Uriah43 This film begins with a Japanese passenger airplane on a routine flight over the Pacific Ocean when the pilot suddenly gets instructions to return to Japan because a suicide bomber might be on board. Upon attempting to change course, however, the airliner nearly collides with an alien spaceship which forces the airplane to crash land on what appears to be an isolated island. Unfortunately, the alien spaceship also lands on this same small island and inside it is a malevolent blob-like creature who has no high regard for the human species. Not long afterward it subsequently infests one of the passengers thereby turning him into a type of vampire which then begins to feast on those in the airliner. However, rather than dealing with the fact that someone is trying to kill them one-by-one, the passengers end up pursuing their own individual agendas and start fighting among themselves. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that was a grade-B sci-fi film from start-to-finish which included a rather obvious anti-war message thrown in for good measure. Although some of the special effects were rather good, the acting clearly needed improvement as a more subtle tone would have greatly enhanced an otherwise interesting plot. In short, although it certainly could have been much better, this still wasn't necessarily a bad film by any means and because of that I have rated it accordingly. Average.

JLRVancouver This strange, colourful Japanese sci-fi/horror film has something for everyone: terrorists, assassins, plane crashes, vampires, flying saucers, alien blobs, and a great downbeat ending. The movie would be best watched in the middle of the night when the general silliness (maybe) becomes creepy and unsettling. Film buffs (and who else would be watching this) will likely know that this was one of Tarantino's obscure favourites, necessitating a brief homage in one of his films (look it up or try to guess). Acting, dialogue and special effects are what you'd expect in a low budget '60s shocker but there is an imagination and an ooziness that you would not find in a contemporary genre film with equivalent budget made in the 'West'.

Bloodwank Whatever you make of Quentin Tarantino as a film-maker (and I can take or leave him), its hard to imagine a livelier nor more influential champion of the weird and woolly corners of cult cinema. I don't recall the moment in Kill Bill cribbed from Goke: Bodysnatcher from Hell (a scene of plane in blood red sky), like many other details it was lost for me, just another colorful bauble in that magpie's nest of a film, but with renewed interest Goke can now be seen as it should, in pristine widescreen subtitled form. And so a new generation of weird cinema enthusiasts can experience a film that, while somewhat flawed offers up enough arresting moments to be an overall solid watch. It begins impressively on a plane mid sky, all around turns blood red and birds fly to bloody smears on windows, then comes a UFO fly pass and system failure leading to a crash. An assassin on board and possible bomb threat have people already very much on edge, but things get a whole lot worse when an extraterrestrial menace comes into play, and the surviving passengers and crew will have to keep their baser instincts at bay if they want any hope of survival. This of course proves easier said than done, the confined space and lack of provisions drawing out every tension, pulling nerves taut till they fray away and snap, the course of things predictable but individual events fortunately less so. The various character decisions that drive the film don't always ring true but they do provide a dramatic pulse, and the cast throw themselves into their roles with suitable aplomb. Hideo Ko wields cold menace as the potential assassin, an understated determined malevolence making him a solid villain. Yuko Kusunoki is entertainingly loathsome as a more outre slimeball, Eizo Kitamura appropriately desperate and irritable as a politician. Kazuo Kato makes for a decent creepy oddball psychiatrist, the sort of person you wouldn't want treating you under any circumstances. There's a dependable good guy in Teruo Yoshida to balance out the overstrained or openly villainous though, and Tomomi Sato as a stewardess backing him up. In fact the only weak link is American Kathy Horan, whose performance is kinda shrill and irritating, though she also has the disadvantage of the film's worst writing. See there's a message here, an obvious one that the film puts across with all the subtlety of a jabbering town crier pounding nine inch nails into your skull with a ball-peen hammer. It's an overbearing approach that detracts from the experience in general, though having reflected on the film for a few days the good stuff does stand out more than the bad. Cool cheapo effects including a model plane, ominous colored lighting and a silvery alien slime creature, cool opening and absolute dynamite finale with enough to sustain between, overall memorably unusual atmosphere, its fun stuff that grew on me all the more thinking on it after. It may not be a truly bonkers classic, but for seekers after the strange this is definitely a worthwhile trip. 7/10

OllieMugwump This 1968 apocalyptic Japanese sci-fi/horror classic (the opening shot of the aeroplane against a blood-red sky ripped-off by Tarantino) seems like a hybrid of the over-hyped TV hit "Lost", Romero's classic "Night of the Living Dead" and Jenkins/LaHaye's "Left Behind" (accept no Christian deity 'raptures' any Bible-thumping drones here).As the British Ambassador to Japan is assassinated, the Vietnam war and other conflict rages; the 'End Times' appear to be upon us. Flight JA 307 receives warning a bomb may be aboard. A search finds no bomb, but a rifle - belonging to the Assassin (Hideo Ko) who attempts a hi-jacking but a UFO encounter sends the plane crashing into an uninhabited mountainous area.The crash survivors; co-pilot Mr. Sugisaka (Teruo Yoshida) and stewardess Miss Asakura (Tomomi Sato), - these two being the only real decent examples of humanity - with brooding 'space-biologist' Dr. Sagai (Masaya Takahashi), oily politician Mr. Mano (Eizo Kitamura), corrupt arms-dealer Mr. Tokyasu (Nobu Kaneko), his down-trodden young wife Noriko (Yuko Kusunoki), sadistic shrink Dr. Momotake (Kazuo Kato), whiny Vietnam war-widow Mrs. Neal (Kathy Horan), a wonderful anti-American caricature and a dissolute youth (Norihiko Yamamoto) who turns out to be the real bomber.As it transpires the Assassin has also survived and takes Miss Asakura hostage only to once again encounter the Flying-Saucer which brought them down. Lured inside; the Assassin is implanted with a silver, slimy parasite/bio-control device which basically turns him into a vampire! Our survivors, now besieged in the plane-wreck, must co-operate but human selfishness (as usual) gets in the way, and they are picked-off one by one by the un-seen Gokemidoro; superior alien beings who've concluded humankind a hateful pest to be eliminated.With excellent, dateless FX and beautifully pessimistic conclusion "Goke Bodysnatcher From Hell/Kyuketsuki Gokemidoro" is a gem which belongs in every 'Weird Cinema' Fan's collection.