Goké, ladrón de cadáveres

It's a survivalist sci-fi thriller with aliens and vampires but mostly about victims of an airline crash. No routine action special-effects film, it's often artful and philosophical, certainly sermonizing on a variety of social-political issues (mostly war, politicians, munitions manufacturers, political assassinations, terrorists, hijackers, and general human nature), and is unusually bleak for a modest-budget genre film.

An American girl is one of the passengers here, too, but she's a Vietnam war widow traveling to retrieve her husband's remains, a fact that will determine the direction of some of the action once things start to happen. It starts off as an airline disaster film, and gradually evolves into sort of a weird blend of Night of the Living Dead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, War of the Worlds (or Independence Day), and The Last Man on Earth, with perhaps a tinge of Melancholia.

I saw a cheap pan & scan VHS of an English dub of this film years ago but I found a Japanese DVD of it recently and even though it is not dubbed or subtitled, and I don't speak Japanese, it is still quite unsettling. The Japanese don't play when it comes to stories like this and they don't pull punches either. At least the disc is widescreen, preserving the Shockiku Grandscope compositions. If you have seen KILL BILL Vol. 1, you will find out that even Quentin Tarantino was inspired by this film once you see the opening scenes. The special effects are usually not realistic but are quite imaginative. The whole film could be seen as something of a morality fable.

There is definitely a message to the film, although most people write this one off because of it's exploitative sounding title. There are several very creepy and effective scenes in the film and this film left a lasting impression on me. I think someday this film will be recognized for the horror classic that it is. Even if you have to watch a pan & scan dubbed copy, it is well worth catching.

By the way, the English-language version is called GOKE, BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL. It certainly got my attention. Pacemaker was the American distributor. I first saw it on a lousy VHS rental copy. Rumors about a letterboxed American NTSC release to DVD have yet to be fulfilled but I remain optimistic.

This was another film I had long been intrigued by via a solitary still from it in a horror-film tome of my father's; it's also proof that the Japanese could make adult-oriented horror just as well back in the day (and not merely kiddie stuff like the "Godzilla" films – one of which, incidentally, followed this viewing). Intriguingly, the Janus logo which preceded the opening titles suggests this may be forthcoming on DVD from Criterion (I haven't yet purchased the other cult Japanese horror they've released, JIGOKU [1960], due to the defective first pressing of that film's disc; having watched GOKE, I wonder whether I should take the plunge now…hoping that I end up with a corrected copy).

Admittedly, the plot of the film isn't all that original: the English title, obviously, implies a certain kinship with Don Siegel's 1956 classic – while the gelatinous alien which possesses the human body through the face(!) is also redolent of THE BLOB (1958); but maybe its influences actually came from European genre efforts – as a matter of fact, two Italian films I've just watched have a good deal in common with it, namely CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER (1959; the oozing creature, again) and PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (1965; the remote setting, the 'body snatcher' element, the vivid color scheme and even the final apocalyptic revelation)! Besides, the fact that the narrative revolves around a handful of passengers from a crashed plane also brings to mind the oft-used 'hazardous situation' plot line of classic Hollywood films such as FIVE CAME BACK (1939), STAGECOACH (1939) and the like; under pressure of hunger, thirst, isolation and the imminent threat of alien takeover, all the basic natures of the various characters come to the boil – leading most of them inexorably towards their doom!

This mish-mash of elements ensures a stylish and entertaining ride – but it's all filtered through the innately weird sensibilities of Japanese cinema (not to mention the country's first-hand experience of nuclear fall-out, which unmistakably pre-occupied most of their sci-fi entries), giving it a distinctive creepiness; the final reel – peppered with red-tinted newsreel footage of devastation and violence – has the two lone survivors finally reaching civilization, only to be met with a less than comforting sight.

First of all, if you want to see this flick, you'll have to look for one of the out of print tape copies made by Sinister Cinema. They used to have them and in widescreen (more or less) but apparently cannot make any more. Mine was one I found for sale that was already viewed but was lucky to find.

The widescreen is not the complete picture, but it's close, there's not too much cropped off at the sides and it's about 1.66 to 1 ratio. Pretty good image and color too. The story concerns an airplane crash landing on some sort of island or rural area, where a spaceship has landed. The alien is a life form which takes control of a person by entering the body, and then turns that person into a vampire, who drains its victims of all blood. It seems this alien is the vanguard of an advancing conquest. The whole thing is pretty eerie but has plenty of goofy moments that will make for laughs. There's the whole idea of mankind racing to destroy itself along with pretty vapid references to Vietnam, and how terrible the world is. The idea is that the earth will get what it deserves since we can't live in peace. Good old 1970s peacenik hand-wringing at the terrible state of humanity, with a good dash of cardboard character clichés thrown in. You'll want to see it for the really weird execution of a pretty spooky premise, and fast paced too. One of those type of films that cries out for a remake by someone who knows how to handle sci-fi horror.

Goke is one of those films that I had only heard about in the 1980's but was never able to see. It had a reputation among the hard core film fans as something out of left field but not very good. Many years later I had forgotten about the film but had chanced across director Sato's deliriously silly kid's film "Golden Bat". I was rather surprised that this film was by the same man.

The film is very artificial from the first shot of a model jet in front of a red sky to the rock quarry most of film takes place in. Most Japanese film fans will recognize this quarry. It's in samurai films, gangster films and every other episode of Power Rangers. The cheapness is off-set by the care of the direction and photography. The special effects are super color saturated and very bizarre at times. While definitely not a children's film, Sato utilizes a number of techniques from Golden Bat including the generic action music and the kabuki inspired movements for the possessed.

The energy that's put into this film makes up for the logic gaps, bad acting and cheapness. The ending is very unexpected, nightmarish and disturbing. Finishing this film is like waking from a very bad night of sleep. As Sato has no further films in his listing here yet lived for quite a while after, I wonder what was his state of mind while making this film.

Recommended.