Versus

There are 666 concealed portals that connect the world of the living to the world of the dead. In Japan, two prisoners runaway through the Forest of Resurrection, where the 444th portal is located, to meet a group of criminals that had organized their escape. One of the convicts sees a kidnapped young woman and argues with the leader of the gangsters. There is a shooting, and one of the mobsters is killed. However, a couple of minutes later, the dead rises and attacks his former mates. They realize the resurrection power of the forest, and the criminals become concerned, since they used the location to dump their victims in the spot. Suddenly they are attacked by a great number of zombies and have to fight to survive. But when the boss of the gangsters arrives, the survivor prisoner sees that his fate is to fight against his opponent.

The cult "Versus" is a gruesome, insane, gore and bizarre zombie movie. The brainless non-sense story is shot in one location in the woods, is full of action, very funny, fast paced and entertaining, with great choreography of the fights. The anti-hero has killed forty-three persons, faces very cruel bad guys (but we never hear their names), rescues the girl saying that he is feminist, but hits her head every time he needs to fight, meaning all the time. The leader of the bad guys with the knife is very funny and I had a lot of fun with this original film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Portal da Ressurreição" ("The Portal of Resurrection")

Note: On 08 Dec 2020 I saw this film again.

This movie, while made to be an action type with some subtle humor, grades pretty low to folks looking for an action movie to snuggle up with and watch alone. This movie is much, much more fun to watch with others, preferably with a sense of humor.

If you're not a fan of action, and are looking for anything remotely deep and meaningful, look someplace else.

The movie is shot entirely in a forest setting, with the times shifting from morning to twilight frequently.

The action is very well put together despite being on an obvious low budget. I recommend this movie to anyone with a few hours to kill with a few friends.

I hesitated long before I finally decided to see this movie. "Battle Royale" had been my last positive experience with Asian cinema and movies like "The Eye" and "Uzumaki" really turned me off. Besides, I was getting tired of martial arts and feared that "Versus" is going to be one long, boring opera of Kung Fu fighting. Thank God, the movie could prove me wrong. "Versus" is more a parody than anything else, but with really good fighting scenes. I compared the movie with "Evil Dead" in the headline, because obviously both movies play in the woods, feature zombies and don't lack humor. They have something else in common. Both flicks were made with little budget, which you don't see at all. The special effects, the actors and the directors in "Versus" are top noch. I can't point out enough, how much I appreciate the comedy aspect of the movie and how the makers managed to mix that comedy with action and story. The ending is a little controversial.

SPOILERS:

My explanation is that 99 years later, the good brother turned evil and the reincarnation of the villain is now good. If there's a deeper meaning behind that, then it may be that every man that is given power will abuse this power. The ending could also say that established things will eventually turn bad until they are knocked over by new and fresh ideas.

END OF SPOILERS & PHILOSOPHIC THOUGHTS.

The only bad thing I can say about the movie is that it could have been a little shorter. Also, the story lacked logic at times, but story is not what "Versus" is about. It's about fun and gore and, boy, you get both!

To begin with please don't take this film as serious, as you will be let down. It is in fact a very fun film, which you should really just hop on for the ride as it has some great moments that made me laugh out loud. I'm a big fan of eastern movies, and feel that it stands out on its own due to the combination of styles going on, from the zombie attacks to the samuri / yazuka influence. It travels along at a great pace, the only bad thing about this is the sour taste left in the poor ending, but take that away and its great, and i would say to anyone that they should give it a go, but please watch it with a smile on your face. The sound track is also very good and if anyone knows if it has been released i would love to find out.

This movie actually turned out to be cooler than I expected. I really didn't know what to expect when I was first about to watch this. I only knew it had some zombies,and had something to do with a portal and reincarnation. Its also totally campy, very bloody and gory, and one of the more memorable characters in it. The guy who runs around and screams all the time is hilarious. The dialog is cheesy. It has a decent story to it. Its just a fun movie. The visuals will keep you glued by themselves. This is a very low budget movie, but just remember , if you go to watch it, have no expectations. This movie will make you say " What the F" more than make you think. There is also a nice shot at Matrix movies too. Pretty cool movie and I in no way expected the movie to end the way it did. I wonder if there is more to come?