The Whacky World Drive-In Podcast is back

   After a bit of a hiatus, my buddy Rob Gray whose behind the really cool Whacky World Lounge and myself have done a new episode of our podcast The Whacky Drive-In, we delve into all sorts of stuff including Giallo films, Star Trek, Japanese Kaiju films and of course bowling. Give a listen here and check out our Twitter page. We've got all sorts of interesting stuff lined up for future episodes so please give us a follow!!

THE MANSTER 1959/1962

Japanese/American Chiller With A Mid-Life Crisis Afflicted 

Two-Headed Monster Rampaging Through Mid-Century Tokyo !!

"Half Man...Half Monster...!"

     This endearingly cheap and shoddy little Japanese/American co-production was one of those films that seemed to show up (along with other UA efforts such as I BURY THE LIVING and THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE among others) perpetually on TV during the '60s and early '70s. A truly international production, it was filmed in Japan with an American director (with a Japanese crew), a pair of married Brits in leading roles and English speaking Japanese actors filling out the cast. Looking ahead to THE THING WITH TWO HEADS and THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT, it featured a couple of images that indelibly ingrained on young viewers' minds and has some (intentional or not) surprising adult themes lurking in its plot.
     American newspaperman Larry Stanford (Peter Dyneley THUNDERBIRDS) is on long term assignment in Tokyo and looking forward to finally being able to go home and be reunited with his patiently waiting wife Linda (Jane Hylton - and actual wife of Dyneley), when he's handed a final assignment to go interview reclusive scientist Dr. Suzuki (Tetsu Nakanura from MOTHRA and THE LAST DINOSAUR).
    Upon arriving at the doctor's laboratory (serendipitously as we'll see located next to a large volcano), the doctor explains that he's working the effect of periodic cosmic rays from outer space and their effect in mutating life on earth. The Dr. confers to his beautiful Eurasian assistant Tara (Terri Zimmern) that he feels that Larry would be the "perfect specimen" for his future experiments.
    Earlier in a pre-credit sequence, we were shown the effects of his experiments with a huge hairy beast rampaging through a geisha house (complete with blood splashed across the title card) before the critter is summarily tossed in a handy doorway to the volcano by Dr. Suzuki. In addition, he keeps a woman with a horribly disfigured face (a still that was a favorite in FAMOUS MONSTERS & various horror movie books) locked in a cage in his laboratory. It's never really explained what the Doctor's purpose is with these experiments (but what the heck, he makes monsters) and seeing how his two past failed experiments are his brother and wife respectively he falls fairly comfortably into the "mad doctor" category (in addition his lab contains large mutated look plants).

    In order to keep Larry in Japan, Dr. Suzuki offers to show him around the town which translates to piling him with sake, providing him with a woman (in particular the alluring Tara) and hot mineral baths with scantily clad geisha girls. Jumping into full mid-life crisis mode, Larry seems all too eager to partake in these indulgences much to the dismay of his wife (who travels to Tokyo to confront him) and his co-workers. Amidst his carrying on Larry transforms into pretty much a total ass and begins another transformation as a lump on his shoulder turns into an eyeball (another unforgettable still for monster kids) which grows into a misshapen head. Donning a trench coat he begins a Jack the Ripper like murder spree offing random women and the occasional priest, while periodically returning to his bachelor pad apartment to brood and yell at his ever sympathetic wife.
    The film while seeming to present the hero as as unwilling recipient of his monstrous tendencies much like Larry Talbot in Universal's Wolfman movies (with the the "curse" here being a medical experiment) it's interesting that the THE MANSTER's main protagonist (once again named Larry) is presented not as sympathetic character but as pretty much a jerk (in fact a really big jerk). THE MANSTER also shows post WWII America's part fascination and still lingering dread of Eastern cultures with the all-American wife waiting at home in her pearls and apron while her husband is seduced by the exotic allure of Japan. For a low budget monster movie there's some quite frankly adult themes lurking around here including Larry's in your face infidelity and the not to subtle references to Tara's past employment as a prostitute servicing the American occupation forces.
    Clocking in at barely 72 min. the film's sometimes ludicrous & no logic plot gets bogged down in the middle with some police procedural and investigation along with Linda's agonizing over Larry's infidelity. It's does reward however with a total bat-shit crazy finale involving an exploding volcano, the ultimate "split" personality (in a scene which truly needs to be seen to be believed) and a mind numbing WTF soliloquy to Tara from Dr. Suzuki (in which he compares themselves to Pierre and Madame Louise Curie ?!) as he realizes the error of his ways.

