Eclipse Series 37: When Horror Came to Shochiku (1967-1968)
4xDVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC 16:9 | 336 min | 17 Gb
Audio: Japanese AC3 1.0 @ 384 Kbps | Subtitles: English
Genre: Horror, Sci-fi
Following years of a certain radioactive beast’s domination at the box office, many Japanese studios tried to replicate the formula with their own brands of monster movies. One of the most fascinating, if short-lived, dives into that fiendish deep end was the one by Shochiku, a studio better known for elegant dramas by the likes of Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujiro Ozu. In 1967 and 1968, the company created four certifiably batty, low-budget fantasies, tales haunted by watery ghosts, plagued by angry insects, and stalked by aliens - including one in the form of a giant chicken-lizard. Shochiku’s outrageous and oozy horror period shows a studio leaping into the unknown, even if only for one brief, bloody moment.