Release Date: August 1, 1970 Length: 83 minutes Subs from the DVD
Director: Ishiro Honda Special Effects: Sadamasa Arikawa Music: Akira Ifukube
In Japan this movie just went by the title of "Space Amoeba", in the West(America) the Yog was added in. Also added in above who did the music for this movie as it was so superb and perhaps the best of any horror or Sci-fi movie I've viewed. Ikufhube was so respected for his film scores and did too many to count for these kinds of Toho monster films. Which were usually directed by Honda and he was at the helm again though for the first time without his longtime partner. Who was the special effects master Eiji Tsubaraya who passed away in January of 1970. His protege' Arikawa took over for him and I thought did a solid job with the special effects and there were three kinds of new monsters.
Have on occasion talked about how older B/W films seemed to be of higher quality than color movies and that truly was the case in Japan for so long. But by 1970 when this film was released the quality of color surpassed B/W films and I thought the quality of this was quite good but it was from the DVD so that may have made a difference. A nice advantage in doing somewhat newer films is most should have a trailer or two, this film does and below is one of them. Will leave this up for part two of the review but will try to hunt for some sort of other video for that post, if successful it will be further on down.
When the year hit 1970 the film industry changed quite a bit in Japan and perhaps America too. TV had become more popular so many cinemas did close down plus the viewing habits of movie fans changed. To me it seemed Yakuza films became much more popular, so didn't Pinku movies which was a newish genre and also the most popular for most of the 70's. Which means other movies lost many fans and would have to say Sci-Fi ones such as this film were the biggest losers. very few of these kind came out after this one but the genre did make a rebound. However there were of course many fans who still loved these types of films and and there was a 50th anniversary celebration for "Space Amoeba" and below are some collectables re-released in 2020.
Main Cast: This wasn't the most known of the Toho Sci-Fi movies but was the last one they released for five years. Talked about why above and since 1955 Toho had to release at least five of these kinds of movies each year. The top three male characters are well know to me and most other horror/sci-fi fans as they starred in so many of these movies and still did up until 2000 or so. Kenji Sahara was in the "Ultra Q" drama that I recently recapped and he had the starring role in that series. Because of the beard he looked so different in this film playing a villain named Obata, appearing as guests in that TV series were also the first two characters. On another note the trio also had huge roles in the 1963 movie "Matango" which I mention often and for good reason as it's a must watch!!!! As usual this is part one of the review, will go up to about the forty minute mark or hopefully 2-3 minutes past that, of course the next post has the other half of the review. The setting for this movie was the fictional island of Sergio which was at the halfway point between Hawaii and the Mariana Islands though of course the eighty residing on the island all spoke Japanese! That was because the Navy occupied the island during the war and there weren't all that many characters with huge roles in the film.
Below is a screenshot from early on showing the unmanned Japanese spacecraft called Helios 7 and is the main part of the story. The ship was sent on a four year voyage to Jupiter, unmanned as it's 440 million miles from Earth! In 1970 no ship had ever been sent to Jupiter so the Helios 7 would have made history but after four months it disappeared as it no longer showed on radar and there was no contact of any kind. So on Earth it was presumed that the space lab had blown up but that was not to be for some months later it landed near the Pacific island of Sergio, somehow it was never detected but the below character had seen it land in the ocean. The Helios 7 had been invaded by some sort of Bluish slime/vapor which we learned at the end was a very different new kind of life form. An evil one also as this form wanted to conquer the Earth and don't all Aliens!???? The form can take over the body of a human or animal but not many as the Bluish form was so small, of course much more about this life form in the two posts. **** The key detail is that this life form took over a human in this part plus three everyday sea animals and made them into massive creatures but this life form did have some weaknesses....
Akira Kubo as Taro Kubo.... Freelance photographer who was hired by Asia Developments to help them with their new campaign, mainly because of Ayako's urging. But the main reason for Kudo wanting to travel to Sergio Island was that he had been on a recent assignment, on his trip back home he could have sworn he witnessed a spaceship(Helios 7) dropping into the sea near the island. That's in the first screenshot below and no one saw what Kudo did, he was irate for not getting a picture. So he jumped at the chance to return to the area and was good friends with the below man Miya, the pair actually led the search for Helios 7 and where was the Japanese equivalent of NASA?
