This fusion of episodes 3 and 4 of "Space Giant" finds the Japan's man of steel, in his see-through and suggestively padded costume, battling Salamander Men from the Planet Kulimon in the Moffit galaxy (I kid you not). The invaders have the ability to change their appearance (or, sometimes, most of their appearance) and are spreading a deadly contagion by disguising themselves as an avant-garde dance troupe. Weird beyond belief, the film is full of acrobatic 'fight' scenes in which none of the kicks or punches seem to make contact but that include lots of back flips and cart wheels. At one point children are pursued by a Kulimonian disguised as a nurse (a creepy scene) who then seems to turn into a cackling witch. While much more lively than the leaden Atomic Rulers (the first Starman movie), there are some tedious moments (e.g. the flying saucer chase scene) and the special effects are laughable. I don't know how much has been lost in translation, but apparently the 'Salamander Men' were actually 'kappa', a Japanese mythological water sprite (which fits their look but not the Moffit Galaxy backstory). There may be other cultural tropes that I am missing (at times the Salamander Men make-up resembles 'slit-mouth', a motif that occurs in Japanese horror). The film is hard-to-rate, being a definite 10 for fans of weird cinema but probably unwatchable for most everyone else.
13 Reviews
They plan to destroy the Earth...through dance!!
planktonrules20 February 2014
In 1965, American audiences were given the treat of seeing the Star Man trilogy in "Attack From Space", "Invaders From Space" and "Evil Brain From Outer Space". In each, the Emerald Planet (filled with silly but benevolent weirdos) sends the super-hero Star Man to Earth to fight off an invasion by hostile forces--or just to get rid of him because he looked so silly. Star Man is Ken Utsui--a Japanese guy in a body suit with an antennae on top of his head as well as a cape! I am pretty sure he must have felt ridiculous in this getup. However, ANYONE appearing in these films should have felt pretty silly, as they are amazingly bad--at least in their confusing English-dubbed versions. Originally, they were part of some TV series called "Super Giant" ("Sûpâ Jaiantsu").
In this installment, the Salamander People are trying to wipe out the humans with some sort of virus. It's not a terrible idea for a plot. However, it turns out that the virus is disbursed by a modern dance troop of aliens performing in Japan!! Watching their hysterical gyrations and acrobatics is pretty funny. But they must stop both Star Man and Dr. Fukami--and spend most of the film trying to kill or brainwash the pair. Can the Earth possibly be spared? And, does anyone out there even care?!
The film abounds with Star Man and the Salamander People doing somersaults and flips instead of actually fighting. I must say, they were quite athletic and talented--that is, until they tried acting or fighting. Then, it was just dreadful. However, the film, like the other two, is so amazingly bad and silly that it might be worth seeing if you are a bad movie addict and love laughing at ineptness. This certainly qualifies as inept!
In this installment, the Salamander People are trying to wipe out the humans with some sort of virus. It's not a terrible idea for a plot. However, it turns out that the virus is disbursed by a modern dance troop of aliens performing in Japan!! Watching their hysterical gyrations and acrobatics is pretty funny. But they must stop both Star Man and Dr. Fukami--and spend most of the film trying to kill or brainwash the pair. Can the Earth possibly be spared? And, does anyone out there even care?!
The film abounds with Star Man and the Salamander People doing somersaults and flips instead of actually fighting. I must say, they were quite athletic and talented--that is, until they tried acting or fighting. Then, it was just dreadful. However, the film, like the other two, is so amazingly bad and silly that it might be worth seeing if you are a bad movie addict and love laughing at ineptness. This certainly qualifies as inept!
I prefer Ishii's later work.
BA_Harrison24 April 2013
Hard to believe, perhaps, but before director Teruo Ishii turned to the sleaze and violence of pinku cinema he was director of children's TV series Sûpâ jaiantsu (Super Giant) in which Ken Utsui played Starman, a humanoid alien with incredible powers (well, he can fly with the help of a very visible harness) who is sworn to protect the human race from danger. In Invaders From Space, a feature cobbled together for the US market from several episodes of the series, Starman battles the evil salamander men of Kulimon (sp?) who release a deadly disease in Japan as part of their evil plan for world domination.
The film opens on a planet 2 billion miles away where a council of incredibly daft looking aliens elect to send Starman to Earth; if the rest of the film was this unintentionally funny, I was in for a grand time. Sadly, despite the equally amusing introduction of the first salamander man, Invaders from Space quickly descended into tedium, a disjointed, episodic adventure with extremely repetitious fight scenes between Starman and his scaly foes, most of which look more like elaborate dance routines than desperate battles to the death.
