1956 Japanese B-movie
Rating: 14/20
Plot: Starfish aliens from the planet Pyra travel to our planet to warn us of impending doom in the form of a runaway planet on a collision course with ours. But they're giant starfish, so nobody sticks around long enough to hear the warning. The aliens have to figure out another way to get the message across before it's too late.
I pretty much declared this to be the greatest movie ever made after the early appearance of the starfish aliens which are a little cheaper looking than the cover above might indicate. I really enjoyed the no-budget affects in this one. There's a trippy transformation from starfish to Japanese pop singer, the ominously approaching scorching fuzz planet, and streaking spaceships. There are also some good visuals when this turns into a near-disaster film, Planet R's proximity to ours causing intense heat and flooding. An evacuation of Tokyo scene was also really well done. This is an early color film, the first color Japanese sci-fi flick actually, and the colors in Warning from Space are sort of sickly or primitive. But like black and white science fiction from the time, the weird color actually gives this a little flavor. The story, admittedly lifted from at least two sources, is interesting although there are some moments that are definitely slower than others. Solid funk from the Japanese!
I am amazed that I have never heard of this. I hope it becomes a "five" someday. How do you find these things?
ReplyDeleteDon't get too excited! The starfish aren't nearly as big as they are on the movie poster. And they don't attack like it looks like the one on the poster might be doing. They don't actually do much of anything.
ReplyDeleteI am with Cory on this one...I cannot believe you discovered this, and I have never heard of it.
ReplyDeleteI live and love Japanese monster movies. Here is one from the 1950's that I have no idea about. I have sat through Attack of the Mushroom People, War of the Gargantuas, and Frankenstein Conquers the World. I have seen every single Godzilla movie ever made, and even most of the Gamera films...and I missed this.
Incredible find on your part. I bow in reverence.
Technically, we can't call this a monster movie. It's got a lot more in common with 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' than it does any Godzilla movie. A lot more.
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