Junk (1999)
Posted on August 19, 2007
Filed Under Asian movies, Movies, Turkeys, Zombies
The rise of the J-horror industry earlier this century was a natural reaction to the stagnation of progressive stagnation of Western horror over the course of the 1990s. But an unavoidable consequence of the rush to ransack Asia’s cinematic riches is the lionisation of films that simply don’t deserve the scrutiny. Atsushi Muroga’s 1999 effort, Junk, is one of the most widely available Japanese zombie movies in Britain; but those searching for something more taxing than the Resident Evil movies will be disappointed by not only how bad it is, but also by how little it has in common with its fellow countrymen.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the film is how dated it looks and feels. In plot and atmosphere, it is virtually indistinguishable from an early-80s Bruno Mattei splatter epic, to the extent that we had to keep reminding ourselves it was made in the last decade. The plot, such as it is, is almost identical to the lamentable Zombie Flesheaters 2 - as well as about a million other spaghetti horrors - concerning a virus outbreak from a military lab that turns people into flesh-hungry monsters. There’s an attempt made to address modern gender roles by making both the lead zombie and the central protagonist ass-kicking women, but like many of the film’s lame ‘character moments’ it feels contrived (at best) and patronising (at worst).
But then this is a zombie flick, a genre hardly noted for being cerebral. Generally, the worst crime a film like this can commit is to be boring, and unfortunately Junk fails on this count too; the limitations of the budget (encapsulated by the duller-than-dull warehouse setting) mean that the set-piece showdowns are considerably less exciting than they should be. Like every second-rate action film of the era, Junk aims for Matrix-style kinetic thrills, and fails dismally; no amount of clever editing and propulsive drum machines on the soundtrack can disguise the fact that Muroga shoots everything in a medium-close, 3/4 frame shot in order to disguise the pitiful location and lack of extras. Even the zombies - probably the cheapest screen monsters to realise - are rubbish, with the decay of living death represented by a handful of mud slapped on the face.
In fact, probably the most entertaining thing about the film is Yuki Kashimoto’s rather unfortunate performance as the doctor at the centre of the story. Forced to deliver half his lines in English by a ham-fisted script that uses token American characters to make the film seem more international, his slurred mangling of the language is unintentionally hilarious and suggests that Muroga wasn’t too bothered bm the international market. I can return the favour and suggest that the international market shouldn’t be too bothered by Junk. There are better zombie films out there, and there are definitely better Japanese films out there. Unless you have a yearning nostalgia for Italian zombie films, you’re best to give this one a miss. Junk by name, and unfortunately, Junk by nature.
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