The H-Man 1958

[LSD Jellyfish]

Unfortunately mixed this one up with the Human Vapor, and watched this one accidentally.

Film is okay, it’s a subpar loose remake of of G54(if you analyze its monster, and the film’s narrative structure).

The H-Men themselves are legitimately creepy, and any time they’re on screen they’re a joy to watch. I really liked the creep factor of the shot of them rising up on the boat; the film could’ve used more of that. The issue is how they’re relatively easily disposed of without difficulty. Simply using fire to burn them out of the sewers is really random.

On top of that there’s this Whole gang and police plot, which really doesn’t intergrate or overlap well with the H-Man narrative. The only thing that really connects it all, is Chianko, who while beautiful and a good singer doesn’t really amount to much more then a damsel. It also seems the case of too many scientists and too many cops; there’s no real focus on anyone, and the film keeps cutting back between the different narratives.

I think where the films really stands out though is some of its colors. The green Hmen stand out nicely. The red fire as well; and the various colors of the night club.

Overall, I think a lot of later Toho films would do horror way better. Such as Matango.

[edgaguirus]

Matango does a great job on horror, but the H-Man is still a pretty good movie.

H-Man does an excellent job with the boat scene and night club attack, and the effects for the green blobs. They have a fright factor that other blob and blob like monsters don't. Also, I must disagree with you about the gang and cop plot. Having cops investigate unsolvable and strange murders wouldn't have the same kind of intrigue as we get with the gang and cop subplot of H-Man. I felt it added a nice layer to the film, and I believe that crime drama was popular with Japanese audiences of that time.

I will agree about the characters. Chianko only exist to be put in danger, while the cops and scientist are flat and undeveloped.

[Mr_Goji_and_Watch]

It has a god tier atmosphere, Honda directed the crap out of the nightclub scenes and basically everything else with the H-men. The climax is pretty cool, if a bit overlong. Its such a shame the rest of the movie is boring because of the lead and the girl he yearns for, and that one car chase is painfully limp.

[MaxRebo320]

It's definitely a mid-tier entry in Toho's golden age SFX catalog, but that's just a testament to how good most of them really are. This is one of couple 54 - circa 65 films (Most stuff after that I can go either way) where I do think I prefer the US version over the Japanese, even if I do miss the "racier" (Namely Chikako just being the guy's girlfriend as opposed to wife, more dancing girls, more graphic death scenes) bits from the Japanese cut. Some of the gangster stuff could get a little convoluted (The bit that always confused me was when the police visit the home of the man who was killed by an H-Man...only to find him shot?), and doesn't really matter much in the long run, and the Columbia cut was wise to cut down on some of it.

Also, Makoto Sato...if there's one actor from Toho I wish were in a Godzilla movie, it'd be him.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

I just watched this film for the first time in a few years last night. Now that I've seen The Human Vapor, I can definitively say it's the better of the two films. I need to rewatch Matango soon, because I was underwhelmed with my previous viewing but I know a lot of others hold it in high regards, so I'd like to give it a second chance.

I think the first 3/4 of this movie are pretty excellent. The H-Men are legitimately terrifying and the sequence on the boat is true nightmare fuel. I think this is the most genuinely scary of all Honda's films, without a doubt. The effects used to portray the H-Men dissolving people are particularly creepy, and frightened me a lot when I first watched this film as a preteen. Although none of the characters are developed very much, I think the cast all does a good job. I might even argue that this is one of Honda's more underrated films.

But, unfortunately, the film loses steam after the attack on the nightclub. That car chase is boring and pointless and I really wish it had been cut for pacing. The climax is overly long and uneventful. The H-Men don't make any effort to fight back as they're burned alive and the scene of Uchida dragging Chikako for the sewers goes on forever and ends rather predictably. Had the film's final act been punched up to be a bit more thrilling, I think The H-Man would stand on a par with The Human Vapor.

[JAGzilla]

Just got done watching this for the first time. I agree with the general sentiment in this thread that it's nothing special. The scene on the ship was fantastic, and the H-Men themselves were mostly portrayed very well (outside of that one atrocious moment where the dancer was killed), but otherwise the story is overstuffed, hard to follow at times, and a bit dull. The actors do their jobs, but their characters are forgettable. The climax dragged and lacked excitement or tension, and the main title theme (which briefly returned during the evacuation/preparation) didn't fit the movie.