Yoshio Tsuchiya as Kyouichi Miya.... A Biologist but actually more of an advisor for Asia Developments. He will scout out their projects to help preserve Animal Life and was so key to saving the world from this Space Amoeba though Miya admitted he was no expert on the matter. He seemed to be good friends with the photographer Kudo on the left below, once he heard the story of Helios 7 from his friend was dying to visit Sergio Island. Miya for many years had believed there was a so-called Monster Island in that area and could he finally prove his theory to be correct?
Kenji Sahara as Makoto Obata.... A corporate spy who quickly became close to Kudo and Ayako on their cruise to Sergio Island which I was surprised at though Kudo was quite leery of this man.... for good reasons! Obata had claimed to be an Anthropologist but of course wasn't, his unnamed company had sent Obata to find out the details of the resort that Asia Developments was planning to build on Sergio Island. One thing was an underwater hotel(!), towards the end of the movie Obata was taken over by the Space Amoeba but somehow survived and actually in a way turned out to be the hero!
Atsuko Takahashi as Ayako Hoshino.... One of the key PR employees at Asia Developments and her assignment in this movie was to scout out the island of Sergio for a new resort. Can't say this character was important to the story but always need at least one female in these kinds of movies! Atsuko was only twenty in age when this movie was filmed but had started her career in 1965 appearing in a Godzilla flick. It wasn't a long career for her as it only lasted two more years as she got married and retired which seemed to be fairly common back then and she was a cutie!
Yoshitake Saito as Rico.... Sergio Island native who was very helpful to the pair of Asia Developments employees stationed there and was often the island's guide for visitors. Somewhat early on Rico had been attacked by the creature Gezora, after that he was very subdued and had a case of amnesia. But by the end of the movie he had recovered, his girl was the below character and while a wedding ceremony had begun for the pair in the movie it never finished so the pair remained unwed.
Yukiko Kobayashi as Saki.... Rico's girlfriend and they did come so close to being married n the film but a Space Amoeba attack prevented that. Think she also served as a tour/visitor guide and was the most friendly of the island people. Yukiko was 24 in age when this movie was filmed, she was very busy up until 1974 but because of an illness retired and never attempted a comeback.
Tetsu Nakamura as Ombo.... The Priest/Shaman of Sergio Island, it wasn't an important nor big role and Ombo did not like these newly arrived Japanese visitors.
Togin Chotaro as Yokoyama.... Survey engineer for the Asia Developments company. He and his partner were sent to Sergio Island to survey the land, water, etc. for buildings but he wasn't seen after the 25 minute mark. For Yokoyama was killed then by the Gezora monster, at about the ten minute mark his partner Sakura had also been slain by the creature! Yokohama is in the left in the below top screenshot, in the second is Sakura.
Of course actors wore rubber suits to portray these three creatures but won't list their names though do have some info on these monsters. All three were common sea animals but when the Bluish slime/vapor from Space Amoeba enters any kind of living body it changes shape but in this case the only difference was these creatures grew in size but were very strong. None had any kind of special powers but being that huge size did make them very powerful and seemed bullets couldn't penetrate their outer skin, remember these are sea animals.
Below have a screenshot of the three creatures we saw in this movie, none were all that scary but I thought the special effects were quite good. None of them had any special powers but when the Space Amoeba entered their body it grew to about ten times its size, perhaps even more. So that meant all were so much stronger but all did have a weakness which was fire and light. Living in space meant this life form had adapted to cold temperatures, even on Earth its body temp remained at zero. So light and heat were key to defeating the creatures but it took more than those, such as certain noises are harmful and more about that in this post. The first sea animal to turn into a creature controlled by the Space Amoeba was Gezora in the top screenshot, he became a giant Squid. As a matter of fact Gezora also made a guest appearance in two Godzilla flicks. He died early on and when that happened that Bluish fluid entered the body of a Crab who the Sergio Island natives dubbed Ganime. That monster is in the middle screenshot and the bottom one belongs to the third creature who was named Kamoeba. He was a Turtle though no relationship to Gamera, while not overly scary will give a thumbs up to the special effects team for creating three new monsters.
