Iloz Zoc: The H-Man (1958)
Another Toho Studios' atomically-charged creature feature.
Director Ishiro (Godzilla) Honda dishes up another atomic-age tale filled with dissolving gangsters, determined but baffled police, fainting females, and sage scientists in this 1958 creep-fest. I remember being scared silly watching this on television as a young horrorhead, back in the good-old days of the Shock! package of scary films and local station, late-night TV horror host shows.
While it's a bit slow by today's standards, the film’s simple, balloon-powered clothes with bubbling colored-goo effects are still stylish and eerie as the nuclear radiated jelly-men pop up from the Tokyo sewer system to dissolve people for sustenance, leaving only their clothes behind.
It opens on a rainy night as a gangster becomes an unlucky snack during a narcotics smuggling job. When another gangster suddenly disappears without his clothes, the police are baffled, but a handsome young scientist may have the answer: two steamship crewmen survived a chance encounter with a derelict ship with no crew on board, except for their clothes. To their horror, the would-be salvagers discover the previous crew is still oozing about, and they barely escape from being eaten like their comrades. The scientist believes their terrifying story and tries to convince the police that those creatures, born of the atomic bomb’s radiation, are now in Tokyo.
Toss in a few nightclub dance numbers with scantily-clad dancers, more nervous gangsters, and an insane dash through the Tokyo sewer system to rescue the perpetually fainting leading lady before the army sets fire to everything, and you've got an odd but entertaining mix worth watching with friends. Bring out the squiggly-wiggly jello and have a theme party showing of The H-Man: Molecular Man Terrifies the World!
Daniel Woolstencroft: Deathdream aka Dead of Night (1974)
If you’ve never read W. W. Jacobs’ The Monkey’s Paw (and you should), there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with the premise: be careful what you wish for.
There’s no doubt that it’s a story that’s inspired many, perhaps most famously Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, which by King’s own admission owes much to Jacob’s classic tale. In 1974, Bob Clark updated the myth with chilling effect in Dead of Night (the current DVD release assumes one of the film’s other identities, Deathdream).
It’s the tale of a young soldier, Andy Brooks, who’s killed in Vietnam during the film’s opening sequence. But when he comes home to his parents’ house, albeit acting a little strangely, they assume the reports of his death were a mistake, and that everything’s okay.
Article comments
1 - Mat Brewster
Good stuff guys. I will seriously have to check out that nun film. Who doesn't love a little nunsploitation?
Sorry I missed the deadline. I have nothing to blame but my own inherent laziness.
2 - Nunsploitation.net
I'm always happy to see nunsploitation films get some ink, but I was just a bit disappointed with your review. Did you check out the special features? Nunsploitation.Net helped do the features for this movie including one on the history of nunsploitation films.
Mondo Macabro did a great job putting this package together with worthwile features including an interview with the director's son who co-wrote the film, a featurette from Salvation Films about nunsploitation cinema, and featurettes from us at nunsploitation.net on the history of the genre.
3 - Chris Beaumont
No, I haven't gone through the extras yet, but I do plan to. For the purposes of this fine column, I only focused on the film.