CPB Writes

This is a preview of the blog's first Patreon-exclusive essay. As a backer, you'll be granted access to this essay and other exclusive content, as well as also early access to each regular essay before they're published on this site. Kindly consider backing for as low as $2 ! Enemy Monsters is a sub-series focusing on non-Toho films inspired by, intended to compete with, or otherwise relevant to the Godzilla movies. Daiei Film’s 1956 Warning from Space, known in Japan as Spacemen Appear Above Tokyo , is a highly significant entry in the history of Japanese tokusatsu (special effects) films. This is even though Warning from Space (I shall use the international title for the sake of brevity, even though the Japanese title is obviously way more awesome) is not a giant monster movie in the traditional sense - monsters are featured, but they are more or less human-scaled. Nor was the film even the first major science fiction production by Daiei; way back in 1949 the company had ...

Info Also Known As: Jû jin yuki otoko  aka Beast Man Snow Man (Japan) Director: Honda Ishiro. Screenplay: Murata Takeo, from a story by Shigeru Kayama. Director of Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya. Composer: Sato Masaru. Runtime: 94 minutes (Japan), 63 minutes (U.S. Re-cut) Release Date: August 14, 1955 What’s It About? When two zoology students go missing on a ski trip in the Japanese Alps, their classmates and professor launch an expedition to the area on the evidence that an unknown animal was involved in the disappearances. The expedition discovers the existence of two Abominable Snowman-type creatures, an adult and child of the same species, similarly the last of their kind. They also discover an unknown village whose deformed, backwards residents surely couldn’t be based on harmful stereotypes of the Burakumin caste in Japan, you guys. An exotic animal dealer and his goons are also hunting the creature, with tragedy sure to ensue… Monster Appearances: Adult Snowman, Junior Sno...