Space Amoeba (1971)

For some reason, I remembered this flick more than many other kaiju eiga (giant monster movies) from the same period. In fact, I even have an original "Yog" poster on my wall right next to one for "The Green Slime".The film is set on a remote tropical island that is being looked at as the possible home of a luxury tourist resort. Funky photographer Kudo (wearing a floppy hat) and his adorable female companion are there to take pictures and check in with some other company personnel on the island. Dr. Mida is there to study marine evolution. And then there is the suspicious acting Obata, who claims to be an anthropologist but is actually an industrial spy.There is another visitor to the island and this one came from a lot farther than Tokyo. The misty blue space creature Yog (an "astro-quasar" he is called) has fallen to Earth on a space capsule and is now busy turning harmless animals into giant monsters. First of these fearsome freaks is the weird octo-squid Gezora, a plastic-eyed giant that uses its tentacles to walk (stagger is a better word) on land! Gezora sets about killing people and destroying the native huts, but Kudo and pals find a way to defeat the beast.The only problem is, Yog just jumps to another giant monster. Ganime, a giant crab, is next and then comes Kameba, a titanic tortoise who could give Gamera a run for his money. Not only that, but Yog also takes control of Obata and uses him to sabotage the human's plans.It's a sticky pickle but the Earthmen find a secret weakness of Yog's that they can use to attack the space monster. Another key to Yog's defeat is Obata...can his mind be turned against the Monster from Space?The movie is fun and exciting if you're not too demanding. You see plenty of the monsters and even a nasty battle between Ganime and Kameba. Call me nuts, but I thought dialog and acting were a lot better here than other period kaiju films. The characters had more personality...especially Kudo, played by Akira Kubo...and I kind of liked the way every tied together.Some may be disappointed that no cities get destroyed, but if you're looking for a Japanese monster mash with a bit of a difference, "Yog" will satisfy your craving!!!

The theme ingredients are octopus and kitsch.This is a great movie for an evening of friends, microwave popcorn, fizzy drinks (your choice), and a kitschy romp that'll make you laugh 'til you cry. If the "Iron Chef" voice-overs make you laugh, these will make you scream for mercy.Make it a double-feature: complete your evening of low-budget deadpan kitsch with a screening of "Avenging Disco Godfather."Allez Cuisine!PS: IMDb says, "Sorry, you must provide at least 10 lines in your comment. Please return to the edit window (or use the BACK option if this isn't a new window)." There! I've made my quota!

This is another alien-invasion movie from Toho studios. It features space alien (s) that invaded a tropical island, where it mutates a squid, crab, and turtle to the size of Godzilla. The aliens' main purpose: to conquer Earth. We have a group of explorers visiting an island to investigate the whereabouts of a lost space probe. There, they encounter the alien monsters, and try to stop them, with the help of some very courageous island natives. The hero of the film is portrayed by Akira Kubo. He has been portraying so many heroic roles by the time he filmed this movie that him being type-casted started to get annoying. Aside from that, we have monsters that were surprisingly very campy and rubber-ish looking.Overall, an OK kaiju film that should have featured more monsters, providing that the aliens mentioned that they were trying to mutate a lot of animals to attack Earth. The film contains a pretty exciting "rescue-the-earth" mission, nonetheless.Grade B

The Japanese have always had incredible ambitions in their fantasy movies. They have always been ready to destroy cities by huge plastic monsters coming from outer space and elsewhere. The problem is they have never had the money to succeed in making convincing special effects. This film, released in France under the title Les envahisseurs de l'espace, is no exception. Its ambition is to show three creatures from the giant octopus to the giant lobster trying to have the upper hand on the humans. It's extremely awkward and laughable, but well quite enjoyable too. After all, we do like these creatures and these films after all, don't we?