Junk: Shiryô-gari

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.

In an abandoned factory on the Japanese island of Okinawa, the U.S. army secretly developed a serum called "DNX" that is able to bring the dead back to life. Something went wrong and all scientists were killed. Now meet Saki and her gang. They just robbed a jeweller and are on their way to meet some Yakuza for a big deal. Guessed their meeting point? It doesn't take long time and an army of bloodthirsty zombies is after them. Soon everybody is running and fighting for his life...

20 years after the heydays of ultra-gory Italian zombie movies, the Japanese start to produce somehow very similar movies like this one. Heavily influenced by such films as George A. Romero's zombie trilogy, Italian and Spanish shockers from the late 70's and early 80's and the 1992 Japanese film "Living Dead in Tokyo Bay", this is a fun splatter film, and as such it delivers what fans would expect. The gory special effects are done very well most of the time - if you can't stand dismemberment, heads blown into pieces and gut-munching zombies, stay far away! On the other side, splatter movie fans will have plenty of fun with this movie.

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.

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.

Mooshing together the "Reservoir Dogs" plot with a dose of "Re-Animator" and "Dawn of the Dead", this concerns a bunch of diamond thieves who meet up with mobsters at an abandoned military base, only to be ambushed by the living dead. Gleefully fast-paced, with zombies resembling the ones featured in "City of the Walking Dead"...i.e. the zombies look like they have mud all over their faces. Good gory fun, without the hassle of a plot. Too bad there ain't more of this kind of stuff these days. Most of the zombie stuff of late (House of the Dead, Resident Evil) treat zombies as just another shoot-'em-up element. Here they are the thrust of the story...what story there is.