The Mysterians

Rating:
Summary: Best of genre - completey whacky
Review: Ah yes, everything great about low-budget Japanese monster movies rolled into one. Not only are there giant monsters to battle but aliens as well, mixed in with the some of the sleaziest special effects imaginable.

There's a lot of plot, but let's skip all that nonsense and focus in on the reasons to watch this silly thing, namely over the top screen moments. The monster is great, it's actually a robot built by the aliens, inexplicably in the shape of a dinosaur (pre-dating transformers?). Why it stomps around the countryside with the "Japanese Self Defense Forces" fruitlessy shooting at it isn't clear, but it's still great.

The rest of the movie involves a battle by the plucky JSDF against the Mysterians, who have built a base that looks like an upside down salad bowl with a plate on top. Somehow, in spite of their advanced technology, the JSDF triumphs by very quickly developing their own array of ray guns, one of which is announced in a great bit of overdub, "Ah! Electronic can-non." The payoff is a series of Flash-Gordon type spaceship shots of tubular shaped craft motoring hortizontally through the atmosphere with smoke trails curling up out of their tails towards the studio ceiling. A howl.

You can't go wrong with this, there's plenty to laugh at, the only drawback being a fair amount of plot, you can fast forward through that. But don't miss an appearance by . . . James Bond. No kidding. I mean, robots, monsters, aliens capturing our women, James Bond . . . what else could you want?

Rating:
Summary: Toho's WAR of the WORLDS...
Review: No self-respecting fan of sci-fi will miss the chance to view this "science fiction super spectacular"...the greatest science-fiction picture ever conceived by the mind of man!" [The blurbs emblazon the clam shell ] This...along with the original GODZILLA...is Toho's greatest hit.Imoshiro Honda is in full SFX gear. Kenji Sahara and Yumi Shirakawa...along with a super cool ROBOT who is a hybrid of Godzilla,a Samurai warrior and Big Bird...are ready to party-down with serious War of the World's mayhem. The MYSTERIANS super race is equipped with the hottest, pre-Star TreK/pre-video game flying saucers ever filmed (a sequel, BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE, was made sheerly to feature these bad, space age muscle machines). Endless electronic-ion shoot-outs ARE endless, but are fun as heck to wallow-in;getting your max money's worth of lusty Laser gun combat. THE MYSTERIANS is what drive-in movies used to be about. Forget pie-plate pseudo's like PLAN NINE;this Eastern version George Pal meets INDEPENDENCE DAY is what the best of bad sci-fi is about: A legendary matinee movie.


Rating:
Summary: Robot-zilla and the Aliens.
Review: The invaders-from-space theme gets its first workout from TOHO. Aliens from the planet Mysteroid seek to subdue Earth. They use a giant "robot-zilla" to squash Japan. Spaceships abound, and the military adds to the fiery destruction with bombs, tanks, and rockets. Japanese actors run around in space suits complete with dark-visor pilot helmets. Ray guns zap things with blazing special effects. The is a worthy entry in the legendary Japanese sci-fi canon. Along with the second Godzilla flick (sometimes known as "Gigantis, the Fire Monster"), this '50s flick has been unfairly ignored over the years. Unless, of course, you are like me, a die-hard fan. Unfortunately, it has also suffered from limited availability in low-grade editions. Depending on your outlook, it's either a sci-fi thriller targeted at younger audiences, or camp entertainment for older viewers. The special effects are typical of the genre. In other words, don't expect much in the way of sophistication. The script is better than usual, and the action moves swiftly along. The martial background music adds to the excitement of the battle scenes, and the color photography helps. Bottom line, it's good fun on several levels, and a worthy addition to any serious collector's movie shelf. ;-)

Rating:
Summary: Childhood favorite no longer makes the grade
Review: This is an ambitious genre film, and when I was young, I thought it came off superbly. I saw "The Mysterians" in the theater, when I was about 11 years old. I was so taken with it that I sat by myself, thru the entire picture twice that Saturday afternoon.

This is the stuff of wild fantasy and imagination, with a ten story robot tromping on the Japanese islanders, flying saucers setting up impenatrable domes armed with nasty destruction rays, and abductions of human females necessitated by the Mysterians' inability to reproduce with their own sterile females. The driving musical score added a sense of great urgency and excitement. Anyway, that's how I remembered it.

I recently viewed a video of the film, and came away very disillusioned. The tape transfer was from an extremely poor print, and was very difficult to sit through. The dubbed dialog is poorly done, the acting is very stiff, and the script is ludicrous, no matter how you look at it. The music is a loud minimalist drone, and the special effects are simply dreadful, especially when compared with say, any of the Harryhausen pictures, or the Jack Arnold efforts of the same period.

I love SF films, especially from the 50's, but I find it hard to understand why I thought this film was so good back then. But of course, then I saw it as it should have been seen; a fresh new anamorphic color print projected by carbon arc, on a huge screen within a great cavern of a movie palace. It being an early widescreen film no doubt added a lot to the overall effect.

I suppose a fan of the Godzilla pix might find this title okay as an interesting precursor of Japan's output in the SF/monster genre, but there are so many better SF titles from this period that I cannot really recomment this film very highly. If, however, it is ever restored and transfered to 16:9 DVD from 35mm, I will take another look. Fat chance, I'm afraid.