Did find two more trailers for the movie but they were so similar to the one at the top didn't add it in. The above video just shows that one photo from the movie but it's still one that I recommend viewing or to be more accurate listening to. For it features much of the music from the film and at the very top mentioned how terrific the music was in this movie, it really added to the suspense. It was composed by Akira Ifukube and what a distinguished career he had that began in 1935 and lived until 2006 when he passed away at the age of 91. Ifukube began as an orchestra composer and was successful at that but after the war began writing soundtracks. His biggest claim to fame was doing the eerie score for the first Godzilla movie that came out in 1954, he did the music for at least a dozen other Godzilla films along with the music for Rodan, Mothra and many other classic Toho Sci-Fi movies. Wish the picture changed in that above video to let you see what was taking place when that piece of music was playing but still recommend viewing it
Where we ended off was with the massive Squid Gezora retreating back into the ocean after coming so close to killing the residents of Sergio Island. It was the second time Gezora had retreated during a battle, the first was when it was being hunted down by Kudo and Miya in the ocean while the pair were looking for its lair. During that encounter some dolphins had appeared nearby, the biologist Miya wondered did they have anything to do with Gezora fleeing instead of killing Kudo? Yes, the dolphins did save Kudo's life but Miya kept this theory to himself as he wanted more evidence. Now he felt Gezora may have a second weakness which is light and fire, that could be because he felt the giant Squid was being controlled by an unknown life form that had returned to Earth in the unmanned Helios 7 spaceship that landed near Sergio Island. Sure most have checked out part one so you should know where we stand in the movie, will begin off with some of Miya's theories about the giant squid Gezora and how he's being controlled, even when that creature was defeated two other massive monsters took his place!
So here are a few of Miya's theories about where Gezora came from and how to defeat it, some of what he said is right above. As you can see the spaceship Helios 7 is what Miya felt was the cause of the Gezora squid growing so large plus becoming very violent. Kudo had deduced those things too earlier though for now Miya doesn't know how this life form entered the body of Gezora. When the islander Rico survived being attacked by Gezora he was left with a mark on his chest, to Miya it appeared the scar was from frostbite but how could that be when the temp was 80 F and the island was in the tropics? To Miya it was because this living form had lived in space for centuries and of course the temperature must be beyond freezing so Miya was thinking the Gezora squid's body temp must also be extremely cold and it's where Rico's scar came from.... sound confusing? Plus Gezora has shied away from bright lights twice which makes sense as there is no light in outer space, so Fire and Lights are what will defeat Gezora and the life form controlling his body. There is one other weakness of Gezora which is sound but will wait on explaining that as it wasn't used in this upcoming attack of Gezora which is above.
**** Do often use the term Bluish Vapor which is the same thing as the Space Amoeba, use Blue for that's what the form looks like entering a host body.
There was gasoline on Sergio Island so Miya, Kudo and the natives accumulated as much as possible and laid a trap for Gezora. Which worked as he was baited into a ring of fire and Miya was correct as the giant Squid was defenseless but did manage to slither away into the ocean, would the water douse the flames and revive Gezora? No and above you can see the massive Squid falling into the Sergio Island bay and the islanders rejoicing, now with Gezora dead does that mean their troubles are over? Not by a long shot and after Gezora died that Bluish vapor that had come from space and the Helios 7 ship left the squid's body and found another life form.... actually three(!) and that surprised me. The first form this Space Amoeba entered was a Crab, it too grew to a massive size and was quickly named Ganime by the islanders. This was a creature which in a way was cool, granted it was a killer but thought using those its pincers was a nice touch! Also to be inhabited by this Vapor was the con man Obata, he tried escaping from the island in a small boat but was the first victim of Ganime. Somehow more of this Bluish vapor went from the crab into Obata's body just before he died so the man was still alive as he says below though everyone thought Obata had bit the dust. **** Oooops, almost forgot to mention something important which is in the middle screenshot above. It was discovered that there a hidden Ammo depot from the war, in it were old supplies such as rifles, bullets and gas which was used to defeat Gezora. The rifles will come in handy against the next two creatures, their shells/bodies are bulletproof but not their eyes.