    Although not the greatest actress in the world by any stretch "one and done" actress (her role here as Tara is her only credit) Terri Zimmern exudes a certain exotic sexuality and wonders why she didn't work more in the upcoming decade. Some accounts claim that was married to co-director William Crane which might explain her lack of an on-going career.
    Released with the film noir like title of THE SPLIT in England, THE MANSTER came stateside in 1962 where its was co-featured (in a really bizarre dbl. feature) with THE HORROR CHAMBER OF DR. FAUSTUS, the re-tilted/re-edited version of Georges Franju's LES YEUX SANS VISAGE (EYES WITHOUT A FACE) - "A Ghastly Elegance That Suggests Tennessee Williams !".

The above screen-caps are from the Retromedia DVD

GOKE BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL 1968

"A Oozing Creeping Mass Of Stark Terror, Inching 

it's Way Across Your Body Seeking Your Blood..."

WEIRD & TRIPPY JAPANESE PSYCHEDELIC HORROR !!

    During the 1960's following the success of Toho's GODZILLA movies other Japanese studios tried their hand at the science fiction/horror genre among them Shochiku. At the time they were best known for their dramas, but during the years 1967/68 they produced four alternately bizarre and disturbingly creepy films including 1967's THE X FROM OUTER SPACE (giant lizard/bird thing stomping Tokyo) along with THE LIVING SKELETON (eerie B&W ghost story) and GOKE along with GENOCIDE (insect apocalypse) in 1968. GOKE's director Hajime Sato was a lover of the Italian horror cinema of the 1960's (there's some definite influences of Mario Bava's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES in GOKE) and his B&W 1965 feature HOUSE Of TERRORS (aka GHOST OF THE HUNCHBACK) is a beautiful  invocation of the then contemporary Italian Gothic horrors.
    GOKE begins as a Japanese airliner with an "eclectic" (to say the least) group of passengers quickly turns in the proverbial "flight from hell" (here literally) as within in the first few minutes of the movie the sky turns a bloody red (a sequence Tarantino homaged in KILL BILL), birds begin throwing themselves bloodily into the plane's windows and the crew receives a bomb threat along with reported sightings of UFO's in the area ! The news reports are also reporting of an assassination of a British diplomat in Tokyo whereupon the assassin also (!) turns out to be on the plane and pulling a gun orders the plane to Okinawa.

     The plane's radio is destroyed while at the same time a mysterious saucer like craft buzzes by the plane causing it to crash in a desolate valley. The survivors include the co-pilot Teruo Yoshida (HORRORS OF THE MALFORMED MEN) and a stewardess (Tomomi Sato from BABY CART IN THE LAND OF DEMONS) - who refer to each other rather charmingly throughout the film as "Mr. Sugisaka" and "Mrs. Asakura". Also there is a bombastic/cowardly Senator Mano (Ezo Kitmura from HITOKIRI), an arms manufacturing toadie (Yuko Kusunoki HOUSE OF TERROR) who will stoop to anything to land a government contract with Mano (including letting the Senator ravish his accompanying wife), a psychiatrist along with a scientist whose described as a "space biologist" (!) and an almost humorously obnoxious American "Mrs. Neal" played by Kathy Horan (THE GREEN SLIME and the above mentioned GENOCIDE). She plays a war widow whose coming to pick up her husband's remains after being killed in Vietnam. Far from being a sympathetic figure she portrayed as the token "Ugly American" using all the remaining water to wash her face and acting hysterically.
    Also surviving is an agitated young man (whose name we never learn) that turns out is the bomber and the assassin/hitchhiker, who while initially appearing dead suddenly comes to life and grabbing Mrs. Mrs. Asakura runs out into the night. Immediately he goes into trance and is drawn to a large glowing saucer emitting multi-colored pulsating lights. Upon entering the saucer his forward splits open down the middle and a metallic silver slug-like critter enters his head turning him into vampire-like zombie (!!).

