in and just keeps going. Another reason is his facial expressions throughout the whole film. Versus also helped make all three of these actors big manes in Asian cinema, as before Versus all were relative unknowns and the film made audiences take notice of them.

     This film was also the launching pad for director Ryuhei Kitamura as well. Before Versus, Kitamura had only made short films. In fact Versus was only supposed to be a short film as well and a sequel to Kitamura's Down To Hell. Well thankfully everyone involved agreed that Versus was strong enough and had enough meat to the story to make it a full feature length film. Even though his camera work was still lacking in some areas, you could still tell that there was something exciting and different in the look of the film. There was a movement in it that was lacking in a lot of other Asian filmmakers. Kitamura isn't afraid to get up close to the action, though sometimes the action is lost because of this The film also had a slickness to it that is missing in most horror films, and action movies as well. My problem with Versus visual wise is that the first 15 or so minutes of it, the film looks to be shot on a home camera with to much grain and a blurriness that is persistent. Thankfully the film becomes sharper looking and more in focus as it goes on. I should point out that since this was Ultimate Versus, which means it really is the director's cut of the film, over 10 minutes was put into the film that was shot four years later and added to the movie. These scenes stick out the most due to the look of them is more stylized and quicker paced. Thankfully they blend in very well into the film itself and it doesn't break the flow of the film apart to much.

     Now the reason why Versus is one of those movies that stick out above the rest is because of what it does and is. What it does is blend multiple genres seamlessly. It takes martial arts and combines it with the horror genre without losing the impact of either one. It also blends humor and action into the mix as well, which also has been done before also. Now while combining horror and martial arts is nothing new, it's the addition of all of the above that sets this one apart from all that came before it. The film knows that all that is going on is outrageous and over the top and it doesn't apologize for any of it. Now while there is plot holes in the story. Okay, make that big plot holes. But yet after awhile you don't care about the stuff that makes no sense because you're having to much fun watching all hell break looses on the screen. From Yakuza assassins that come out of nowhere to destroy all in their path to zombies that use guns against those that buried them in the forest, it all makes sense in a weird way, no matter what odd thing shows up out of nowhere, and there is plenty. This is a cult movie for a reason, plus a launching pad for multiple people involved in it. Yet one the main things this film accomplished is it was one of the movies that helped start of a brand new genre in Asian cinema, not J-horror as that was around even before this, but the Japanese gore genre and brought it to the fore front to let people know that all rules can be broken.  Now lets all hope the sequel is realized this year! 

BEST DEATH:
     Open upper jaw surgery thanks to a right fist.

BEST LINE:
     Yeah......But this place is fucked up.

FUN FACTS:
     One of the thugs was shot dead at the beginning of the movie, because the director disliked the actor portraying him.

     In the scene where Tak Sakaguchi's character holds a pistol in his mouth, the director originally called for him to rack the slide with his teeth. He tried this, and broke a tooth. One of the zombies was played by a dentist, and fixed it for him.

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

JIGOKU KOSHIEN

JIGOKU KOSHIEN (BATTLEFIELD BASEBALL) (HELL STADIUM) (2003)
JP
Directed by Yudai Yamaguchi

CAST:
Tak Sakaguchi - Yakyu Jubei
Atsushi Ito - Megane
Hideo Sakaki - Hoichi

PLOT:
     Battlefield Baseball is a tough game--it doesn't end until all the members on the opposing team are dead.

REVIEW:
      Before starting the reviews this year, I decided to try and see more Japanese and Asian horror films. Well last year I didn't get to review a lot of the ones I had as I concentrated more on more recent movies than trying to get a good mixture of new and older movies. Well so far this year I seem to be doing a better job at keeping the mix at a decent level of new, old , and Asian. Now I know that Asian horror has the same downfalls as all horror films. Yet for some reason, bad Asian horror films are just easier to watch it seems. That's a hint of what's to come with this review.

     Well this was one of those movies I knew nothing about, but decided to watch it due to it has Tak Sakaguchi in it. Well let me take that one back for a second. I knew the movie was about baseball of some type. I just wasn't expecting what I saw though. The camera work had some interesting shots yet nothing really stood out as most of the time the cinematographer did a adequate job at best. The sound design was actually above average for a movie of this caliber. One would have suspected that it would have been really bad, but the sound design was definitely one the more stand out qualities of Battlefield Baseball. One of the weirder things I noticed in the movie was the characters that were from Gedo High reminded me a lot of old 80's  Troma movies, where the look of the characters were more of the radiated punk style. Not just their looks but the way characters acted and behaved as well.

     Now I have to talk about the acting. The reason why is I put it that way is because I know the actors, and most of them can actually act due to I've seen them in roles where they have to act.  Tak Sakaguchi, who plays Jubei, I think had the most fun in his role as the delinquent baseball hero. The reason why is because one moment he has to act the bad ass, the next he has to look like he just discovered a pot of gold. I will say that Sakaguchi has a screen presence that usually comes off the screen, though in this one it just seems hidden and misplaced. Hideo Sakaki is the one actor I had the most problem placing in the whole film. It wasn't until I realized that he was the one who was bandaged up the whole movie that I laughed. As usual Sakaki plays the true bad guy. I love Sakaki's makeup in this movie as it reminds me of a true anime character, as well as almost all of his lines as most are so over the top that you just have to laugh.

