Junk: Shiryô-gari

Although severely outclassed by later films like "Wild Zero" and "Versus," "Junk" is still a worthwhile foray into the zombie genre, which seems to be getting a transfusion of much needed new blood over in Japan. The characters in this film are either selfish and unlikeable or simply cliche, which is the real drawback to the film. It prevents any sort of tension or emotional involvement. At the same time, there is a half-naked super zombie woman kicking people's heads off and breaking out some serious undead kungfu, so who can really complain? Decent gore, some good action, and a high energy level elevate the movie above the mundane script and characters, resulting in an above average time waster that delights in the end. If you're expecting the cuteness of "Wild Zero" or "Dead Alive," or the apocalyptic impact of "Dawn of the Dead," you're better off watching those movies. If you're looking for no-nonsense, gory, idiotic zombie fun with some gun toting Yakzua thrown in, this movie is aces.

Junk (2000) was one of the new wave zombie films to come from Japan during the turn of the century. Like the others it was made on the cheap but highly entertaining. This film's about an experiment gone awry (can't those scientists get anything right?). The gore level is very high and it features two very unlikely heroes and some hot Japanese ladies. Why can't they make zombie films like this in the United States instead of rubbish like Resident Evil (which parts of this movie were taken from). Junk (like Score) was partially shot in English. I love this movie and I know you will to.

Highly recommended

George A. Romero would be pleased.

Did I mention there were two hot Japanese ladies in the picture?

After a robbery,a group of thieves meets up with the Yakuza at an old abandoned factory in order to exchange money and jewels.However unknown to them the factory was an old military facility which was working on reanimating the dead.And they succeeded,meaning the factory is loaded with bloodthirsty zombies."Junk" is slowly getting a minor cult following,because it has creepy,old-style zombies that are a combination of Romero/Fulci/O'Bannon's zombies.The gore is plentiful and the feel of the film is very reminiscent of the Italian gut-munchers of the late 1970/early 1980 period.The film doesn't take itself too seriously and is pretty silly at times.There is plenty of gory mayhem on display-lots of headshots,zombies biting parts of their victims and eating intestines etc."Junk" is extremely entertaining,so fans of Japanese horror or zombie cinema won't be disappointed.

"Junk" is as it's own name suggests, well junk really. A low budget Japanese zombie film that can neither impress with great visual effects nor strong acting or plot. But what does do and does well in my opinion, is to recreate the feeling and entertainment value of eighties Italian zombie flicks. In other words "Junk" is trashy fun.

After successfully pulling of a jewelry heist the group of four robbers head of towards an abandoned warehouse where the supposed buyer would be. Unknowingly to both parties, that same place was the dumping ground for a failed American military experiment on bringing the dead back to life. Needless to say what happens when our heroes arrive. It's a simple well known plot that doesn't demand any form of thinking. You just sit-down with a beer-pack and some popcorn in hand and enjoy the on screen carnage. The unpretentious design is what holds "Junk's" charm and of course the violence does also help in that matter.

The acting again in the spirit of Italian horror leaves something to be desired. The Japanese actors did relatively well for this sort of film. Which basically means they didn't get on my nerves with absurd performances or just monotonic line reading. American actors on the other hand were awful, unbearable. Director Atsushi Muroga should have written their characters off plot and sticked with only Japanese actors. The reason for the bad performance does not fully fall on the actors's hands. In this case it's easy to see that the language barrier and Muroga's inability to properly direct the English speaking cast due to his own apparent lack of knowledge in that language are the true problems.

The action is fairly good. Practically most of the movie's running time is filled with shootouts, zombie attacks or both combined. Muroga keeps a fast pace and with a short running time "Junk" doesn't get boring. As any other zombie movie so is this one packed with gore. Necks bitten, legs and arms cut off, people being eaten, heads smashed it's got the needed ingredients to deliver a fun experience.

Atsushi Muroga' "Junk" makes for a delightful yet forgettable zombie film. Mainstream audience should definitely pass the chance on seeing it. But highly recommendable to fans of the trashy low-budget horror genre.

I like Junk: sure, it's extremely derivative stuff (female super-zombie aside, of course), but it has absolutely no pretensions, delivering fans of your more traditional shuffling undead all the gut-munching, brain-blasting action that they could ask for.

The plot sees a gang of amateur jewel thieves (including sexy getaway driver Saki) bite off more than they can chew when they arrange their meeting with a Yakuza fence and his men at an abandoned factory: the derelict building is, in fact, a top secret army base where experiments in raising the dead have resulted in flesh-eating zombies, and it's not long before the criminals are fighting for their lives against hordes of mouldy walking cadavers.

This weak set up is simply an excuse for a series of violent gun-fights and bloody encounters with manky zombies, so it is easy to forgive the silly script, many glaring plot-holes and terrible acting (particularly from a handful of westerners, playing US Army dudes). Director Atsushi Muroga (who also directed jewellery-heist-gone-wrong action flick Score) wisely keeps the action flowing thick and fast, and ensures that gore-hounds are kept happy with plenty of splattery effects.

Eventually, things get very daft indeed, with the aforementioned super-zombie stealing the show in the film's finale: wearing thigh high kinky boots, this surprisingly sexy corpse runs rings around the surviving gang members, before being shot in the head. Unfortunately, this only makes matters worse: the she-zombie becomes even stronger (and, inexplicably, albino!), fighting on after having been completely cut in half!!!

Cool, crazy, and covered in blood, this undemanding undead actioner is recommended to those who want to switch off their brain and simply enjoy some gory mayhem.