Space Amoeba

Space Amoeba (ゲゾラ・ガニメ・カメーバ 決戦! 南海の大怪獣, Gezora, Ganime, Kamēba: Kessen! Nankai no Daikaijū, lit. "Gezora, Ganime, and Kameba: Decisive Battle! Giant Monsters of the South Seas"), is a 1970 Japanese kaiju film directed by Ishirō Honda, written by Ei Ogawa, and produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka and Fumio Tanaka, with special effects by Sadamasa Arikawa.[1] Produced and distributed by Toho Studios, the film stars Akira Kubo, Atsuko Takahashi, Yukiko Kobayashi, Kenji Sahara, Yoshio Tsuchiya, and Yu Fujiki, with Haruo Nakajima portraying both Gezora and Ganime.

Space Amoeba
Theatrical release poster
Directed byIshirō Honda
Produced by
Screenplay byEi Ogawa[1]
Starring
Narrated byIchiro Murakoshi
Music byAkira Ifukube[1]
CinematographyTaiichi Kankura[1]
Edited byMasahisa Himi[1]
Production
company
Distributed byToho
Release date
  • 1 August 1970 (1970-08-01) (Japan)
Running time
84 minutes[2]
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Space Amoeba tells the story of amoeba-like extraterrestrials that hijack a space probe and, after crash landing on an atoll in the Pacific Ocean, create gigantic monsters from native lifeforms (a kisslip cuttlefish, stone crab and mata mata) for the purpose of conquering the Earth. The film was released theatrically in Japan on 1 August 1970, and received a theatrical release in the United States in 1971 by American International Pictures, under the title Yog-Monster From Space.

Plot

The Helios 7 space probe is sent on a mission to study the planet Jupiter. While on its outward journey to the gas giant, the probe is overtaken by the Space Amoeba, an amorphous parasitic extraterrestrial. The probe returns to Earth and crashes into the South Pacific, where the Amoeba leaves the device and inhabits the body of a cuttlefish, causing it to mutate into what is called "Gezora". The tentacled kaiju begins attacking ships and islands in the area.

A photographer named Kudo and his entourage land on Selgio Island for a photoshoot, but their camp is attacked by Gezora. Because of its mutation, the creature can create extremely cold temperatures with its body. When the survivors discover that Gezora is vulnerable to high temperatures, Kudo and his friends use a leftover Japanese World War II munitions bunker to set fire to the monster. Severely burned, the creature retreats to the water, where it dies.

Later, the Space Amoeba possesses a stone crab, mutating it into "Ganime" and attacks the surrounding islands. Luckily the humans manage to lure Ganime into a pit and destroy it with explosives. The Amoeba survives a second time and flees into the surrounding jungles, plotting its revenge.

The Space Amoeba decides to control two Earth creatures this time: another Ganime and a mata mata named "Kameba". The two monsters raid the human camp. Luckily Kudo realizes the two monsters' weakness: supersonic waves. By releasing a storm of bats, the Amoeba loses control of its creations. Ganime and Kameba, no longer under control, go berserk and begin to battle one another. The humans, using more explosives, cause the volcano to erupt, engulfing the Space Amoeba and the two monsters.

Cast
Gezora (Haruo Nakajima) comes ashore during filming.

Source:[2]

  • Akira Kubo as Taro Kudo
  • Atsuko Takahashi as Ayako Hoshino　
  • Yukiko Kobayashi as Saki
  • Kenji Sahara as Makoto Obata
  • Yoshio Tsuchiya as Dr. Kyouichi Miya
  • Yu Fujiki as the promotion division manager
  • Noritake Saito as Rico
  • Yuko Sugihara as Stewardess
  • Sachio Sakai as the magazine editor
  • Chotaro Togin as Engineer Yokoyama
  • Wataru Omae as Sakura
  • Haruo Nakajima as Gezora / Ganime
  • Haruyoshi Nakamura as Kameba
  • Ichiro Murakoshi as Yog
  • Tetsu Nakamura as supplicator Ombo

Development

Most of Space Amoeba was filmed on Hachijo Island, although the underwater scenes were filmed at Ryugu Palace in the Yomiuri Land amusement park and at Toho Studios in Tokyo. It was also the last film worked on by Toho's special effects department, which closed down shortly before the film was released in Japan.[3]

Release

Space Amoeba was released in Japan on 1 August 1970 where it was distributed by Toho.[2] The film was released theatrically in the United States as Yog-Monster From Space in 1971.[2] The film was distributed by American International Pictures with an English-language dub and had a running time of 81 minutes.[2]

The film was released to home video in 2006 as Space Amoeba in its Japanese language with English subtitles.[2]

See also

References

Footnotes
  1. Galbraith IV 2008, p. 268.
  2. Galbraith IV 2008, p. 269.
  3. "Space Amoeba". TohoKingdom.com. Retrieved October 29, 2020.

Sources
  • Galbraith IV, Stuart (2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 1461673747.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.