     Okay, I'm not going to beat around with this last part. The movie was just god awful. Yet, it was so bad that it was hilarious. Every action the characters do is so overdone, that it's telegraphed before they do it. The story is all about a delinquent who has giving up baseball due to his ability to throw a ball at speeds of a bullet which killed his father while playing catch. Even with his dad was wearing a glove half the size of his body. Another weird aspect is one of the characters, Bancho. Bancho dies three times throughout the movie and each time he comes back his look has changed to someone younger with no explanation of how. The rival baseball team is made up of zombies and monsters, and one zombie in particular carries around a dried out cadaver and uses as a puppet. Later on toward the end the Dried Out Cadaver is n a fist fight with Jubei which just adds to the over exaggerated aspect to everything that is this movie. Battlefield Baseball is so full of out of the blue scenes, including a musical number and a family revelation that it's impossible to actually keep a straight face during. Yet the one scene that made me laugh at the complete blatancy, is when the character Jubei breaks the 4th wall and describes the positive effects of baseball. Either the director is a genius for making a movie he knew was so terrible he tried to make it as funny as possible, or he really had no idea he was making one the worst movie I've seen in a long time. Either way, I laughed throughout the entire movie.


BEST DEATH:
     The amazing catch only to find out the ball is rigged by the unsuspecting player.

BEST LINE:
     This is Gedo High's new weapon, the poisoned bat named "Poison Bat."

FUN FACTS:
     The movie is referenced in Ban The Sadist Video (2005).

     The movie was based on the manga by Gataro Man.

     Ryuhei Kitamura produced the film while also releasing three of his films in the same year. These films include; Aragami, Azumi, and Skyhigh.

     The manga was recently remade as Deadball for the Sushi Typhoon production company last year with Tak Sakaguchi returning as the lead character Yakyu Jubei and Yudai Yamaguchi returning to the director's chair.

SENTO SHOJO: CHI NO TEKKAMEN DENSETU

SENTO SHOJO: CHI NO TEKKAMEN DENSETU (MUTANT GIRL SQUAD) (2010)
JP
Directed by: Noboru Iguchi
                   Yoshihiro Nishimura
                   Tak Sakaguchi

CAST:
Yumi Sugimoto - Rin
Suzuka Morita - Yoshie
Yuko Takayama - Rei

PLOT:
     Rin, a sixteen-year-old mutant girl, meets a gang of rebel mutants who aim to take revenge on humans for persecuting their race.

REVIEW:
     While Japan has been no stranger to over the top gore in their movies, it is only in the past 10 years or so that it's truly become a sub-genre of it's own. Even though Takashi Miike has been doing films with plenty of gore and over the top action set pieces, it wasn't really until Miike's Ichi The Killer and Ryuhei Kitmura's Versus was released in Japan and in the states that this genre of movies became popular cult films. One of the key features in these films is how quickly they can be filmed and released while inventing new and even more over the top gross out gags that rivals Troma pictures itself.

     While the acting at most was average for the most part, some of the actors stood out more than the others, and not always in a good way. Tak Sakaguchi, who also directed the first segment of the movie, plays the transvestite Hiruko leader Kisaragi, and is for the most part subdued except for at the end when he just goes overboard with trying to act like he has an ultimate power. Yet, it is fun to watch him though. Naota Takenaka on the other hand is just so over the top in his roll as the head of the Anti-Hiruko Task Force Koshimizu. Now when you first see him it doesn't seem that way. Yet right before his character is killed he stops to pick up a bowl of food and comment on it while bleeding from the forehead. I could swear he was trying not to laugh throughout the entire scene. Mutant Girl Squad is just filled with so much bad acting that it get's so where you just stop caring how bad most everyone is, specially the extras that are killed, and you just start to have fun watching it.

     As for the movie itself, the best way I can put it is to compare it to a Troma movie but yet better special effects for most of it except for after Astro-mutant starts cutting off it's own limbs. I am not joking about that either. First it cuts off it's hands which is still capable of being controlled and then the feet get cut off just to keep on kicking someone in the face repeatedly for at least two minutes. All this is going on while Astro-mutant is doing its own self-propelled act in mid-air with jets of flame coming out of it's body where the hands and feet were. I will admit that toward the beginning of the movie to me is the best scene which is after Rin goes mutant for the first time and she goes on a rage fueled rampage through a shopping center. So many different characters are seen in this part that it becomes a blur (which might be why I like this scene the best). Also during this scene weapons are used that I have never seen trying to be used as a weapon before. For example, a corncob is used for a weapon, or at least tried to be used. Yet the weirdest weapon was a human being being used as a type of sword.

     As the movie is filmed by three different directors, each of the three acts have a different feel to them. The first act directed by Tak Sakaguchi feels the most together and complete. This might be because it's also the least weird out of all the segments in which Rin is introduced and how she's is basically a ball of rage just simmering at the breaking point. The second act is when we're introduced to the rest of the Hiruko and is hinted at just how weird the movie is going to get. It is also the last time in the movie that the story makes any sense for the most part. The third act is when the movie goes completely off the rails and becomes a live action anime in every sense of the word. The character Kisaragi becomes a monster. It is also in this act that the special effects go from mostly practical which I loved about the first two acts, to mostly CG which just ruins the feel of the movie which was one of fun to one of overt sloppiness. While the movie is nowhere near as bad as the worst movie I've seen, it's also a movie best left to be watched with friends, like let's say a bad movie night viewing. I do have to admit though that I was laughing after about the first five minutes and didn't stop until the movie was finished, even with all the "WHAT THE FUCK" moments and really bad dialogue throughout.

BEST DEATH:
     Eyepatch Assassin impaled through rectum by her own sword. It's also a homage to Cannibal Holocaust.

 

BEST LINE:
     This is Lemme's Butt-Sword. A sharp matter, huh?

FUN FACTS:
     At the Stiges Film Festival Mutant Girl Squad won the award for Best Motion Picture in the Midnight X-Treme section.

     For the Japanese DVD release of the film, Noboru Iguchi created a short prequel film titled Yoshie Zero that focuses on Suzuka Morita's character.

     Each director directed one third of the film with Sakaguchi directing the first part, Iguchi the second and Nishimura the third.