Majin

With its rerelease by ADV Films, I've had a chance to watch "The Giant Majin" for the first time without the deep cuts and unkind words of a late night Horror Chiller Theaters. Guess what? It's a pretty damn good movie!

The sets are authentic, the acting in subdued and believable, and the giant Majin is stately, powerful, and unstopable. I loved the subtle fantasy touches (the enchanted wood, luck charm, etc), and the potrayal of the god as a little less than 'good'.

This movie is begging for a remake in the new century!

In late Edo Japan, a wicked chamberlain betrays his lord, enslaves the local villagers, and desecrates their god, an enormous statue of a warrior, which ultimately comes to life as 'Daimajin' (roughly: 'giant demon'). As Japanese monster movies go, this one is pretty subtle and the titular monster doesn't show up until the final reel, but the sometimes grim 'samurai' story leading up to the tokusatsu climax is actually quite good. The film is very well made (I watched a reasonably well-done subtitled version) with an excellent score by Akira Ifukube (reminiscent of his iconic Godzilla and Mothra themes). Worth tracking down for fans of the fanciful (I found it on YouTube). As a cautionary tale about the dangers of iconoclasm, I only wish something similar had happened when the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan.

I saw this at least twice on Channel 56 (Boston) Creature Double Feature when I was a kid- and it's the kind of movie you remember but can't believe existed. It was pretty amazing! This giant ancient Japanese warrior statue comes out of the sea and starts kicking ass. I had to wait for the internet and the debut of Google to find that I was right---it does exist. Now I am psyched and want to get the DVD if it exists. Right on !

Other films on Channel 56 were the original War of the Worlds, which scared the hell out of me (it's really scary for a bad old sci fi flick---its the tentacles which I could psyche myself could be outside my window) and also the X from outer space and some other weird stuff that I will no doubt find out about someday, but this is really hallucinatory and amazing.

I was expecting a decent film due to the ratings on IMDb, but what I experienced, was much greater than that. This period piece forces us to be an active participant by enveloping us with its desperate atmosphere. It's melodramatic set up brings the pacing down, so don't expect monster mashing anytime soon. It's tone is fierce and foreboding throughout. The tension is wonderful, and the anticipation of a reluctant savior slow to awaken, is as brutal as the wrath it releases! DaiMajin is like a freight train, slow to get going, and hard to stop! 8/10.

**By the way I always recommend the Japanese versions with their acting and English subtitles.**

This is more of a samurai movie than a kaiju, but once the statue comes alive, then it really shines. That's not to say it's bad, because it's not, but if you're expecting giant statue smashing then temper that a bit because that's only the final 15 minutes or so.