From Japan, a horror and a haunting

It took a few months but I finally watched the second and third movies in that set of horror films from Shochiku Studios

GOKE, BODYSNATCHER FROM HELL (1968) is one I’ve seen before but it rewatches well. A Japanese passenger jet crashes down in the wilderness with the typical mix of Airplane Drama characters on board: a corrupt politician and the man who bribed him, a bitter wife caught between both men, an American widow PTSDed about her husband’s death in ‘nam and both a professional assassin and a mad bomber.

As if that wasn’t enough, the eponymous alien oozes out of its flying saucer and takes over one of the group. He’s the advance guard for an invasion though killing them seems to be purely for kicks — it’s not like they represent a vital front in the struggle. The best of this set so far. “Ever since the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, flying saucer sightings have increased dramatically.”

THE LIVING SKELETON (1968) is a less successful mashup of revenge thriller and ghost story, probably the weakest of the set (we’ll see after I get to movie #4). In the opening, a ruthless gang of pirates gun down the passengers and crew of a cruise boat. In the present, the traumatized twin sister of one of the victims tells her priest that she’s seen her sister’s ghost — and soon that spirit seems to be hunting and haunting her killers. But is that what’s really going on? This took way too long to engage me and some of the key plot points made no sense once I knew what was going on. “I remember you loved to quote Proverbs 1.”

Returning to America, I, MADMAN (1989) has a sexy bookstore clerk and horror buff become convinced the deranged scarface from the 1950s novel she’s currently engrossed in is hacking up everyone around her. That’s bad enough, but the culmination of his literary rampage will be cutting out her heart to wear around his neck … There’s potential in the idea but the execution is lacking — and, again, I don’t think the explanation for what’s going on holds together. “I’m more likely to find a gorgeous guy in a bookstore than a smart man in a singles bar.”

All rights to images remain with current holders.