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MESSAGE FROM SPACE (1978)
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Re: MESSAGE FROM SPACE (1978)
Author
Comment
Uchujin65
#1
[-]
Feb 12 10 4:25 PM
Reply
Quote
More
My Recent Posts
I love both
Message
and
Eight Samurai
.
Message
From Space
is a more cohesive film with more wackiness and some of the best special FX made in Japan in the 70s. August is right I think in that it's inceptions owes as much to
Yamato
as it does
Star Wars
. It looks at times like a live action Leiji Matsumoto comic crossed with the kinetic wackiness of
Inframan
and also has a weirdly gritty quality akin to Kinji Fukasaku's yakuza films with all that handheld camera work and seedy space cantinas where you'd halfway expect to find Bunta Sugawara smoking cigarettes and drinking Japanese beer. It feels way more "Fukasaku" than
The Green Slime
does.
However,
Legend of the Eight Samurai
is a great treat, a beautifully shot work of sheer grotesquery. Fukasaku allegedly actually didn't like samurai films that much since he didn't think Japan's past was something to celebrated. He only agreed to work on
The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy
back in 1978 on the condition that he could do it in the anarchic, irreverent style of his yakuza films. I'm honestly not sure if
Eight Samurai
was just a hollow, sugary actioner that he made for Haruki Kadokawa, Nippon's Jerry Bruckheimer for the money, or if he had some sarcastic intent behind it, but the film plays almost like a twisted, self aware parody and deconstruction of the Japanese samurai film ala Tarantino's
Inglourious Basterds
. The end where Hiroko Yakushimaru and Hiroyuki Sanada ride away into the sunset to consummate their illegitimate union, something that would have gotten them hunted down and executed in real Old Japan, as John O'Banion's Air Supply like English pop music plays is something I can't see anyone making and actually taking totally seriously, especially not the man who would make
Battle Royale
. And that it's subject material is drawn from one of Japan's most beloved folktales about the importance of following
bushido
at its purest form makes this only more obvious to me. In Macias' linear notes for the film, Fukasaku is quoted as saying that he wanted to make a film more like the American fantasy films being made at the same time like
Conan the Barbarian
than anything Japanese and you can definitely tell.
Here!
Last Edited By:
Uchujin65
Feb 12 10 4:29 PM. Edited 2 times.
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Welcome to the CHFB
Forum Guidelines
CHFB TURNS 20!
Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards
Universal Horrors
The Universal Monsters Blu-Ray Collection
Golden Age Horror
Kong - 8th Wonder of the World
Silent Horror
Poverty Row
The World of Sherlock Holmes
Murder and Mystery
Thrills and Chills
'50s Horror and Sci-Fi
'60s Horror and Sci-Fi
'70s Horror and Sci-Fi
Hammer Horror
The Psycho Ward
Foreign Horror
Japanese Giants
Horror and Sci-Fi of Recent Decades
Current Films
Second Takes on Films of the 2000s
Independent Films and Documentaries
Coming Soon
TV Terrors
Classic Horror on DVD, Blu-Ray and Streaming
Stream and Stream Again
Horror Film Books and Magazines
Horror by Candlelight
Horror Comics and Fantasy Art
Monster Toys and Collectibles
Classic Horror Movie Memorabilia
Horror Music
Old Time Radio and Audio Horror
Classic Horror Online
CHFB Member Reviews
Our Favorite Horror Hosts
Classic Disney Scares
Horror Film Stars
Men Behind the Monsters
Monster Kid Memories
General Horror and Sci-Fi
Horror Tech
Movie of the Day
Off Topic Discussions
Classic Horror News and Events
Birthdays and Holidays
DVR / TiVo Alert
Final Farewells
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Classic Horror Classifieds
Monster Kids Helping Monster Kids
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