Қайта тірілу орманы: Versus фильмі

2000 zombie film by Ryuhei Kitamura
The film was originally intended as a sequel to Kitamura's short film Down to Hell but was re developed as a new film. Principal photography was originally intended to last 3 weeks but was extended to 7 months due to weather and financial issues. Versus premiered at the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival on October 29, 2000. In 2004, an expanded edition titled Ultimate Versus was released that featured 10 minutes of new footage and improved music, effects, titles, and edits.

There are 666 portals on Earth that connect it to the other side. Lured by the prospect of gaining the power of darkness, many seek to find and open the portals. Somewhere in Japan, there exists the 444th portal known as The Forest of Resurrection. In 10th century Japan, a lone samurai fends off a horde of zombie like samurai creatures. Though successfully vanquishing the zombies, the samurai is confronted by a mysterious priest and his league of warriors. In an attempt to take out the mysterious priest, the lone samurai charges but is easily killed. Before dying, the lone samurai spots an ally behind him, who arrives too late to save him. In present day Japan, two prisoners escape through a forest and meet up with a gang of Yakuzas. When Prisoner KSC2 303 (Tak Sakaguchi) sees a girl (Chieko Misaka) that the gang kidnapped, he immediately becomes suspicious of what they plan to do with her. After a heated argument, KSC2 303 kills one of the Yakuza members, who resurrects as a zombie. During the chaos, KSC2 303 escapes back into the forest with The Girl. Disobey their orders to wait, the Yakuza pursue Prisoner KSC2 303 and The Girl. KSC2 303 and The Girl come across a man crucified upon a tree. KSC2 303 steals the dead man's clothes and is confronted by one of the Yakuza. They engage in hand to hand combat while the other Yakuza begin facing problems of their own. The corpses of all the men they have killed and buried in the forest resurrect and attack them. KSC2 303 and the other Yakuza reluctantly cooperate to battle the zombies. With the horde of zombies growing, the Yakuza call upon three assassins to aid them. The Yakuza leader, The Man (Hideo Sakaki), finally arrives and confronts them, angry that they lost KSC2 303 and The Girl. The Yakuza and Assassins take the upper hand and kill him first. But The Man easily jumps back to his feet and turns the Assassins and Yakuza into his own minions. Two of the Assassins escape and find KSC2 303. One is defeated by The Girl with a log, and the other is confronted by The Man and killed. KSC2 303 attempts to force The Girl to tell him what is going on, believing that she has been hiding secrets from him the whole time. Before explaining thoroughly, The Man finds Prisoner KSC2 303 and The Girl. The Man begins explaining to Prisoner KSC2 303 that they are reincarnations of past lives. The Man plans to use The Girl as a sacrifice to open the portal hidden in The Forest of Resurrection and obtain the power of darkness. Unable to accept his explanations, Prisoner KSC2 303 attempts to kill The Man but is killed himself instead. The Girl manages to reach Prisoner KSC2 303's body and feeds him a part of her blood before being taken by The Man's minions. During his unconscious state, Prisoner KSC2 303 experiences a flashback of his past life in the 10th century; he is the ally who was too late to save the lone samurai. He and The Girl (who is revealed to be a princess) are confronted by the mysterious priest (who turns out to be The Man) and his gang. Outnumbered and facing long odds, Pre Prisoner KSC2 303 reluctantly kills The Girl to stop The Man from obtaining the power of darkness. Enraged, The Man viciously kills Pre Prisoner KSC2 303. Prisoner KSC2 303 is awakened in the present with the truth fully revealed to him. The following morning, Prisoner KSC2 303 confronts The Man and his minions for a final showdown. Prisoner KSC2 303 takes on the minions first and wins, leaving only The Man left. Prisoner KSC2 303 decapitates The Man and rescues The Girl, and both make their escape from The Forest of Resurrection. 99 years later, Earth lies in ruin. The reincarnation of The Man travels through the remains of a city, and eventually confronts KSC2 303 and the reincarnated versions of The Man's gang (who now work for KSC2 303). The Girl, held against her will, tells The Man that she should have been on his side 99 years earlier. With nothing left to destroy in this world, KSC2 303 asks The Man to take him to the Other Side. The Man and KSC2 303 charge at each other and engage in battle one more time.

Originally, Versus was intended to be a sequel to director Kitamura's "amateur" short film Down to Hell, with the intention of also shooting Versus on video with a low budget as he did with Down to Hell but instead decided to shoot on film with budget of $10,000 for a theatrical release. Filming was originally planned to last 3 weeks but was extended to 7 months due to weather and financial issues.

Tak Sakaguchi was hired for the lead after director Kitamura saw a gag video that featured Sakaguchi. Kitamura's main reason for hiring Sakaguchi was because he had "a beautiful smile;" however, Sakaguchi claims he met Kitamura during a street fight that Sakaguchi was involved in. Kitamura offered him a role in his film after asking him if he'd rather fight in the streets or fight in his films. Kitamura later vouched as well that he met Sakaguchi during a street fight. Director Kitamura stated that Versus was inspired by the films of Sam Raimi, John Carpenter, and George Miller. Regarding the film's style, Kitamura stated: "It’s all me. It’s all Ryuhei Kitamura style, and I’m not going to try to change or steer away from anything. I’m only trying to get better." The film did not receive the title Versus until the end of shooting. During production, the film was referred to as The Return: Down 2 Hell, despite the fact that the film was not going to be released under that title. In fact, a friend of Kitamura's (who would end up working with the director as a second unit director for Godzilla: Final Wars) suggested the title Versus to reference the struggles Kitamura suffered through while trying to launch his career. Blockquote|I didn't actually have the title Versus until the very end of shooting. We were still using 'Return to Hell: Down to Hell 2' as a title. Of course it wasn't Down to Hell 2 at all anymore, but I couldn't come up with a good title. Then my best friend he went to Australia with me when I was 17 and he is now the second unit director on Godzilla, shooting the overseas sequences he was shooting the making of Versus at the time and I told him I couldn't come up with a good title. He told me, "All your life you've been fighting, and this movie is all you, so you should call it Versus." He is the one that came up with that excellent title"|source=Ryuhei Kitamura, interview with Midnight Eye The Rolling Stone called the film "A Japanese zombies vs. gangsters action horror comedy that plays like Quentin Tarantino remaking THE EVIL DEAD while on a speed binge". Sight & Sound praised the film by commenting "With Kurosawa style swordplay, martial arts and elaborately choreographed gun battles". Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News commented on the film "I've never seen anything like it, it's a new kind of movie." B. P. called the film "Poetic and splendid, this movie thrilled me" and MADMOVIE claimed "Hollywood made Hong Kong style movies will never come close to his (Ryuhei Kitamura) movie."

There are three different cuts of Versus, the original cut, the R rated cut, and the Ultimate Edition. Prior to being released commercially in the United States in 2004, DVD distributor Media Blasters produced an R rated edited cut which removed the film's gore scenes. As a result, the R rated cut is four minutes shorter than the original cut. Around that same time, Ultimate Versus was produced and released which featured ten minutes of new footage as well as some alterations.

In 2004, director Kitamura and most of the original cast and crew returned to the forest to film new scenes to further realize Kitamura's vision of the film. Tak Sakaguchi directed the action sequences for the new footage due to Yûji Shimomura being unavailable at the time. The new footage was shot in five days at the same location where the original production was shot.