The Whale God (just acquired by SRS)

[Angilasman]

Now this is exciting! SRS will be releasing the classic Daiei take on Moby Dick, starring Shintaro Katsu, Kojiro Hongo, Takeshi Shimura, featuring music by Akira Ifukube, and featuring a kind of giant monster at Daiei Studios a few years before Gamera!

https://www.scifijapan.com/news/srs-cin ... -whale-god

[JAGzilla]

Maximum yes. 1960s Japanese Moby Dick with an Ifukube score? That's one of the best premises I've ever heard.

[shadowgigan]

Probably a day one buy. Hopefully it comes with a cool extra. Gotta love SRS.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I've seen a poorly preserved version of this before, flipped through it. It was pretty impressive, and an unappreciated entry in the genre. Lots of good scale with the titular creature and really what seems to be a struggle for survival. I hope this leads more people, myself included, to give it a proper watch. I have a small Whale God figure, so I owe myself a proper viewing.

[edgaguirus]

It looks promising, and a score by Ifukube is a big plus. I want to see this.

[mikelcho]

I'm going to try to get the Blu-ray release of this film so I can replace my gray market Sinister Cinema DVD-R of it.

I've been waiting a long time for this one. Now, if some company would just release Daiei's 1949 film Rainbow Man officially on Blu-ray, then I'd have most, but not all, of Daiei's major tokusatsu films on Blu-ray from 1949-1999 (the exceptions being Invisible Demon, The Invisible Swordsman and the Yokai Monsters trilogy).

[mikelcho]

Oh, and just for the record, the official English-language title used in Japan for this film, according to Wikizilla, is Killer Whale.

[MaxRebo320]

Genuinely shocked to see a label like SRS acquire this title. I was holding out for Arrow to release it, but I frankly think it's worthy of a Criterion release. Regardless, I'm excited that more people will get to see this great movie.

If you go in expecting a Kaiju romp, you'll be disappointed, but it's a legitimately great drama. I hope The Demon of Mt. Oe sees a release down the road as well. While it's Tokusatsu elements are also fairly minor, it's a very lavish period piece.

On a lower-brow note, I'd love for SRS to acquire some of Chaiyo's films. The Tsuburaya co-productions and Hanuman and the Five Riders are probably out of the question (Crocodile's rights might be tied up too), but stuff like Tah Tien, Magic Lizard and The Noble War would be awesome.

[G-Matt]

Another release to look forward to!

[Angilasman]

If you want your Whale God blu-ray to be a pressed disc (and maybe have a slipcover and poster) you should pre-order!

https://srscinemastore.com/products/wha ... 5971292294

Some nifty special features and Bob Eggleton cover art? SRS is really showing out!

[mikelcho]

I recently got this film on Blu-ray and got both a poster and a card with it. and to my surprise, it's titled The Whale God, not Killer Whale.

Now, if someone will just officially release Daiei's film Rainbow Man (1949) on Blu-ray...

[MaxRebo320]

I still need to pick this up. Is it true that the essay about Japanese whaling is littered with typos and plagiarism? It's almost like SRS Cinemas just lets anyone who asks write for their home video releases. It'd be one thing if it this was for something dumb like Konga TNT or one of Hayashiya's garage movies, but why would they want their release of Whale God (which I'm sure they worked hard to get the rights from Kadokawa) look amateurish?

The same dude also wrote things for the new Yokai War Blu, apparently...