Junk: Shiryô-gari

I like zombie movies, and I like Japanese movies, but this one was just too amateurish. The acting went from bad to worse, at times getting so bad you couldn't concentrate on the movie - you had to stop and marvel at a line delivered particularly badly, wondering why it wasn't edited out and if that actor was possibly a funding source for the movie. To be fair, the Japanese actors, in general, did a much better job than their American counterparts.

For a better example of the Japanese zombie movie, see Bio Zombie. That at least has a decent level of humor. Junk had little to no humor, indicating that they took the movie a little too seriously. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't finish watching, but it was so bad I knew I'd never watch it again.

A group of jewel thieves is to meet some Yakuza members at an abandoned facility to hock the hot ice...little did anyone seem to know that this "facility" was a former military installation that was doing work on the dead, namely - bringing them back to life. Guess it worked, 'cuz now the place is crawling with the undead. The jewelry deal goes bad, and now we have some people to supply lunch for the zombies...

JUNK is a pretty cool zombie film. Nothing really ground-breaking or spectacular, and seems to be much more related to the American, Romero-type zombie films than the typically whacked-out Asian stuff. The story is pretty simple, there's plenty of gore to go around, and the film is never really self-indulgent or too serious. A fun way to spend a couple of hours, but not a "great" film either. I personally tend to like JUNK less than most others that I talk to....still would recommend a look- 7.5/10

"Junk" is as it's own name suggests, well junk really. A low budget Japanese zombie film that can neither impress with great visual effects nor strong acting or plot. But what does do and does well in my opinion, is to recreate the feeling and entertainment value of eighties Italian zombie flicks. In other words "Junk" is trashy fun.

After successfully pulling of a jewelry heist the group of four robbers head of towards an abandoned warehouse where the supposed buyer would be. Unknowingly to both parties, that same place was the dumping ground for a failed American military experiment on bringing the dead back to life. Needless to say what happens when our heroes arrive. It's a simple well known plot that doesn't demand any form of thinking. You just sit-down with a beer-pack and some popcorn in hand and enjoy the on screen carnage. The unpretentious design is what holds "Junk's" charm and of course the violence does also help in that matter.

The acting again in the spirit of Italian horror leaves something to be desired. The Japanese actors did relatively well for this sort of film. Which basically means they didn't get on my nerves with absurd performances or just monotonic line reading. American actors on the other hand were awful, unbearable. Director Atsushi Muroga should have written their characters off plot and sticked with only Japanese actors. The reason for the bad performance does not fully fall on the actors's hands. In this case it's easy to see that the language barrier and Muroga's inability to properly direct the English speaking cast due to his own apparent lack of knowledge in that language are the true problems.

The action is fairly good. Practically most of the movie's running time is filled with shootouts, zombie attacks or both combined. Muroga keeps a fast pace and with a short running time "Junk" doesn't get boring. As any other zombie movie so is this one packed with gore. Necks bitten, legs and arms cut off, people being eaten, heads smashed it's got the needed ingredients to deliver a fun experience.

Atsushi Muroga' "Junk" makes for a delightful yet forgettable zombie film. Mainstream audience should definitely pass the chance on seeing it. But highly recommendable to fans of the trashy low-budget horror genre.

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.

Director Atsushi Muroga does it again... after having taken parts from "Reservoir Dogs", "Natural Born Killers", "The Getaway" and numerous other action/crime films to mix it all together for his gore loaded actioner "Score" (1995) about jewelry robbers versus criminal couple versus double crossing Yakuzas, he mixes Lucio Fulci's "Zombi 2" (aka "Zombie Flesh Eaters" etc.) with George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" and "Day of the Dead" and "Re-Animator", plus "Return of the Living Dead" 1 and 3, and, concerning the basic plot, his own "Score" (which means the film has also elements of the above mentioned American non-Zombie productions) to create a modern Zombie movie that looks like one that was made in the early 1980s: almost nostalgic.

That doesn't mean that the movie is totally unoriginal. It's the first of a recent "Zombie wave" from Japan, followed by the nonsensical "punk rock horror" movie "Wild Zero" and the best of the bunch, the stylishly but a bit too long "Versus". "Junk" delivers all a Zombie fan needs, although it's been all there before, and - at least concerning the ideas lifted from Fulci and Romero - it has been there better. But all the blood and guts, plus the relentless action Asian cinema is known for, make this film entertaining 83 minutes, best consumed with fellow Zombie freaks, enough beer (or else) and snacks.

Obviously Atsushi Muroga doesn't intend to reinvent well known genres or plots. But he wants to give the audience a good time with popcorn action and horror - and gore. And this he does very well. Rating: 6 out of 10.