is a 2000

2000 in film

The year 2000 in film involved some significant events.The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible II. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor ....

 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese action

Action film

Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...

/horror film

Horror film

Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 directed by Ryuhei Kitamura

Ryuhei Kitamura

-External links:*...

.

Synopsis

After escaping from police custody, Prisoner KSC2-303 and a fellow escapee join with a group of mobsters in a forest that is one of the 666 portals that act as a connection between this world and the next, called "The Forest of Resurrection." After being attacked by the mobsters, Prisoner KSC2-303 flees with a girl, whom the mobsters kidnapped for unknown reasons, into the forest and they give chase. While in this forest KSC2-303 begins to forget things and recall strange events he's never experienced. Meanwhile, the mobsters are forced to contend with all of the men they have killed and buried in the forest as they become reanimated as zombies. The leader of the mobsters appears and speaks cryptically of the power of the "Forest of Resurrection" and begins to seek out KSC2-303 and the girl as well. Upon encountering the man, KSC2-303 is reminded of his past life and the past conflict with this man and of his destiny in this life: to protect the girl from the man. This is an ages-old conflict that has been recurring in a cycle involving all of their reincarnation

Reincarnation

Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...

s.

The Ultimate Versus

In 2004, Kitamura and most of the original cast and crew went back into the woods and filmed new scenes to further realize Kitamura’s vision of the film. Namely, to bring a fuller version of a film that was limited by budget, time and technology. Yûji Shimomura did not return as the action director. Instead, Tak Sakaguchi, Prisoner KSC2-303, took the mantle of action director and created sequences that fill out the action in the new version of the film.

Released in a 3-disc DVD set by Media Blasters

Media Blasters

Media Blasters is an entertainment corporation founded by John Sirabella and Sam Liebowitz, based in New York City. They are in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American market manga compilations and anime and live-action movies and television series to home-video...

, over 75% of the film now feature some sort of reworking, be it color correction, new music, added action sequences, or full scene replacement. The result is a fuller story and character development, with added effects such as more blood in certain scenes, sparks during swordfights, and so on.

Cast

• Tak Sakaguchi
  Tak Sakaguchi
  is a Japanese actor, director, fight choreorapher, and stuntman. He is best known for his lead role in Ryuhei Kitamura's cult film, Versus. Sakaguchi is a talented martial artist, and as such, stars in films featuring copious fight scenes and performs all of his own stunts. He is known to be...
  
   as Prisoner KSC2-303
• Hideo Sakaki
  Hideo Sakaki
  ' is a Japanese actor. He is best known from the Japanese cult films Versus, Battlefield Baseball, and Alive...
  
   as The Man
• Chieko Misaka as The Girl
• Kenji Matsuda
  Kenji Matsuda
  is a Japanese actor. Matsuda began acting in high school when a girl he had a crush on convinced him to join the theatre club. He later joined the sho-gekijo theatrical troupe Haiyu-Za...
  
   as Yakuza Leader with butterfly knife
• Yuichiro Arai as Motorcycle-riding yakuza with revolver
• Minoru Matsumoto as Crazy yakuza with amulet
• Kazuhito Ohba as Yakuza with glasses
• Takehiro Katayama as Red-haired assassin
• Ayumi Yoshihara as Long-haired female assassin
• Shōichirō Masumoto as One-handed cop
• Toshiro Kamiaka as Samurai warrior
• Yukihito Tanikado as Cop with Barrett
• Hoshimi Asai as Short-haired female assassin
• Ryosuke Watabe as Yakuza zombie in alligator-skin coat
• Motonari Komiya as Other prisoner

Remake

In 2008, around the release of his American debut Midnight Meat Train, director Ryuhei Kitamura began mentioning a possible American remake of Versus. Subsequent rumors suggest that the film will take place during the same time period as the original film, at one of the "666 portals to the other side" located in the United States. As of yet, no more specific details have been made public.

External links

• Official Film Website - In Japanese

Reviews

• Snowblood Apple
• Nippon Cinema
• Midnight Eye
• Asian Cinema Drifter