     Meanwhile back at the airliner things begin to unravel as the psychiatrist begins pitting the survivors against one another for his own amusement while the senator becomes more and more unhinged as he guzzles whiskey and screams for water, acting so insane you keep expecting to see him start foaming at the mouth and rolling around on the ground. Although the characters are all broadly drawn often bordering on parody (as with many Japanese genre movies this can partially be attributed to the dubbing) its still a fun exercise to watch the little band of survivors fall apart and begin turning on one another, with several unfortunate comrades gleefully tossed aside as monster fodder.
     Unlike many Japanese horror movies that had their basis in folklore and legends GOKE is a creation wholly unto itself and although taking place in a contemporary time frame seems devoid of any sense reality, playing out as a long nightmarish descent into madness (or a bad acid trip...). Even the valley where the majority of the outside action takes place in seems like a barren alien world. Somewhat unusual for the genre and production time there's some Vietnam references with the unfortunate American war widow along with randomly inserted freeze frames of brightly polarized Vietnam War photographs that only add to the overall mind tripping & lava lamp atmosphere of the film. Easy to dismiss because of its sometimes unintentionally hilarious dubbing and low budget driven effects (after all, IT IS a low budget 1960's Japanese monster movie) GOKE is a hypnotically compelling experience that has to be seen to be believed.

     The special effects & set design range from the effective (the opening plane crash has some wonderful model work) to woefully humorous (The Ed Wood inspired cockpit), but the pulsating lights and prosthetic heads being split open so the alien mind control slug can glide in are images not soon forgotten. I remember seeing stills from this as a kid in Famous Monsters but the film was always frustratingly hard to see, as perhaps fittingly GOKE had a rather bizarre release history. Although it might have had a small U.S. run in the late 60's, it wasn't widely released until 1977 when its was picked up by Pacemaker (a small distributor who specialized in porn) where it played on a mind blowing double bill with Masimo Pupillo's ludicrously entertaining S&M fest BLOODY PIT OF HORROR from 1965 (!) staring a possessed Mickey Hargitay as crimson hooded torturer. Damnably hard to see until a DVD release a few years back, GOKE would show up periodically on late night television (which is where I first caught it) no doubt confounding unaware viewers in the wee small hours.
     All four of the Shochiku films are available in a nifty box box set courtesy of Criterion through their more budget minded Eclipse line.

     

FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD 1966

   

    In celebration of Legendary Pictures May 16 release of GODZILLA Brian over at Cool Ass Cinema is doing a two month Japanese sci-fi/giant monster blogging extravagance. As he was kind enough to allow me to participate and thanks to endless showings on the 4:30 PM Afternoon Movie back in Detroit (along with Famous Monsters of Filmland), here's my favorite Japanese big stompin' monster movie.

       It seems only fitting that one of the crazier & demented Japanese Monster movies ever would have one of the more likewise developmental histories attached to it. Original KING KONG creator Willis O’Brien in the early 1960’s had attempted to revive his creature in a third Kong movie entitled KING KONG VS. PROMETHUS in which a huge patchwork creature made from animal parts battled the giant ape. O’Brien however was unable to secure any backing for the project and sold the story to independent producer John Beck who then sold it to Toho where it mutated into 1962’s KING KONG VS. GODZILLA. Toho however was interested in the idea of a giant Frankenstein like monster as they were looking at expanding their various monsters world (as in the Kong feature) and attempted several story concepts featuring the classic (albeit giant) monster, the first of which was a sequel to 1960’s THE HUMAN VAPOR and later attempted team-ups with Mothra and even a Godzilla vs. Frankenstein. The Godzilla concept was considered too outlandish and the project was shelved (which makes you wonder just what it was as the FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD concept was obviously considered not too outlandish).

      In 1965 American producer Harry Saperstein approached Toho studies with the idea of a joint production to co-star an established American actor in order to make the marketing of the movie in the United States easier. A Frankenstein script had finally been approved by the Toho executives and this was the project selected by Toho and Saperstein upon which to proceed, with Ishiro Honda directing. Alternately titled FRANKENSTEIN VS. THE GIANT DEVIL FISH (in reference to a giant octopus that in itself would have a complicated production history within the movie) and FRANKENSTEIN VS. THE SUBTERRANEAN MONSTER BARAGON. BARAGON was eventually settled on for the Japanese release while in the U.S. It was titled FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD where it was ultimately distributed by A.I.P.

