“Versus” is the kind of term that plays havoc with searching for previous threads, you know.
I recently rented this via Netflix. The thing about Netflix and I is that I keep a very long queue, and add to it and shuffle it in bursts. So I frequently get movies in the mail that I only dimly remember actually queueing up. I think this is a big factor in just how fond I now am of this little zombie-samurai-gangster flick–I get my mail, open up the latest envelope and think, “Huh, ‘Versus’. I don’t remember anything about why I ordered this. It’s probably from my overwrought metaphorical artsy-fartsy foreign drama burst addition some months back.”
Thinking this, I settled in a couple nights later to watch. And, well…suffice it to say that artsy-fartsy drama is pretty much exactly what Versus isn’t. The experience was like going in to watch Evil Dead II and initially expecting, without much enthusiasm, a psychological thriller and instead seeing…Evil Dead II.
One of the best bad movies I’ve seen lately, and one of the few rentals that made me immediately turn around and order a copy for my personal library. You really can’t go wrong with throwing Yakuza and zombies and undead samurai sorcerers into a blender, hitting the ice-crush button, and filming the result.