And talking of dance, let's not forget the unnecessary avant-garde number in a theatre where the salamanders are posing as stage performers. Or the bit where several supposedly cute Japanese kids find themselves threatened in the woods by the athletic aliens busting their moves. I guess if modern dance is your thing, there's a remote chance that you might find this interesting, but I found myself seriously struggling to stay awake.
The film opens on a planet 2 billion miles away where a council of incredibly daft looking aliens elect to send Starman to Earth; if the rest of the film was this unintentionally funny, I was in for a grand time. Sadly, despite the equally amusing introduction of the first salamander man, Invaders from Space quickly descended into tedium, a disjointed, episodic adventure with extremely repetitious fight scenes between Starman and his scaly foes, most of which look more like elaborate dance routines than desperate battles to the death.
And talking of dance, let's not forget the unnecessary avant-garde number in a theatre where the salamanders are posing as stage performers. Or the bit where several supposedly cute Japanese kids find themselves threatened in the woods by the athletic aliens busting their moves. I guess if modern dance is your thing, there's a remote chance that you might find this interesting, but I found myself seriously struggling to stay awake.
Senseless superhero fun
Leofwine_draca6 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
More butt-kicking action from Japanese superhero Starman, once again cobbled together from two episodes (three and four) of the 1950s television series SUPERGIANT. This time around the super-fast paced antics involve the invasion of Earth by a race of evil salamander men (!) who use cool-looking UFOs to send sound waves down to Earth and kill people, spread a deadly disease capable of destroying the human race within days, and of course go around kidnapping kids and scientists. Starman spends the film rescuing those kidnapped and fighting off the Salamander Men by using some acrobatic manoeuvres! It appears that the producers had hired a troupe of acrobatics for filming of this material, as lengthy scenes are set in a theatre showing a kooky dance routine (mind-boggling, it really is) and later many of the fight scenes involve silly flips and jumps through the air for no other reason. Is this really how aliens fight?
Any plot exposition seems to have been wiped out other than cursory introductions, leaving a movie that brims over with action, action, and more action. Sadly, the fight scenes seem more like dancing than fighting and are of a lesser quality than in the previous ATOMIC RULERS OF THE WORLD. Still, Starman packs a wallop, and the aliens themselves are a well-designed menace with imaginative-looking and creative makeup, turnip-headed demons if they indeed are! The supporting characters are the usual stiff moustachioed scientists and the obnoxiously annoying children, including the resident child with pigtails and glasses. Why do they never die in these films?
Action is what INVADERS FROM SPACE offers and, even if the special effects are not quite up to the task, it certainly entertains on this front. Highlights include kids hanging from ropes over pits of burning acid; Starman chasing a killer UFO through the skies and kicking the reptile backsides of those inside; genuinely disturbing laughing human/alien hybrids, looking like the Joker; an alien exploding underwater (!); dozens of fight scenes, weirdo alien bases in the swamps, even some extraterrestrial action is thrown in to keep things fresh and exciting. Watch out for the wacky High Council at the beginning of the film, complete with bizarro aliens and weirdo robots, and watch in amazement as Starman spends most of the film flying through the air – his feet barely touch the ground in this adventure. Senseless fun the way we like it – and a production designed just so that you can say "they don't make 'em like this anymore".
Any plot exposition seems to have been wiped out other than cursory introductions, leaving a movie that brims over with action, action, and more action. Sadly, the fight scenes seem more like dancing than fighting and are of a lesser quality than in the previous ATOMIC RULERS OF THE WORLD. Still, Starman packs a wallop, and the aliens themselves are a well-designed menace with imaginative-looking and creative makeup, turnip-headed demons if they indeed are! The supporting characters are the usual stiff moustachioed scientists and the obnoxiously annoying children, including the resident child with pigtails and glasses. Why do they never die in these films?
Action is what INVADERS FROM SPACE offers and, even if the special effects are not quite up to the task, it certainly entertains on this front. Highlights include kids hanging from ropes over pits of burning acid; Starman chasing a killer UFO through the skies and kicking the reptile backsides of those inside; genuinely disturbing laughing human/alien hybrids, looking like the Joker; an alien exploding underwater (!); dozens of fight scenes, weirdo alien bases in the swamps, even some extraterrestrial action is thrown in to keep things fresh and exciting. Watch out for the wacky High Council at the beginning of the film, complete with bizarro aliens and weirdo robots, and watch in amazement as Starman spends most of the film flying through the air – his feet barely touch the ground in this adventure. Senseless fun the way we like it – and a production designed just so that you can say "they don't make 'em like this anymore".
