---

The mainstay and best-known of the Japanese science fiction films of the Sixties are undoubtedly the Kaiju Eiga or 'monster movies' but there were also quite a few other science fiction productions which did not quite fall into this category. Some of those films are listed here and may, depending on your point of view, be considered to be Kaiju Eiga. Likewise, some of the films on my Kaiju Eiga page may not - it's a personal perception, but most of the productions will be listed on one or the other. If it isn't, please let me know. The original Japanese productions were unmercifully cut and overdubbed for the U.S. market, often released containing new footage with American actors to change the focus of the story line so, depending on which version you have seen, the story outline given may not exactly match up to what you remember.

See these Nineties interviews of some of the Japanese film 'greats' by David Milner: Ishiro Honda Jun Fukuda Kenji Sahara Akira Kubo Haruo Nakajima Noriaki Yuasa

1960
	Dai Sanji Sekai Taisen : Yonju-Ichi Jikan No Kyofu aka The Final War aka World War III Breaks Out aka Jikan No Kyofu TOEI Shigeaki Hidaka Jane Elliot, Noribumi Fujishima, Yajoi Furusato, Carl Hansen, Michiko Hoshi Yoshiko Mita, Yukiko Nikaido, Frank Reynolds, Tatsuo Umemiya Jack Wilson VIII This is not the same film as 'Sekai Daisenso', also known as 'The Final War'. The USA accidentally detonates a nuclear device over South Korea. The North/South Korea retaliations escalate, with the USA and USSR drawn into the conflict on a global scale, ending with most of the world being wiped out. The final scenes are shot in heavy rain as a memorial service is held for most of mankind.
	Denso Ningen aka The Secret Of The Telegian aka The Telegian TOHO / HERTS-LION Jun Fukuda Koji Tsuruta, Tadao Nakamaru, Akihiko Hirata, Yumi Shirakawa, Hideyo Amamoto, Shoichi Hirose Seizaburo Kawazu, Nadao Kirino, Akira Kitano, Tatsuo Matsumura, Fumito Matsuo Fuyuki Murakami, Yutaka Nakayama, Tadashi Okabe, Senkichi Omura Shin Otomo, Yutaka Sada, Sachio Sakai, Takamaru Sasaki, Ikio Sawamura Together with a scientist, a soldier is left for dead by his so-called 'friends' at the end of the war. They manage to survive somehow and, bent on revenge, find themselves an underground laboratory where they perfect a teleportation device. They use the instrument to help them achieve their objective as they kill off their double-crossing ex-colleagues.
	Gas Ningen Daiichigo aka The Human Vapour aka The First Gas Human TOHO Ishiro Honda Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kaoru Yachigusa, Tatsuya Mihashi, Keiko Sata, Bokuzen Hidari, Hisaya Ito Yoshifumi Tajima, Yoshio Kosugi, Fuyuki Murakami, Takamaru Sasaki, Minosuke Yamada Tatsuo Matsumura, Ko Mishima, Kozo Nomura, Ren Yamamoto A convicted criminal agrees to take part in some scientific experiments which leave him with the ability to turn his body into a gaseous form. This allows him to escape and continue his life of crime with virtually no chance of being recaptured.
1961
	Uchu Kaisoku-sen aka Invasion From A Planet aka Invasion Of The Neptune Men aka Space Greyhound TOEI Koji Ota Sonny Chiba, Kappei Matsumoto, Shinjiro Ebara, Mitsue Komiya Ryuko Minakami Space Chief, in his jet-propelled car, defeats an invasion attempt by sluggish aliens from the planet Neptune who have a penchant for nosecone-shaped helmets. Presumably the hero worked for the fashion police.
1962
	Sekai Daisenso aka The Last War aka The Final War TOHO Shue Matsubayashi Frankie Sakai, Nobuko Otowa, Akira Takarada, Yuriko Hoshi, Yumi Shirakawa A series of accidents, mistakes and false alarms in the missile bases of the super-powers brings them to the edge of World War III. The accidental collision of two of their aircraft over the North Pole is enough to trigger off the final conflict and the film documents the ensuing battle and its effect on mankind .
	Yosei Gorasu aka Gorath The Mysterious Star aka Astronaut 1980 TOHO Ishiro Honda Ryo Ikebe, Akihiko Hirata, Jun Tazaki, Yumi Shirakawa Takashi Shimura, Kumi Mizuno A spaceship flies through a mysterious cloud and picks up some alien organic cells. Once back on Earth, the cells multiply and reconstitute into the monster Gorath. A red hot planet is discovered to be on a collision course with Earth and scientists set off large explosions in the Antarctic to shift the Earth from its orbit and out of the planet's path. These explosions wake the sleeping monster which proceeds to interfere with their attempts to save the Earth. It is eventually destroyed and the planet is saved, but not before being devastated by tidal waves and global warming.
