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Starman Attack From Spaced

Starman – Attack From Space (Review)

Starman Attack From Space


1964

Starring

Ken Utsui as Starman (Super Giant)

This movie is edited from 2 episodes of the Super Giant serials of the 1950s. (this one being episodes 5 and 6, JINKO EISEN TO JINRUI NO HAMETSU and UCHUTEI TO JINKO EISEN NO KEKITOTSU) If you’ve ever seen Invasion of the Neptune Men or Prince of Space then you have a good idea what Starman movies are like, and know to proceed with caution. For those of you who haven’t been to the world of Japanese 50’s superhero sci-fi, it is a frightening journey into madness and shame. Or at least very similar to modern day Power Rangers or Ultraman type shows, except no one grows big, and there is usually only one good guy who is invincible and kills hundreds of evil Bad Dudes. So strap yourself in and prepare for the ride.

High School Ghosthustlers

High School Ghosthustlers (Review)

High School Ghosthustlers


2000
Starring
Senna Matsuda as Kyoko
Yuka Nakamori as Emi
Yuko Kitamura as Mayu
Directed by Yoshinori Nishikiori


High School Girls, Ghosts, penis monsters, live action hentai, Japan, if you like that stuff, here is a movie containing it. It’s campy trash, but it’s somewhat fun. And with three Japanese Models as main characters, it has plenty of eye candy to cover the boring stretches. After a slow opening, quickly interswitched with a high school girl jumping to her death, and then Kyoko is bungee jumping while Mayu and Emi sit talking. They are members of the Supernatural Phenomenon Research Club at their school. Their club is sponsored by Mr Shimada, who tells Emi, Kyoko, and Mayu that people this was part of a series of suicides and people are talking about the school being cursed, and he wants the girls to investigate. Of the girls, Kyoko is most interested in supernatural phenomenon because she wishes to see her dead grandmother again. Emi is the daughter of some sort of monk that performs exorcisms, and has some psychic powers. Mayu is basically there to fall down and ghosts to catch, and uses a ghost detector that looks like a toy gun. But the brave Mr. Shimada now has three high school girls wandering around an empty high school at midnight knowing that many high school girls have recently killed themselves. Around 12:30, they hear piano music, which turns out to be the weird janitor. As Kyoko and Emi go to the bathroom, Mayu gets attacked by scissors which cut off part of her clothes (oh, the horror :P). It is, naturally, the weird janitor, and Kyoko and Emi show up to help, and the Janitor tries to hypnotize Kyoko to kill herself, but she just beats the crap out of him. And he was responsible for the other girls’ deaths, so now the trio are heroines.

Magic Serpent

The Magic Serpent (Review)

The Magic Serpent

aka Kairyu daikessen

1966

Starring

Hiroki Matsukata as Ikazuki Maru
Tomoko Ogawa as Sunate
Ryutaro Otomo as Oroki Maru
Bin Amatsu as Yuki Daijo


This Movie seems like it would have it all. Ninjas, Giant monsters, sword fighting. Yet somehow it manages only be average. It has a plot similar to Dune, or 5000 other movies where sons of murdered kings return for revenge. So let’s get Started…

NINJA ATTACK! The movie opens strong as a horde of ninjas attack a castle. The master awakens, but is betrayed by his subject Yuki Daijo and the evil wizard Oroki Maru. Master is killed, but his son Ikazuki Maru is shuttled off on a boat. But Oroki Maru turns into a dragon and gives chase. The Dragon has a very familiar roar, suspiciously like another giant lizard known to attack Tokyo and breathe fire. But let’s not dwell on that and get back to the chase. The Dragon destroys the boat and is about to kill the boy when a bird comes out of nowhere and slices the Dragon, with blood spraying EVERYWHERE! It is quite magnificent. The bird grabs little Ikazuki Maru and flies off. The bird also sounds suspiciously like another flying monster that attacks Tokyo on some regularity, but it is best not to dwell on that, either.

Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion (Review)

Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion

aka Joshuu 701go: Sasori

1972
Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion

Starring
Meiko Kaji as Matsu/Sasori (Scorpion)
Directed by Shunya Ito

Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion

Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion

1970’s exploitation cinema reached new heights with the Scorpion series of movies from Japan. The Scorpion series of movies are classic example of revenge movies, of women wronged and chained, who fight back and kill those that used and discarded them. Anyway, those types of movies are right up my alley, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing some obnoxious character get killed horribly by someone he abused earlier. And this film is full of it!

Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion

Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion