Junk (2000)

Junk (Japanese: JUNK 死霊狩り, Hepburn: Junk Shiryōgari, lit. "Junk Zombie Hunter") is a 2000 Japanese horror film written and directed by Atsushi Muroga. A blend of the yakuza and zombie film genres, Junk stars Kaori Shimamura as Saki, a member of a group of jewel thieves. While attempting to deliver stolen goods from a heist to another criminal gang, the thieves must fight to survive against a horde of zombies resulting from secret experiments by the United States military.

Following the success of the 1998 horror film Ring, Muroga, known for making action and yakuza films, decided to create a film in the horror genre. Junk was shot in Okinawa, Japan, with the cast and crew making use of real meat from a local market for many of its gore effects. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, with some considering it derivative of other works.

Plot

American doctor Kinderman injects a chemical known as "DNX", designed to re-animate dead bodies, into the body of a deceased, nude Japanese woman. The woman comes back to life and kills Kinderman by tearing flesh from his neck, before attacking his assistant Sharon.

Three gangsters—Jun, Kabu, and Akira—don masks and rob a jewelry store, while their getaway driver, Saki, waits outside in a van. During the heist, one of the store employees stabs Akira in the foot with a pair of scissors. They escape with Saki and make arrangements to meet a yakuza gang led by Ramon at an old factory, to negotiate selling the stolen goods. Elsewhere, Dr. Takashi Nakada, who helped develop DNX, is escorted by US soldiers to Colonel McGriff. McGriff informs Nakada, who believed that development on DNX had been abandoned two years prior, has continued under the direction of the US military in an old building—the factory where the thieves have arranged to meet the yakuza.

At the factory, Saki tends to Akira's injury. She ventures into the building in search of running water to clean his wound. Jun follows, and after Saki rejects his attempt to make an advance on her, is killed by a zombie. Saki, Akira, and Kabu hear Jun scream and investigate, finding chemical equipment as well as a room containing a number of bagged corpses. They soon find Jun's body, being eaten by zombies. Kabu and Akira kill the zombies by shooting them in the head.

Fleeing the factory, the trio encounter Ramon and his gang. The trio hand over the stolen jewels, but the yakuza, instead of paying them, draws guns on them. Kabu draws his own gun but is fatally shot. A zombified Jun attacks one of the yakuza, and is shot in the head. Ramon's two remaining partners pursue Saki and Akira further into the building, and unwittingly cause containers of DNX to spill on the bagged corpses, re-animating them. Akira manages to kill one of the yakuza members. Meanwhile, Nakada, McGriff, and Sgt. Davis attempt to remotely activate the factory's self-destruct system. However, the nude female zombie who killed Kinderman disables the countdown, and sends them a message: "I LOVE YOU ......K".

Saki and Akira resolve to retrieve the jewels. At the same time, Nakada and Davis board a helicopter and head to the factory. Ramon's one remaining partner finds Ramon being devoured by zombies. Ramon then revives as a zombie and bites him. Saki shoots and kills Ramon, retrieves the jewels, and is attacked by another zombie, whom she stabs in the forehead. Running back to Akira, Saki falls through the floor. Akira heads downstairs and finds the jewels, but not Saki. Nakada and Davis land at and enter the factory, while Akira escapes in the van. Saki is cornered by zombies, but an armed Nakada saves her.

Davis fixes the self-destruct system, but is killed before he can activate it. Nakada encounters the nude female zombie, whom he recognizes as Kyoko, his wife who died in a car accident. As Saki tries to flee the building, she is confronted by Kyoko, who has decapitated Nakada. Saki shoots Kyoko in the head, but Kyoko does not die. Akira returns and cuts Kyoko in half with a shovel. Saki and Akira activate the self-destruct system and, in their escape, Akira is attacked by a legless Kyoko. Saki throws Kyoko into a high voltage box, electrocuting her. Saki and Akira throw themselves through a window as the building explodes, and land in a body of water.

McGriff informs an official that work on the DNX program can be restarted at any time. Saki and Akira drive away from the wreckage of the factory in a sports car delivered by a car salesman at Akira's request. In the rubble of the building, the hand of a zombie rises.