1963
	Matango: Fungus Of Terror aka Curse Of The Mushroom People aka Matango AIP / Toho Ishiro Honda Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kenji Sahara, Hiroshi Tachikawa Yoshio Tsuchiya, Miki Yashiro, Hideyo Amamoto, Jiro Kumagai, Akio Kusama Yutaka Oka, Keisuke Yamada, Kasuo Higata, Katsumi Tezuka, Haruo Nakajima A group of tourists become shipwrecked on a strange island and are forced to eat an exotic type of mushroom to avoid starvation. They slowly succumb to the effects of the plant and start turning into mushrooms themselves. A lone survivor escapes to tell his tale but, soon after, discovers mushroom-like growths erupting on his face.
1966
	Garibah No Uchu Ryoko aka Gulliver's Travels Beyond The Moon aka Gulliver's Voyages In Space aka Space Gulliver MASEO KURODA / TOEI Yoshio Kuroda An animated sci-fi film featuring a boy who sets sail with a toy soldier and Gulliver in search of the Star of Hope. Their adventures include saving a planet which has been taken over by runaway robots.
	Kaitei Daisenso aka Terror Beneath The Sea aka Water Cyborgs TOEI Hajime Sato ( aka Terence Ford ) Shinichi Chiba, Peggy Neal, Franz Gruber, Gunther Braun, Andrew Hughes, Erik Nielson Mike Daning, Hideo Mudata The movie, which mixes several different 'genres', features a mad scientist in charge of a vast underwater city. He invents an apparatus to turn people into amphibians, who he proceeds to put under mind control, and uses them in his plans for global domination. The real stars of the film are the futuristic devices used by the scientist to control his fantastic habitat.
1968
	Konchu Daisenso aka War Of The Insects aka Genocide Norman Cooper, Kazui Nihonmatsu Robert Garner, Charles Harris, Gaby Harrold, Kathy Horan, Alan Rogers Chico Roland, Diana Roos, Shizumi Shindo All the insects on Earth become wild and start attacking humans, resulting in Armageddon.
	Gamma Sango Uchu Daisakusen aka The Green Slime aka Battle Beyond The Stars aka Death And The Green Slime TOEI / SOUTHERN CROSS FILMS Kinji Fukasaku Robert Horton, Richard Jaeckel, Luciana Paluzzi, Bud Widom, Ted Gunther, Robert Dunham David Yorston, William Ross, Linda Hardisty, Ann Ault This first official American-Japanese co-production tells of a space mission to destroy a huge meteorite which is on a collision course with Earth. Green slime from the asteroid is transported back to a space station where it grows into snake-like creatures which emit violent electric shocks. The station is eventually evacuated ( after most of the crew have been killed ) and then exploded to destroy the alien creatures.
	Kyuketsuki Gokemidoro aka Goke Body Snatcher From Hell aka Goke The Vampire SHOCHIKU FILMS Hajime Sato Teruo Yoshida, Tomomi Sato, Eizo Kitamura, Hideo Ko, Kathy Horan Yuko Kusunoki, Kazuo Kato, Hiroyuki Nishimoto, Masaya Takahashi A plane crashes in the desert leaving the survivors stranded. Unknown to them, an alien spacecraft is nearby from which emerges a blob-like alien that proceeds to sneak up on one of the men and oozes into his brain through a gash on his head. The man is turned into a homicidal vampire that kills all the other survivors apart from the captain of the plane and a stewardess who escape into the desert and, eventually, to civilisation. The blobs catch on to the 'oozing' idea and they all decide to have a go. Apparently has a shock ending and is not a half bad film despite the 'Fifties' storyline.
1969
	Ido Zero Daisakusen aka Latitude Zero Don Sharp Productions / National General Pictures / TOHO Ishiro Honda Joseph Cotton, Cesar Romero, Akira Takarada, Masumi Okada, Richard Jaeckel Patricia Medina, Mari Nakayama, Akihito Hirata, Wataru Omae, Hikaru Kuroki Linda Haynes, Susumu Kurobe, Burr Middleton, Haruo Nakajima An advanced undersea civilisation battles the legions of the evil Malic who has plans to rule the world with his flying lions and giant rats.
	Buchamukure Daihakken aka Computer Free-For-All TOHO Kengo Furusawa Hajime Hana, Hitoshi Ueki, Kei Tani, Hiroshi Inuzaka, Eitaro Ishibashi Senri Sakurai, Shin Yasuda This is believed to be a Japanese comedy Sci-fi. Storyline unknown.

Back to top of page