If there is one thing in this world which is guaranteed, it is that, if you watch enough Eighties Science Fiction films, you are going to see an Alien rip-off. And, apparently, this was also true when it comes to Japanese Anime. After all, we have this OVA from 1987, about a spaceship responding to […]
Read more "Hell Target [Heru Tageto] (1987)"Some of these movies you can sum up with a single phrase: Giant scorpions on a sub. Mind you, we’re not talking a Snakes on a Plane rip-off. It’s more of an Aliens rip-off. A sub is lost under mysterious circumstances, the usual team of Marines in sent in to clean up the mess, and […]
Read more "Stinger (2005)"I’d almost forgotten. I’ll admit it’s been a long time since I last saw Them!, but you think I’d have remembered. But then, it seems to be something that happens with the great classics — even if it is just an incredible classic of the Fifties genre of giant monster movies: We keep forgetting just […]
Read more "Them! (1954)"(aka, The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud) And once again, we have someone getting sucked into a videogame. I’m not exactly grumbling here: after all, even though this is one of those tropes which goes all the way back to the Eighties and Tron, and which, in one form or another, has shown up in […]
Read more "Max Cloud (2020)"(Literal title: Three Giant Monster Gourmet) I have to wonder if you could have a Minoru Kawasaki anywhere other than in Japan? It’s not merely that he has made some truly bizarre films. It is simply hard to imagine his weird fantasy worlds where Tokusatsu monsters become famous wrestlers or fuzzy animals work as Salary […]
Read more "Monster SeaFood Wars [San Daikaijū Gurume] (2020)"(aka, Iron Armored Machine Crescent Moon) Keita Amemiya has been one of my favorite Japanese directors since I saw the utterly insane Cyber Ninja. He hasn’t made too many feature films, but they are all thoroughly weird and notable for their wild imagination and bizarre design sense. These include Zeiram, Hakaider, and Moon over Tao. […]
Read more "Tekkôki Mikazuki [Giant Robot Mikazuki] (2000)"Remember when everyone made fun of the American Godzilla because she was a big, mutated Iguana? Somehow, one begins to miss a Godzilla that was that close to the original. After all, there is one thing that is clear about Toho’s Godzilla efforts in the new Reiwa era: they have very little to do with what […]
Read more "Gojira shingyura pointo [Godzilla Singular Point] (2021)"Hoo boy. Durn them pesky Ruskies! They keep comin’ around and interrupting me when I’m trying to have a cold brewski! Worse than that, the Russians have invaded and crushed us easily, thanks to their army of Shark-Headed commandos. These were made for them by a brilliant German mad scientist. Yes, German. Don’t blame me, […]
Read more "Post Apocalyptic Commando Shark (2018)"There are times when the phrase “practical effects” hardly seems adequate. Take Maggots, one of the lowest budgeted films I’ve ever seen with Fred Olen Ray’s name on it (as producer, not director): there is a practical monster, and we see a lot of it. The only problem is that it is a hand puppet […]
Read more "Maggots (2017)"I keep finding myself drawn to the Chinese science fiction films you find advertised on Youtube, even though I find most of them just a little less than fully satisfying. Now as far as I can figure out, they’re being churned out for streaming on iQiyi. They typically run just about an hour and promise […]
Read more "Huo xing yi bian [Mutation on Mars] (2021)"
rivets on the poster 