Battle in Outer Space

Ishiro Honda returns to the cinemas with another big, special effect spectacle ala The Mysterians. I'd say that this is a step down from the previous film, not having the same kind of narrative verve (the modest amount that The Mysterians demonstrated) and is more of a straightforward sci-fi adventure. That could work if, again,…

Varan The Unbelievable

What if Ishiro Honda made a cheap Godzilla ripoff for Japanese television that was quickly recut into a feature length motion picture? Would you believe me if I told you the result was not very good? That it does nothing to set itself apart from the movie it's copying? Well, as can be said for…

The H-Man

Moving away from giant monsters for a moment, Ishiro Honda brings Eiji Tsuburaya's special effects skills on a smaller, perhaps more effective, scale in service to a monster movie disguised as a gangster film. It's a curious mix where we get Honda's now expected over-explanation of scientific nonsense in combination with underwritten characters who never…

The Mysterians

Up until the final ten minutes or so, I was a bit more mixed on this science fiction effort by Ishiro Honda. It's silly but doesn't realize it. It's got that singular obsession with dull scientists that Honda has included with every monster movie he's made so far. It's both underexplained and overexplained at the…

Be Happy, These Two Lovers

One of the last times Ishiro Honda would find time in his schedule of making monster movies to make something small again, Be Happy, These Two Lovers is the smallest film that Honda had made. It's more in line with the output of Yasujiro Ozu than anything Honda had made up to that point. It's…