Directed by Shigeo Tanaka. Written by Niisan Takahashi.
The second of the Showa Era Gamera films (Daikaiju Ketto: Gamera Tai Barugon, “Giant Monster Duel: Gamera vs. Barugon”) is a case of trying to change course but instead heading in a different wrong direction.
Continue reading “Toku Theater: Gamera vs. Barugon (1966)”
Directed by Val Guest. Written by Richard Landau and Val Guest. Starring Brian Donlevy, Richard Wordsworth, Jack Warner.
I keep bumping into the British Quatermass series as I write these reviews — specifically the 1955 film The Quatermass Xperiment. This isn’t surprising. The movie was a huge hit when released in Japan a few months after its UK premiere. This was only a year after the release of the original Godzilla, so the country was primed for more science-fiction horror.
Continue reading “Monster Theater: The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)”
Directed by Shinya Nakajima. Written by Shukei Nagasaka.
Ultraman Zearth, Earth’s defender from the Land of Bright in Nebula Z95, must stop the schemes of the gold-stealing invader Alien Benzene and its kaiju attack dog, Cotton-Poppe. However, Zearth and his human form, Katsuto Asahi (Masaharu Sekiguchi), face a dreadful obstacle: mysophobia. Ultraman Zearth can’t stand getting dirty. A little grease on his hands and he’s paralyzed or hopping around howling. Oh no, what will the world do? And how can monster-fighting organization MYDO, which operates out of a gas station where the members also pull extra shifts, help in the battle against Alien Benzene while poor Zearth is cringing at having to cross a pool of mud?
Continue reading “Ultraman Zearth (1996)”
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Written by Niisan Takahashi.
Now for another movie break, this time for a “classic” of Japanese kaiju cinema. It’s a short hop from Ultra Q’s “Grow Up! Little Turtle,” a tale about a boy and his affection for a giant turtle who takes him to see a princess underwater, to Gamera the Giant Monster, a tale about a boy and his affection for a giant turtle who is causing mass destruction and death.
Continue reading “Toku Theater: Gamera the Giant Monster (1965)”
Directed by Val Guest. Written by Nigel Neale. Starring Peter Cushing, Forrest Tucker.
I’m inaugurating an occasional feature of reviews of monster movies outside the world of Japanese tokusatsu. Monsters are glorious, they live in cinemas all over the world, and I’ll take any excuse to talk about them. And my love for Hammer Films is as strong as my love for tokusatsu. In a different mood, I might have created a whole blog just about Hammer movies.
Continue reading “Monster Theater: The Abominable Snowman (1957)”
The Ultra Project 