Did mention before the biologist Miya knew of one other weakness of the Space Amoeba which was sound, a bit of that Miya described above. Not just any kind of sound but a very high pitched one and he first noticed that in the ocean when Gezora retreated from some dolphins. The average Human emits 20,000 cycles of sound which is very low and unnoticeable, dolphins emit 120,000 cycles which we can hear and even more so are the Space Amoeba in their host bodies. However the Genima crab/monster does its attacks on the island so there's no way dolphins could be of any use but there is one other savior. Which are Bats who also emit 120,000 cycles of sound and Miya did witness Genima fleeing in his last attack because some were in the air. There are a few large caves on Sergio Island and in them were the homes of the Bats so that would be a perfect place for safety though can't say being with bats is all that safe. But until a better plan can be worked out hiding in caves will protect all from Gemina, though it's just a huge crab it's mind is now being controlled by the Space Amoeba. It knew the damage Bats could do to it so during the day when the Bats slept Gemina somehow went to the island's caves and destroyed all of the Bats or at least that's how it appeared at first. In reflecting a bit also think the presumed dead Obata had a hand in killing the Bats. Getting rid of those Bats was a wise move by this life form who seemed to be growing stronger by the day as it got used to the conditions of Earth. In the bottom screenshot above the Bluish Vapor oozed into yet another sea creature which was a turtle, it also grew to such a massive size though like the other sea animals had no special powers such as the turtle Gamera flying. This new creature was called Kamoeba which will soon be the ally of Gemina though also an enemy(!) so it may not be too much longer until every living being on the island of Sergio has been eliminated!
As is the case for almost all alien creatures it's mission soon became to conquer the Earth, like others before them using massive monsters would be how they would achieve their goal. One big advantage this Space Amoeba had over the previous aliens was that it could control many life forms at once, for now it was the two sea animals plus Obata but could they control possibly thousands or even millions?! Luckily the denizens of Earth never found out the answer and of all people to save them was the corporate spy Obata! The Space Amoeba was going to use his body to destroy the remaining bats using fire but as he says above Obata will never give into this life form and did prevent it from using his body to destroy the bats. Which were released from the cave and soon began to circle over Sergio Island which would soon feature a grudge match of two massive creatures! The sound frequency given off by the Bats began to have an effect on Gemina and Kamoeba, a positive one the humans watching the action realized. For that high sound frequency of 120,000 cycles weakened the control the Space Amoeba had on the two sea animals, soon they reverted back to what they had been though just in their brains as both Gemina and Kamoeba were still massive.
In the top eight screenshots below you can see the action of the final 3-4 minutes as Gemina and Kamoeba battled each other, what also had enrage them was that Kudo had shot both in an eye with one of those old World War II rifles. The skin/shells of these creatures appeared to be bulletproof but not their eyes. What a fierce duel that was with no creature getting the upper hand, as that was taking place the Sergio islanders along with Miya, Kudo and Ayako had fled the island in a boat but staying behind had been Obata. In the end it was him who may have saved he world as he refused to allow the Space Amoeba to control his body and destroy the Bats. That showdown between Gemina and Kamoeba was a brutal one which shook the ground so much it activated the island's volcano!!! As you can see lave began to spew out at a high rate which soon consumed the bodies of the massive creatures and ended their lives, Obata's as well. But Obata's death was heroic as it meant the Space Amoeba was also killed thus saving the Earth, that's what the survivors said as they sailed away from Sergio Island and with that the movie came to it's conclusion. That was a very enjoyable movie and much better than expected, said why in the intro and while the monsters didn't have any unique powers the story was interesting and the film never dragged in the least. After the first eight screenshots below are more of what took place in the second half of the movie. Not sure what is up next, was going to review another film but not sure what my plans are at the moment and you'll see what's up next soon enough.
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