[Terasawa]

Overall, I think a lot of later Toho films would do horror way better.

IMO this is the most horrific film in the Toho FX canon, more so than Matango.

I didn't see this for the first time until I was about 16. I didn't think very much of it then but in the years since it's grown on me, although I'll admit it's not a great movie.

the story is overstuffed, hard to follow at times

I don't know how you watched the movie but I think Columbia's version improves the film in this regard. It streamlines the gang drama and keeps the focus more directly on the main characters and the H-Men. All in all it's about seven or eight minutes shorter. Comparison (in German).

[JAGzilla]

I don't know how you watched the movie but I think Columbia's version improves the film in this regard. It streamlines the gang drama and keeps the focus more directly on the main characters and the H-Men. All in all it's about seven or eight minutes shorter. [url=https://www.schnittberichte.com/schnitt ... ID=5070820]Comparison (in German).[url]

Subbed on the new Mill Creek Blu-ray. Assuming that's not the Columbia version, yeah, it could've benefited from being trimmed down a few minutes.

[Terasawa]

I don't know how you watched the movie but I think Columbia's version improves the film in this regard. It streamlines the gang drama and keeps the focus more directly on the main characters and the H-Men. All in all it's about seven or eight minutes shorter. Comparison (in German).

Subbed on the new Mill Creek Blu-ray. Assuming that's not the Columbia version, yeah, it could've benefited from being trimmed down a few minutes.

By "Columbia's version" I meant the English dubbed, 79-minute version released by Columbia in the U.S. in 1959.

[eabaker]

Overall, I think a lot of later Toho films would do horror way better.

IMO this is the most horrific film in the Toho FX canon, more so than Matango.

I didn't see this for the first time until I was about 16. I didn't think very much of it then but in the years since it's grown on me, although I'll admit it's not a great movie.

Yeah, while Matango has the stronger characters/dynamics and storyline, I think The H-Man matches it or even edges it out a little in terms of atmosphere, and definitely succeeds more as genuinely disturbing body horror.

I've also never found the Japanese version to be particularly overstuffed or hard to follow, but, then, I often like stories that interweave multiple threads, keep a lot of balls in the air, and mix their metaphors like they're making cake batter in a blender.

[MaxRebo320]

Saw the Columbia version in 35mm at a drive-in last July, and rewatched it on Blu once more last night, along with it's original US double-feature The Woman Eater.

I still agree that the gangster plotline in the Japanese version is kind of convoluted and just uninteresting, and the Columbia cut was wise to simplify it a bit. But that results in a lot of the cop characters (namely those played by Yoshio Tsuchiya, Eitaro Ozawa and Tadao Nakamaru) coming and going randomly; only Yoshifumi Tajima's seems to be there the whole time. The Columbia dub is lively, though the phony accents are in full-swing, if that bugs you.

But both versions have some pretty glaring issues that make this a lesser entry in Toho's SFX canon for me. Why are the H-Men targeting gangsters? Are they only killing bad people to feed? Are they on a moral crusade to cleanse the world of filth? Dogora definitely integrates the gangster/monster plots better. How exactly do Masada and Tominaga know each other? Even the slightest bit of backstory would have been nice. Yumi Shirakawa is undeniably alluring , but Chikako/tako is honestly a pretty weak damsel character (she faints too much). A more femme-fatal approach could have been great. The infamous car chase scene is as bad as everyone says it is, albeit most from that period were (thank god for Bullit). Why not have Masada heroically chase after Chikako on foot?

Honda's direction is just very flat, in general and doesn't really suit the film's more action-oriented approach. Fukuda probably would have been a better fit. Still, it's a fun entry in Toho's SFX catalog. It's undeniably more of a "programmer" than a large-scale epic like Godzilla, Rodan or The Mysterians. Yumi Shirakawa and the dancing girls made this one of my favorites as a pubescent teen. I really wish we saw Makoto Sato (gangster Uchida) in some Kaiju films. I could see him slipping into the role of Yoshimura (played by Takarada) in Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster.