User reviews

Toy rockets can't stop him. Toy tanks won't stop him. Not even toy airplanes can stop him. Brazenly campy and unabashedly silly, this movie offers no disguise for its lunacy, but rather exalts in its cheesiness. It boasts one of the most absurd looking monsters ever, who you can't help but love because of his ludicrous appearance.

The script goes to great lengths to explain the origin of the creature, so the movie drags a little at first. The first part is some horsing around aboard a spacecraft, on a mission to Mars. The ship is buzzed by a UFO, and the crew responds with a perplexing lackadaisical attitude like it happens every day. They divert to an established Moon base after the UFO just wanders off for some reason.

You have to wait a while to see the creature, named Guilala , but it's well worth the wait. He's part chicken, part dinosaur, and has what appears to be a snorkel coming out of his forehead. He has beaming red eyes, and the best of all: two wire antennae that wobble around like those wire things with balls on the end you wear on your head if you're going as a bumblebee or something like that for Halloween. Of course, he goes on a rampage in Tokyo, shrieking like a banshee the whole time, as he smashes buildings and other stuff.

The human characters are developed pretty well, and the actors actually appear to be taking their roles seriously. As ridiculous as the script is, the characters actually have believable personalities and back stories. There's an odd triangle, with two beauties named Michiko and Lisa both after Capt. Sanu, who just grunts when they talk to him.

Fans of insanely cheesy camp will love this one; it's just utter craziness all the way.

It starts with a bunch of astronauts preparing for a mission to Mars, three guys and a girl, of course (and an American girl with a crush on the Japanese mission commander at that!), while the mission commander meanwhile has an uneasy relationship with the beautiful moonbase communications officer who is a good friend of our beautiful blonde scientist (they even shower together).

Anyway, once they're enroute in space things start to happen, like blocked communications signals and asteroid showers, and a weird UFO with a tracking beam that deposits some sort of glowing spores on the ship. Naturally they bring one back and it grows into a giant semi-chicken-shaped monster who stomps off towards Tokyo. Then it becomes your typical man-in-a-suit monster movie.

In the 70's, as a kid when looking through the new TV Guide for the week's monster movies, the only thing as good as finding a Godzilla film or two was finding the Godzilla wanna-bes, like the undeniable classic "The X From Outer Space."

"X" is probably the personification of "cheesy Japanese monster flick." This monster is silly-looking, the FX are horrid, the music is terrible, and the film is a total blast. The "X" attacking planes and destroying buildings is just good and bad enough to make everyone happy.

The reason this film is a blast is because it has a lot of charm and heart. Those are a few of the ingredients that certain giant monster films made back then lack, and that's why they are unwatchable and truly bad, while films like "X From Outer Space" are bad but have enough of those things to make it fun. When a film lacks those things and is clueless, you get dreck like "Queen Kong" and "A.P.E."

There's nothing wrong with "The X From Outer Space" if you are simply into watching fun giant monster films with actors in suits (no computer crap) stomping on miniature buildings and swatting airplanes on wires out of the sky.

As a grown-up, I look back on this movie and cringe. EIJI OKADA is in this, for crying out loud! What a comedown from "Hiroshima, Mon Amour". We have to wait half the movie for the monster to even show up. And a long, long wait it seems to be, as mankind's advance into space turns out to be a succession of cocktail parties and lame jokes.

Just when terminal boredom is about to set in, out pops Guilala: a huge bug-eyed rubber chicken with wings growing out of his cheeks, and the kitchen sink on the top of his head! He can turn himself into a ball of fire and do cannonballs into lakes! Suddenly I'm eight years old again and this movie is Really Cool!

Thankfully, the rest of the movie is just a pretext for scenes of that wonderfully cockeyed beast, destroying some of the worst models in monster movie history (example: there's a jet fighter Guilala smashes that looks to be larger than the oil tanker he's just sunk).

Do yourself a favor: watch the opening credits for the bouncy theme song ("The stars are our destiny...") which you will NEVER get out of your head. Then fast forward to Guilala's first appearance, turn off your brain, and prepare to laugh your head off. Just brace yourself for Peggy Neal's inane "What I learned from the monster" speech at the end.

Bizarre movie and a lot of fun but only for people who enjoy goofy monster movies.

I happen to love the movie, from the off the wall totally wrong music to the weird chicken-like beast.

One thing that might get overlooked is how the end of the movie seems to indicate that space exploration and races mixing is wrong. It ends with a weird speech about how all things should stay where they belong and the Asian characters walk off in one direction while the Caucasion ones walk off in another... huh? Funny stuff.

This is without a doubt a fun bad movie.

In letterbox, in a near-pristine print, in the original Japanese (with subtitles) I have to say this is a much better film than the one most of us saw on TV, back in the day.

For one thing, the line "Monsters have rights, too!" is never uttered. even in translation. (Although -- now that I think of it -- some people might prefer the dubbed version precisely because of its goofiness.) Of course, that's just the dialog, and even the most handsome presentation of this film can't obscure its marvelously wacky weirdness.

The miniatures and effects are kind of a mixed bag. The space-related sets and models are actually fairly well executed, but the monster effects are often sub-Toho, sometimes hilariously so, like when an absurdly out-of-scale F-101 Starfighter crashes into the X and just sort of hangs there for a few seconds. I think that's more from a lack of experience with kaiju flicks on the part of the studio and its technicians than penny-pinching. In the Criterion edition, at least, it's obvious that Shochiku put a not inconsiderable amount of money into this production.

Silly as it undeniably is, there are in fact some very creative moments in this movie, such as when the monster absorbs too much energy from a nuclear reactor and turns into a gigantic, red-hot sphere which bounces around Tokyo, wreaking fiery havoc until it plunges into a lake.

When you look at the competition, stuff like "Gappa: The Triphibian Monster" and "Yongary", in its very odd and quite unique way this is clearly one of the most entertaining of the Toho-wannabe giant monster films of the 60s.

These are some of the lines that actress Peggy Neal has to utter in this silly Japanese monster flick. Story is about a team of astronauts that are to be sent to Mars because the previous ships that went have not reported back and they think it has something to do with the UFO activity in the area. The team of astronauts are led by Capt. Sano (Toshiya Wazaki) and one of his crew members is an American biologist named Lisa (Neal) and she is in love with Sano but Sano has a girlfriend Michiko (Itoko Harada) and she works at the lunar station on the Moon. While in space the ship encounters UFO's but they also discover some sort of growth on the outside of the ship. They collect what looks like an egg and bring it back to Earth. While this egg sits in a lab something happens to it and a creature hatches out. It grows to enormous size and it feeds on nuclear energy. It can spit out fire balls and goes on a rampage across Japan. They figure out that a certain element can stop it and they load up the missile's and send out the jets. This film was directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu and the first 30 to 45 minutes I thought that this was a silly but passable sci-fi flick but once the monster gets loose than the silliness goes just as you would expect of these Japanese monster movies. Neal recites lines about how she learned something from the monster but one thing that I found to be the funniest is that her character is suppose to be in love with Wazaki who appears to be even shorter than she is. And he spends the whole film being very stoic and keeping things very professional. I also laughed when the team of astronauts are in space and Neal who is a biologist is still expected to get coffee and hand out meals to everyone. So much for being a biologist! The special effects are pretty bad even by "Mothra" standards and in one scene two people are suppose to be floating while on the Moon but it's obvious that they are jumping up and down on a hidden trampoline in slow motion. The studio brought out the toy tanks and jets and of course when in space you can see the wires. The monster costume is especially laughable and it's kind of a cross between a lizard and a chicken but it has two antenna's on it's head. There is also this spout sticking out of it's forehead and I guess I missed the scene where this was put to use by the monster. I did like the two actress's in the film (Neal and Harada) and in one scene they are both taking a shower and kicking the soap back and forth. This is your typical low budget Japanese monster movie with extremely bad special effects. Like I said, typical!

Oh this one was pretty bad, flat and low budget the first 45 minutes, with the highlight being a sinister Pumpkin Pie in outers space(!!) harrassing our sturdy tinfoil ship and its crew. Then you get to the chase, with the giant Aquatic chicken/lizard/guinea hen letting loose on poor old back-lot Japan.

Bad miniatures, bad sound, the three Caucasians are guys we might be intended to identify with ala Raymond Burr in the first Godzilla, but don't you believe it-Franz Gruber looks like a 6 foot Gary Owens from Laugh-in with a Chermann accent, the other two are crosses between Buddy Hackett and Dick York. Peggy Neal has the Angie Dickinson bit down too.

Your Japanese cast are all kinda interchangable, none of them any threat to Tishiro Mifune's reputation. The F/X are lousy, the dialogue and dubbing grade Z.

My fave parts? Besides the attack of the giant Pie? Where do I begin? There's the demo of the Moon's low gravity, showcased by two actors on trampolines in space suits, the trampolines hidden behind a 'crater edge'. The flaming bubbles the monster spits out at the world's worst Tank and plane miniatures. The great chase where two guys in a yellow-green jeep, pulling a trailer carrying a 'cargo of radiation'-filing cabinet with a radiation insignia on its side-race '80'mph down the road, while the 200 foot(100 foot? seems to chage size...)monster kinda shuffles after them, one big rubber paw waving ineffectively at the guy holding the 'Cargo box' and the driver putting the pedal to the metal. You don't for a second believe that the shufflin' X from Outer Space can catch up and grab'em, but he/it/she does. Riot! You also have a funny scene where at Army Headquarters, they show a guy on a step ladder, moving a little X from Outer Space Magnet from one town to another along a wall-map...Oh Lord. That one had me rolling in the aisles.....Then there is the obligatory stomp through the city, where these rubber suited guys always seem to concentrate on poorly made power line miniatures-after which you get the grand finale. They spray some white foam on the X from Outer Space, from a series of straffing runs-the X nailing a few last jets for good measure before being encased in the goo and making like the melting Stay Puff Marshmallow man of Ghostbusters. They then fling the little white sporestone essence of the X into orbit around the Sun, while Peggy Neal and Co. wax philosophic about how Monsters have rights too...Very, Very hard to keep a straight face while watching this one. If MST3K never did it, you have to say what a shame. The movie was a target and then some for Cro and the boys.

What more is there to be said? Sheer incompetance, bad acting, poor F/X....this gets a star for chutzpah and another half for the Villainous Pie.

*1/2 outta ****-if you like bad rubber suited monster movies, this is for you. Just don't say you haven't been warned.

Needless to say, Godzilla and his pals had something of an impact on the box office. People worldwide were flocking to see Toho studios Kaiju films, which was great for the studio. Not only did they have something that was a smash hit in their home country-it was big worldwide. So of course, others tried to capitalize. In Korea, there was "Yonggary." London gave us "Gorgo." Denmark offered the world "Reptilicus." Even America go into the action with "The Giant Mantis" and "The Giant Claw." I'm sure that Toho was amused and pleased that for a change, a Japanese Studio was giving the rest of world a run for it's money instead of the other way around.

Of course, other studios in Japan tried to capitalize on this. Daei gave the world the "Gamera" and "Daimaijin" films. Toei released "The Magic Serpent." Nikkatsu responded with "Monster From a Prehistoric Planet." However, the most out there of these movies was "The X From Outer Space", which came from the well respected Shochiku studios (who gave the world films such as "Tokyo Story" and "Night and Fog in Japan"), which also kick started a brief foray into the world of genre films.

The spaceship AAB Gamma has been sent to Mars so it can investigate reports of UFO's that seem to be surrounding the area. After running into a strange UFO (which, according to one scientist, "Looks like a giant omelet!") that leaves some strange spore-like substance on the ship, the crew decides that would be a nifty idea to bring a sample with them. This of course, turns out to be what Gob from "Arrested Development" would call "A Huge Mistake." That's because said sample soon turns into a giant monster that begins to run roughshod on Japan because apparently Godzilla or one of Gamera's enemies were on vacation. Also, the monster is named Guilala, and he looks like...well, he looks like a lizard/chicken hybrid.

What's interesting about "The X From Outer Space" is that is all starts out a lot like other space themed science fiction movies from the time. There's a bouncy theme song, it's got plenty of cool model and miniature effects, there's plenty of matte paintings, and everyone seems more interested in chilling out and drinking cocktails while bachelor pad music plays than they are solving whatever crisis is at hand. When Guilala does show up, thing takes a turn for the "what the hell" and doesn't look back. There's a sense of fun to most of the proceedings, as if the people who aren't taking all of this too seriously.

It's also interesting that even though he craves radiation like a certain mutated dinosaur and it's obvious as all get out that the people behind the movie are doing everything they can to compete with him/rip him off (it even breathes fire!), the whole thing has a lighthearted atmosphere to it. There's little to no attempt at trying to do some sort of social commentary like some of the "Godzilla" movies (or "Mothra" or the genre films Shochiku released afterwards.) This is a to the point monster movie that simply wants to entertain the audience, and damn it, it succeeds. The whole thing is so thoroughly goofy (I dare you not to laugh when an airplane crashes into the monsters head for no reason other than some sort of directorial goof), campy and all around fun that it's impossible not to enjoy what's going on here. Only the most stuffy shirted type could not be charmed at the nuttiness on display.

At the end of the day, "The X From Outer Space" is nothing more than a light but charming little Kaiju film. It doesn't have the muscle of the best "Godzilla" movies, but it doesn't need it. It's campy, light entertainment that just happens to be a lot of fun, and that's all I asked for.

Had I known this would have degenerated into a man in a giant monster costume attacking fake-looking cardboard cities, I wouldn't have bothered with the film. Aside from the first Godzilla film, I hate the genre and think the films are awfully dumb (okay, Godzilla fans, start marking this review as "not helpful"). It was deceptive, as the first half of the film was a campy sci-fi film that actually had a lot or retro charm. I liked the cheesy 60s rock and roll sound track and thought a Japanese attempt to copy the style of American 50s sci-fi films was watchable. Unfortunately, all this cute silliness was just setting the groundwork for the crew inadvertently bringing a fledgling monster back to Earth. From then on, it was just some ultra-silly monster film where a Godzilla-like thing with antennae attacked itsy-bitsy tanks, airplanes, etc. If only I had known! Don't bother unless you actually like this sort of low-budget "entertainment".

Though a bit slow at the beginning, THE X FROM OUTER SPACE is one of those over-the-top silly Japanese monster movies that they just don't make anymore and is totally fun to watch because you can't believe how silly everything is. The film is very juvenile and was most likely made for 5 year old kids more than anyone else.

If you listen to the dialogue at the beginning of the film, when the astronauts are introduced, there are a lot of double entendres to be heard, like when the man tells a grinning Lisa (Peggy Neal) "However, you are to touch nothing unless specifically authorised by the Captain Sano." ARF!!! I wonder if the folks who dubbed the film deliberately made it sound so funny.

The scene on the moon or in space are pretty much pointless but they're funny nonetheless. The best thing in the movie is the monster itself, Guilala (what a sad name for a monster!). When Guilala attacks, it walks about like a drunken fool, as if it got no clue of what it was doing. Maybe the guy in the suit couldn't keep his balance because the models were so cheap and fragile. The monster's roar was really funny to hear. Like someone clearing his throat. When Guilala shoots its fireballs, it looks like he's burping them out. The whole moment when the monster destroys a building and Lisa gets trapped beneath some rubble, they make a big deal about the fact that her leg is trapped and she's in pain is priceless because soon afterwards, she walks about like nothing had happened. Another great scene is when Guilala runs after a truck. It's laugh out loud funny. But the really goofy thing about this film is how fast the characters go from the earth to the moon, and vice versa. It's like the moon was only a couple of miles away and as easy to access as the nearest shopping mall.

But the film is not all goofiness. When the monster turns into a fireball and flies about Japan, destroying everything in its path, well, the film sorta becomes cool for a fraction of a second. And the ending, when the monster is attacked for the last time, well, I felt bad for the poor old space chicken! But the producers set it up so a sequel was possible. Where's the sequel? I want to see Guilala battle Baragon. BTW, the container which holds tiny Guilala at the end looks like a camping lamp.

The worst thing about THE X FROM OUTER SPACE is the music. Aside from the fun song, the actual music used when the monster attacks is basically the same thing played repeatedly over and over. It gets really tiresome.

Shochiku's attempt at the kaiju genre is mostly forgettable. The first half of the film isn't half bad, a kind of mod space adventure. The best scene in the film has the group of astronaut protagonists bouncing around the moon to a little samba. On their trip to Mars, a UFO attaches an egg to their ship. They bring it back to Earth to study. Soon Girara (aka Guilala) spawns, a scaly chicken monster with bouncy antennae that seeks out and destroys energy sources. The monster portion of the film is very typical and, with a rather uninteresting monster (tellingly, no sequels were made, though Girara was resurrected for a 2008 kaiju flick), pretty dull. The samba-rific score of the first half of the film makes way for the two notes that denote Girara's rampage. Eiji Okada, the star of Hiroshima mon amour, appears in a small role. There are actually a lot of white stars in this movie, most notably Peggy Neal (who also starred in The Terror Beneath the Sea the year before). The Japanese gal, Itoko Harada, is pretty cute, too.

1967's "The X from Outer Space" ("Uchu Daikaiju Girara" or Giant Space Monster Guilala) was a rare kaiju entry from Shochiku, one of Japan's oldest film companies, actually founded for kabuki in 1895 before getting into films by 1920. This was the year when everybody tried to grab some of that kaiju cash once Daiei's Gamera literally took off, and this creation does have its own style, a grab bag of cliches mixed together into a messy stew, our human cast led by blonde Peggy Neal, coming off her starring debut in Toei's "Terror Beneath the Sea." It begins like an ordinary space opera with a blast off toward Mars, dinner, dancing, and drinks on a moonbase, then an encounter with a UFO that leaves spongy spores on the outside of their ship. Once returned to Earth, a small sample of the substance vanishes from the lab, but not before leaving behind a hole and a single footprint: "it looks like the claw of a big chicken!" These geniuses turn out to be sadly correct, as Girara finally makes its smashing debut halfway through, the remainder of the picture a typical race against time trying to rid themselves of this nuisance, sounding not unlike an asthmatic bullhorn! Perhaps the supreme highlight is watching a jeep outrun the monster in hot pursuit, something no other kaiju ever dared attempt. From the flat, tinny face, puny antennas, fire spitballs, and awkward build in limbs, Girara ranks high on the embarrassing list but does give the actors something besides each other to talk about. There may be something to amuse everyone as events move from outer space to a more conventional earthbound menace, but the entire enterprise lacks the kind of innovation shown by Shochiku's next feature, "Goke Body Snatcher from Hell," a surprise shocker demonstrating the disintegration of social mores in the event of alien invasion.

I wasn't expecting a masterpiece out of a movie called The X From Outer Space, but I was hoping it would be consistently entertaining.

Unfortunately, the first half is a real drag. I feel like they had half a monster movie and needing another 45 minutes of padding, so people travel around space for a while (and visit the moon) before the creature boards their ship for the purpose of getting back to Earth and causing destruction in the film's more entertaining second half.

Lots of the effects are good by Japanese monster movie standards from this error, with the exception of the monster suit, which looks more than a bit cheap in some shots. Still, the monster scenes are fun, and the film picks up a little when the fairly boring characters from the first half have to work out a way to inevitably stop the monster from causing Tokyo to be fully destroyed for like the 25th time that decade (poor Tokyo. It's always Tokyo that gets attacked).

If you've worked through all the Godzilla and Gamera films and need more Japanese monsters, this might scratch the itch for you, even if it's far from great.

Mexico has its Masked Wrestlers and Japan has its Rubber-Suited Monsters vs The Toys.

What makes this one Different, or as Different as these Things can be, is that here We have some Space Travel, UFOs (Flying Saucer/Omelette), a Tall Blonde Japanese Astronaut/Scientist, and a Bobble-Headed Antenna Alien the Size of, well Godzilla.

The Laughs come Fast and Everyone Enjoying this Hootenanny have Their Favorite Lines, Scenes, and Absurdities. The Music for Example has Many "Fans". The Trampoline Mars Surface Dance also gets some Ink.

But here's one that doesn't get Mentioned that often...How about that Great Scene with the Wall Map and the Very Serious Guy on the Mobile Ladder that moves the Refrigerator Monster Magnet around as the Havoc Ensues with Radioactive Cloud Bursts Trailing in His Wake. Priceless.

Overall, as Hilarious as these Japanese Monster Movies are (almost ALL of them), it should be Pointed Out that these Genre Giants Made Money in their Day and were mostly "In Production" for Decades and are Still Talked About with Unbridled Enthusiasm (Criterion) Today.

Above Average because it is Absolutely Absurd as many of the Type are Only just Absurd.

Note...If you get bored...count the number of times AAAA-B-Gamma is said...You'll need a clicker.

In Japan, spaceship AAB-Gamma is set to confront the unknown which is preventing a successful mission to Mars. It's an international Japanese crew with one blonde chick. They are harassed by a UFO. The spaceship gets sprayed with spores. Upon returning to Earth, the spores grow into a monster.

This is bad Japanese sci-fi. It's trying to be part monster mash, part romancing the workplace, and part playtime miniatures. The workplace romance melodrama is light and silly and out of place. The moon base is ridiculous. This is bad in the way that it becomes camp. The monster is a Godzilla wannabe. It's been over a decade since the first Godzilla. Apparently, Japanese filmmaking hasn't advanced that much since then. The chicken head monster is not any better than all the other Japanese monsters.

The X from Outer Space (1967) is a movie I recently watched on HBOMAX. The storyline follows a spacecraft that picks up residue when researching Mars that's turns into a monster when it arrives back in the Earth's atmosphere. Can anyone, or anything, stop the monster before it destroys society?

This movie is directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu (Genocide) and stars Eiji Okada (Women in Dunes), Hiroshi Fujioka (Kamen Rider), Ryûji Kita (Late Autumn) and Reiko Mutô (Golgo 13).

The special effects in this are very dated but still fun. The sets, rocket ships and UFO models, and the space scenes are very well done. The emergence of the monster is awesome and reminded me of a professional wrestling opening. The background music is funny and there's a car scene at the end that's hilarious and an absolute must see.

Overall this is a fairly average addition to the monster genre that has enough fun elements to be a must see. I would score this a 5-5.5/10 and strongly recommend it.

Nobody is ever going to confuse THE X FROM OUTER SPACE for a good movie, but it is so strange, so goofy, so gleefully silly that it can be a ton of fun. The star of the show is GUILALA & it is one of the greatest Japanese monster creations ever! The daikaiju design ranges from absurd to brilliantly cheesy even down to its roar. If you like Godzilla or Gamera movies, then this somewhat obscure little gem is worth tracking down.

As most others have noted, good, clean, wacky fun.

This is like every Japanese monster movie you've ever seen. A space flight to Mars encounters a giant pie (honestly, they call it a flying saucer, but it looks like one of those Mrs. Richardson's pies before it's baked). The pie sends out little meteors that attach themselves to the ship. In attempting to remove these, they take one as a sample. The thing eats its way out of the ship and goes to earth where it hatches into a sort of Godzilla thing with a head that looks like a garden trowel. It is apparent;y made of some stupid element which then becomes its name. The rest is the usual search for a way of stopping the dumb looking thing. The conclusion is almost impossible to sit through. The characters are too stupid to ever man a spaceship to Mars. One of them is an idiot who has nearly killed people in the past with his carelessness. Don't bother!