#when horror came to Shochiku

[kenro199x]

The Living Skeleton (1968)

[swampflix]

The Living Skeleton (1968)

I once found half of a Criterion Collection boxset at a West Bank thrift store, and it felt like stumbling across gold on the sidewalk.  Two of the four titles in Criterion’s “When Horror Came to Shochiku” set were collecting dust on the shelves at Thrift City USA, where I’m used to finding Hangover sequels and Season 3 discs of The O.C.  Neither were the title I was most excited to watch from…

[docrotten]

GOKE, BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL (1968, Aka KYUKETSUKI GOKEMIDORO) – Episode 126 – Decades Of Horror: The Classic Era

“Such a deep wound and no bloodstains. I have a bad feeling about this.” And well you should! The insanity has just begun. Join this episode’s Grue-Crew – Chad Hunt, Whitney Collazo, Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, and Jeff Mohr – as they each express their “what-the-hell-am-I-watching” reactions to Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (1968).

Decades of Horror: The Classic Era Episode 126 – Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (1968)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

ANNOUNCEMENT Decades of Horror The Classic Era is partnering with THE CLASSIC SCI-FI MOVIE CHANNEL, THE CLASSIC HORROR MOVIE CHANNEL, and WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL Which all now include video episodes of The Classic Era! Available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, Online Website. Across All OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop. https://classicscifichannel.com/; https://classichorrorchannel.com/; https://wickedhorrortv.com/

The survivors of a plane crash in a remote area are attacked by blob-like alien creatures that turn their victims into blood-thirsty vampires

Director: Hajime Satô

Writers: Kyûzô Kobayashi, Susumu Takaku

Based on: Gokemidoro (TV 1967) by Tomio Sagisu (also known as Soji Ushio)

Music by: Shunsuke Kikuchi

Cinematography by: Shizuo Hirase

Special Effects by: Michio Mikami

Selected Cast

Teruo Yoshida as Ei Sugisaka (the co-pilot)

Tomomi Sato as Kazumi Asakura (the stewardess)

Eizo Kitamura as Gôzô Mano (the senator)

Hideo Ko as Hirofumi Teraoka (the hijacker)

Kathy Horan as Mrs. Neal (the blonde)

Yuko Kusunoki as Noriko Tokuyasu

Nobuo Kaneko as Mr. Tokuyasu (the businessman)

Kazuo Kato as Dr. Momotake (the psychiatrist)

Hiroyuki Nishimoto as the airplane captain

Masaya Takahashi as Toshiyuki Saga (the scientist)

Toshihiko Yamamoto as Matsumiya (the bomber)

Keiichi Noda as Gokemidoro (voice)

Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (aka, Kyuketsuki Gokemidoro) is Daphne’s pick and she loves the cool visuals and crazy colors and has fun with the film’s all-out wackiness. The look of Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell reminded Whitney of Planet of the Vampires, identifying director Hajime Satô as a fan of Mario Bava’s work. This movie has everything according to Chad. Birds committing suicide, vampires, aliens, blobs, space ships, and an end-of-the-world scenario, to name just a few of the insane plot points in Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell that keep you guessing. Jeff is so gobsmacked once the first vampire shows up that he completely loses track of the story. He loves everything about Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell, including the music.

If you haven’t seen Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell, it’s time you did! As of this writing, the movie is available to stream from the Classic Sci-Fi Movie Channel, The Criterion Channel, and Flix Fling. In terms of physical media, Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell is available on a Criterion DVD as part of its When Horror Came to Shochiku collection along with The X from Outer Space (1967), The Living Skeleton (1968), and Genocide (1968).

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era records a new episode every two weeks. Up next in their very flexible schedule is one chosen by Whitney: El libro de piedra (1969, The Book of Stone), another fine entry to the Decades of Horror: The Classic Era files from Mexico.

Please let them know how they’re doing! They want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans: leave them a message or leave a comment on the site or email the Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast hosts at feedback@gruesomemagazine.com

To each of you from each of us, “Thank you so much for listening!”

Check out this episode!

[minakrhodes]

The beguiling, enigmatic Peggy Neal, star of tokusatsu kitsch masterpieces The X From Outer Space (1967) and Terror Beneath the Sea (1966). After returning to America from her brief stint in Japan, she seemingly vanished from public life altogether.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Black Friday 2019 deals for kaiju movies

Amazon:

It gets harder to browse their convoluted home video offerings every year, but they seem to be trying to price-match everyone.

Barnes & Noble:

It’s still November, so all Criterion Collection and Arrow Video titles are 50% off (Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975; Eclipse Series 37: When Horror Came to Shochiku; Jellyfish Eyes; and Bloodthirsty Trilogy).

Best Buy:

Godzilla: King of the Monsters -- $13 for 4K Blu-ray, $8 for standard Blu-ray

Pacific Rim Uprising -- $8 for 4K Blu-ray, $6 for standard Blu-ray

Rampage -- $8 for 4K Blu-ray, $6 for standard Blu-ray

Target:

Godzilla: King of the Monsters -- $9 for standard Blu-ray

Walmart:

Godzilla: King of the Monsters -- $6 for standard Blu-ray

Pacific Rim Uprising -- $8 for 4K Blu-ray, $6 for standard Blu-ray

Rampage -- $6 for standard Blu-ray

[moviereference]

DVDBlu Review: When Horror Came to Shochiku: Eclipse Series 37

[oldmogg]

