Wednesday, February 14, 2018

The Magic Serpent (1966)

Original title: Kairyu Daikessen

Director: Tetsuya Yamanouchi

Writers: Masaru Igami, Mokuami Kawatake

Composer: Toshiaki Tsushima

Starring: Kiroki Matsukata, Tomoko Ogawa, Ryutaro Otomo, Bin Amatsu, Nobuo Kaneko, Sen Hara, Kensaku Hara, Masataka Iwao, Seizo Fukumoto, Akira Shioji

More info: IMDb

Plot:  In ancient Japan, a good lord is killed and his throne is taken by the trecherous Yuki Daijo and his wizard friend Oroki-maru. The young prince Ikazuki-maru is rescued from the jaws of death by a magic bird sent by a wizard. Ten years later, Ikazuki-maru embarks on an adventure to avenge his parents and the wizard's death with his magic powers he learned from the wizard. He kills Yuki Daijo but then must battle Oroki-maru in a battle to the death.



My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

What sets this apart from the kaiju flicks of the day is the setting feudal Japan.  There's very little man-in-suit monster action and nearly all of it is saved for the last 15 minutes when two giant monsters fight to the death until a giant fucking spider shows up to finish the job!  There are some batshit crazy things going on in between the monster stuff that bookends the film.  There was a point where the weirdness started to get old.  It's worth a look but I can't see watching it again.  It's an interesting side not to the giant monster pictures of that era.


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