    Saperstein hired actor Nick Adams represent the American half of the project. Famous for appearing in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and the T.V. series THE REBEL, Adams never quite broke into major star status. A tireless self-promoter he used his friendships with James Dean and Elvis Presley to try and further his career and in 1963 he had been nominated for an Academy Award for his role in TWILIGHT OF HONOR. Shamelessly hyping himself for the award Adams lost and by 1965 his career was on the down slide. FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD would be the first of three movies Adams would make in Japan followed by INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER (MONSTER ZERO) and the largely unseen outside of Japan THE KILLING BOTTLE. He would also appear in DIE MONSTER DIE for A.I.P. in 1965.

     Co- starring with Adams in FRANKENSTEIN as his fellow scientists is Tado Takasfima (KING KONG VS. GODZILLA and ATRAGON) and the very pretty Kumi Mizuno (MANTANGO and THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS). One of the most beautiful women to appear in Japanese fantastic cinema Mizuno would also co-star with Adams in 1966’s INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER and the two of them would have a brief affair which would lead to Adams separation from his wife. Adams would die from a prescription overdose in 1968. By all accounts he was well liked by his Japanese co-stars and crew as he acted professionally taking his role seriously and later would speak highly of his time in Japan.
    Opening with a prologue during the final days of WWII Nazi Germany in which a German Naval Officer shows up at the laboratory of  a Nazi scientist and with a battle raging outside confiscates a large trunk filled with mad scientist looking apparatus which contains the still beating heart of the Frankenstein monster. Transferring the trunk to a submarine, it’s then sent for safe keeping to Japan where unfortunately it ends up at a military hospital in the city of Hiroshima – and where it’s caught in the subsequent atomic bomb explosion.
    Flash forward 15 years where American Dr. James Bowen (Adams), along with his Japanese colleagues Dr.’s Kawaji (Takastima) and Togami (Mizuno) are studying the effects and hopeful cure of radiation poisoning among the victims of the bombing when reports of a feral boy killing small animals to eat begin to appear. After capturing him the doctors realize he’s ingested a large dose of radiation (and lived) and is growing at a tremendous rate. In addition he begins to take on facial characteristics of a well known monster and obviously doesn’t like rock & roll as he goes all Keith Moon on a television set blasting out a Japanese version of American Bandstand by flinging it out a window.

    With only the pretty Dr. Togami (naturally) able to control the wild (and rapidly growing) little Frankenstein , its discovered that he’s tied together with reports of a small boy who was seen playing among the ruins of the hospital in the days following the bomb blast. Although it’s hinted at that perhaps a boy ate the heart, it’s never really made clear weather this was the case or the heart mutated and grew into the boy/ monster. The ever growing Frankenstein kid is soon confined to a large cage and thanks to some pesky reporters and their bright lights he becomes enraged and breaks free – but not before leaving his severed hand behind which continues to grow and in addition he grows a new appendage in its place (rather rapidly it would seem).
    After a heartfelt stop at Dr. Togami’s apt. to gaze in at her thru the window the by now gigantic mutated Frankenstein monster begins rampaging thru the countryside while at the same time an underground burrowing lizard monster referred to as Baragon begins tearing up the local farms (and dance parties – seems he doesn’t care much for Rock n’ Roll too). This destruction is initially blamed on “Frankenstein” which leads to the final spectacular mega stompfest (complete with forest fire & earthquake) between the two creatures.

    The special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya are excellent with the somewhat unusual wooded setting having some beautifully constructed scale trees and forests, along with a magnificent 12’ scale model of a ferry (which is only used in one shot). The only real letdown is Baragon who with his large rolling eyes and giant flapping wing-like ears looks like a reject from ULTRAMAN and as he is a four legged beast he unfortunately sharers the same fate as Toho’s other four legged critters, it looks like exactly what it is – a man crawling around on his hands and knees.
    Producer Harry Saperstein had asked to Toho to include a finale consisting of Frankenstein fighting a “WTF did this come from (!?)” giant octopus as he was impressed by the octopus scene in KING KONG VS. GODZILLA. Toho duly filmed the sequence but it was cut by the distributor A.I.P, who preferred the original ending and the octopus did make an appearance in 1966’s pseudo sequel THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS. This must have caused great confusion to Famous Monsters readers (myself included) as a still from the octopus sequence was featured prominently in the magazine, but was nowhere to be seen in the movie. GARGANTUAS featured two larger "more monster-like" (and hairy) beasts, along with a returning Kumi Miznuo and a surly and disinterested Russ Tamblyn as the token American scientist.