Space Amoeba

1971 "An alien aiming for the Earth transforms monsters to attack!"
5.4| 1h24m| G| en
Details

When a space probe crash-lands on a far-flung Pacific atoll, the craft's alien stowaways decide to take over their new world one creature at a time. Soon, the parasitic life forms latch onto three indigenous critters -- a squid, a crab and a snapping turtle -- and transform them into colossal mutant monsters.

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Reviews

WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
lordzedd-3 In the late sixties and going into the seventies Toho loved monster movies based on islands. Well, this time it really works. The story is cool, the acting is great and the three main monsters are major league cool. Their names are hard to pronounce but I do feel that the designs are cool and they are not the standard monsters that you find in these movies, a cuddle fish, a crab and a snapping turtle. I love the effect that allows the Snapping Turltle to shoot out his neck. Okay, now the downside, the old native thinking that Gezora is some kind of God even though there is no monsters like that in their religion is just stupid. But that's just me. So to make a long story short, I give it 9 big stars!
drmality-1 For some reason, I remembered this flick more than many other kaiju eiga (giant monster movies) from the same period. In fact, I even have an original "Yog" poster on my wall right next to one for "The Green Slime".The film is set on a remote tropical island that is being looked at as the possible home of a luxury tourist resort. Funky photographer Kudo (wearing a floppy hat) and his adorable female companion are there to take pictures and check in with some other company personnel on the island. Dr. Mida is there to study marine evolution. And then there is the suspicious acting Obata, who claims to be an anthropologist but is actually an industrial spy.There is another visitor to the island and this one came from a lot farther than Tokyo. The misty blue space creature Yog (an "astro-quasar" he is called) has fallen to Earth on a space capsule and is now busy turning harmless animals into giant monsters. First of these fearsome freaks is the weird octo-squid Gezora, a plastic-eyed giant that uses its tentacles to walk (stagger is a better word) on land! Gezora sets about killing people and destroying the native huts, but Kudo and pals find a way to defeat the beast.The only problem is, Yog just jumps to another giant monster. Ganime, a giant crab, is next and then comes Kameba, a titanic tortoise who could give Gamera a run for his money. Not only that, but Yog also takes control of Obata and uses him to sabotage the human's plans.It's a sticky pickle but the Earthmen find a secret weakness of Yog's that they can use to attack the space monster. Another key to Yog's defeat is Obata...can his mind be turned against the Monster from Space?The movie is fun and exciting if you're not too demanding. You see plenty of the monsters and even a nasty battle between Ganime and Kameba. Call me nuts, but I thought dialog and acting were a lot better here than other period kaiju films. The characters had more personality...especially Kudo, played by Akira Kubo...and I kind of liked the way every tied together.Some may be disappointed that no cities get destroyed, but if you're looking for a Japanese monster mash with a bit of a difference, "Yog" will satisfy your craving!!!
deeroq The enjoyment that you derive out of this movie is directly proportional to what your expectations are. I'm a big fan of Honda's work, he's made some of the very best giant monster (not just limited to Japanese kaiju) movies ever made - this is not one of them. It's really pretty bad - not Jun Fukuda bad, mind you, but in the world of Ishiro Honda's works it's quite the stinker.And yet... It's somehow great. What makes it truly great can essentially be summed up in one word. Gezora. Gezora is a giant squid, or an octopus, or perhaps a cuttlefish, or... It really doesn't matter what Gezora is supposed to be, just know that (unlike the giant octopus from "King Kong vs. Godzilla") Gezora is not a slimy creature that flutters and unfurls itself along the ground like an octopus probably would if it could actually move outside of the water. No, my friends, Gezora is rubbery looking and he walks. Let's say that again so that the utter ridiculousness of it can sink in:Gezora WALKS. On tentacles. You see, they didn't have access to high-tech animatronics and kaiju films have always had an aversion to stop-motion animation, so, as was custom - it's a guy in a suit. But how does a guy in a suit impersonate the flowing movement of an octopus/squid/cuttlefish on land, you ask?He doesn't. He walks around, dragging and swinging tentacles with reckless abandon. That, if for no other reason, is why this movie must be seen to be appreciated. Gezora is, by far, my favorite bad kaiju. Yes, even better and far more ridiculous than King Seesar. This may be difficult to believe, but he's even sillier (and more lovable) than Guiron - knife-headed foe of Gamera. You, too, will love Gezora if you just give him a chance - and that chance has arrived as of today, for "Space Amoeba" has been released on DVD.Huzzah!
mainstay "Yog: Monster from Space" (the English title) is sort of like "Plan Nine from Outer Space" in the respect that it is a pretty bad film that is wonderfully entertaining to watch. One great example is found in the beginning. The main character is sitting in a jet reading a newspaper. We can see the headline -- 'Jupiter probe fails' (or something to that effect). At that >exact< moment, the guy looks out the window and happens to see the Jupiter probe parachuting back to earth (and he's in a jet going 200-300 miles per hour). Later, at his destination, he's assigned a photography job on this tropical island (apparently a Japanese tourist company is going to build a resort there). When he sees the location of this island marked with an "x" on the map, he says "gee, thats the EXACT SPOT where I saw the jupiter probe go down". Then there are the rubbery-looking monsters complete with Godzillaesque screeching noises, really bad special effects shots where people look like action figures, big halos around the tentacles that grab people, etc. Essentially, the movie is pretty much the same Godzilla formula: characters discover monster(s), characters meet incompetent tribal villagers, characters try to defeat monster(s). For anyone who likes Godzilla et al., or anyone who wants to laugh hysterically at rubbery stop motion monsters in a bad film, this is a must-see.