3:03 EARLY BERGMAN (No. 1) 3:47 THE DOCUMENTARIES OF LOUIS MALLE (No. 2) 4:33 LATE OZU (No. 3) 5:19 RAYMOND BERNARD (No. 4) 5:46 THE FIRST FILMS OF SAMUEL FULLER (No. 5) 6:18 CARLOS SAURA'S FLAMENCO TRILOGY (No. 6) 7:30 POSTWAR KUROSAWA (No. 7) 8:17 LUBITSCH MUSICALS (No. 8) 8:55 THE DELIRIOUS FICTIONS OF WILLIAM KLEIN (No. 9) 9:35 SILENT OZU: THREE FAMILY COMEDIES (No. 10) 10:02 LARISA SHEPITKO (No. 11) 10:23 AKI KAURISMAKI'S PROLETARIAT TRILOGY (No. 12) 10:57 KENJI MIZOGUCHI'S FALLEN WOMEN (No. 13) 11:43 ROSSELLINI'S HISTORY FILMS: RENAISSANCE AND ENLIGHTENMENT (No. 14) 12:16 TRAVELS WITH HIROSHI SHIMIZU (No. 15) 12:58 ALEXANDER KORDA'S PRIVATE LIVES (No. 16) 13:48 NIKKATSU NOIR (No. 17) 14:39 DUSAN MUKAVEJEV: FREE RADICAL (No. 18) 15:17 CHANTAL AKERMAN IN THE SEVENTIES (No. 19) 15:59 GEORGE BERNARD SHAW ON FILM (No. 20) 16:34 OSHIMA'S OUTLAW SIXTIES (No. 21) 17:29 PRESENTING SACHA GUITRY (No. 22) 18:08 THE FIRST FILMS OF AKIRA KUROSAWA (No. 23) 19:04 THE ACTUALITY DRAMAS OF ALLAN KING (No. 24) 19:52 BASIL DEARDEN'S LONDON UNDERGROUND (No. 25) 20:31 SILENT NARUSE (No. 26) 21:12 RAFFAELLO MATARAZZO'S RUNAWAY MELODRAMAS (No. 27) 21:51 THE WARPED WORLD OF KOREYOSHI KURAHARA (No. 28) 22:39 AKI KAURISMAKI'S LENINGRAD COWBOYS (No. 29) 23:14 SABU! (No. 30) 23:42 THREE POPULAR FILMS BY JEAN-PIERRE GORIN (No. 31) 24:15 PEARLS OF THE CZECH NEW WAVE (No. 32) 25:10 UP ALL NIGHT WITH ROBERT DOWNEY SR. (No. 33) 25:43 JEAN GREMILLON DURING THE OCCUPATION (No. 34) 26:18 MAIDSTONE AND OTHER FILMS BY NORMAN MAILER (No. 35) 26:44 THREE WICKED MELODRAMAS FROM GAINSBOROUGH PICTURES (No. 36) 27:17 WHEN HORROR CAME TO SHOCHIKU (No. 37) 28:07 MASAKI KOBAYASHI AGAINST THE SYSTEM (No. 38) 28:50 EARLY FASSBINDER (No. 39) 29:37 LATE RAY (No. 40) 30:08 KINOSHITA AND WORLD WAR II (No. 41) 30:57 SILENT OZU: THREE CRIME DRAMAS (No. 42) 31:27 AGNES VARDA IN CALIFORNIA (No. 43) 32:15 JULIEN DUVIVIER IN THE THIRTIES (No. 44) 33:01 CLAUDE AUTANT-LARA: FOUR ROMANTIC ESCAPES FROM OCCUPIED FRANCE (No. 45) 33:57 INGRID BERGMAN'S SWEDISH YEARS (No. 46)

[spiffythedog]

October Screening 44: The Living Skeleton (1968)

I have no earthly idea why I thought a 1968 black & white Japanese ghost story would be a great thing to watch second-to-last in a 24-hour horror movie marathon. I fucking love my When Horror Came to Shochiku Eclipse box set & this was the only film from it I hadn't watched yet, so maybe I thought of it as an interesting final boss for my weary attention span before the closing movie. Whatever the reason, the lineup had been set in stone (well, slate... we have a chalkboard) and god damn if I'm going to break horrarthon tradition, but there was a palpable feeling of "god help us" in the room as I hit play at 10am.

I liked it, in spite of more than a few several-minute blinks I just couldn't help. There's something lush & alluring about Japan's horror cinema from the 60s (see also Kuroneko, Kwaidan et al) that apparently sucks me in even at my most sleep-deprived. It turns out The Living Skeleton is like a jazzier version of The Fog but twelve years earlier & with a less memorable score. A boatload of people are killed by pirates just outside a small town/island, and their ghosts continue to haunt the bay three years later, seeking vengeance. Their vengeance is achieved in a very roundabout way that involves scaring a couple teenagers & the local priest before the pirates re-appear & things get all twisty-turny.

About halfway through, my roommate woke up & stumbled into the room: "What's going on in this one?" "There's a buncha skeletons in the ocean and if you go scuba diving they'll kinda shake & dance at ya." "So... what's the problem?" I could only shrug.

[jessie-y2k]

Oh Criterion

your 50% off sales bring me joy. As well as Japanese horror, and 1970/80 goodness.

[moviereference]

when horror came to shochiku

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When Horror Came to Shochiku (The X from Outer Space / Goke, Body ...

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when horror came to shochiku

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when horror came to shochiku

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when horror came to shochiku

[kaijusaurus]

Criterion’s liner notes from their Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell (1968) DVD, released as part of the When Horror Came to Shochiku boxset.