Enjoyably silly Japanese sci-fi superhero piffle
Woodyanders24 April 2012
Warning: Spoilers
A bunch of pernicious salamander men aliens from the planet Kulimon in the Moffit Galaxy plan on taking over Earth by unleashing a horrible plague on mankind. It's up to valiant superhero Starman from the Emerald Planet to save the human race before it's too late. Once again, this gloriously ridiculous hogwash eschews standard conventions of logic and coherence thanks to the fact that this slapdash feature was cobbled together from several episodes of a TV series. As a direct result of this, an absurdly solemn narrator works furious overtime in a desperate attempt to give the jumbled plot a modicum of cohesion. Moreover, the lovably rinky-dink (markedly less than) special effects, cruddy dubbing, strenuously protracted balletic fight set pieces (the salamander guys do all sorts of crazy back flips, cartwheels, and somersaults while mixing it up with Starman!), and such inspired wacky touches as the salamander beings disguising themselves as an avant-garde dance troupe, the evil extraterrestrials shooting killer rays out of their mouths (!), and a mysterious nurse who transforms herself into a grotesque hag witch all greatly enhance the considerable unintentional hilarity. An absolute dippy hoot.
Surreal, silly and charming
chazzarb24 June 2019
Of all the bad old superhero films, the Starman series are probably my favourite. Not a good film in the traditional sense, but highly amusing if you like bad films.
Lots of ridiculous costumes, poorly dubbed dialogue and absurd plot combine to make a highly amusing bad film that is great to watch with friends. There is something charming about a lycra clad superhero flying after alien Salamander-men in their flying-saucer and foiling their absurd plans to destroy the world. Perhaps the best part of this film are the fight scenes which are the most ridiculous and absurd I have seen since watching Turkish Starwars. There is clearly little-to-no fighting choreography, so it is just a horde of Salamander-men literally dancing around Starman before he Karate chops them into the next dimension. Starman is so untouchable and overpowered it is a wonder the Salamander-men even bothered to try and fight him - and the best part ... the Salamander-men explode after being chucked into water (for some reason)! These films are a great source of unintentional absurdist humour.
If you enjoyed this be sure to watch the other Starman films, they are all great and are available for free on youtube.
Theater Dance In A Sci-Fi Film
Rainey-Dawn10 November 2016
I personally love to see the theater dance fighting and this film has that... some of the best scenes in the film to me. I also love some of the eerie imagery that we see in this film - it's almost to the point of a horror film. What's lacking to me just a little tiny bit is the story that needed just a little bit more pizazz to me - the on screen visuals and dance fighting has quite a bit of it though, that's very nice.
Here we have Starman (a Japanese superhero) that is saving Earth from the evil salamander men! I prefer this movie over the Starman film "Evil Brain from Outer Space (1965)" and I liked that film too. Really fun movies if you ask me.
I acquired this film from the Sci-Fi Invasion 50-Pack and I must say I'm glad they added it. I enjoyed the movie.
7/10
Here we have Starman (a Japanese superhero) that is saving Earth from the evil salamander men! I prefer this movie over the Starman film "Evil Brain from Outer Space (1965)" and I liked that film too. Really fun movies if you ask me.
I acquired this film from the Sci-Fi Invasion 50-Pack and I must say I'm glad they added it. I enjoyed the movie.
7/10
Starman, fighting in the sky
Bezenby16 June 2014
Starman is kind of like Doctor Who, only Japanese, I'd say. He's like him because he's an extra-terrestrial being whose job is to protect the human race from alien invaders, only Starman's a little more hands on than the Doctor. Which is to say, he's not averse to giving the invaders a good kicking for their trouble. In fact, in this film, he actually kicks an alien spaceship's head in not once, not twice, but three times! From the inside! These aliens are the Salamander men and they've started their invasion the usual way, by spreading a deadly disease to anyone who attends their surreal dance routine they perform on stage. They also go out their way to track down various scientists who are working on cures for the disease, or know where all the Earth's secret weapons are stashed. As with Starman's Evil Brain from Outer Space, almost everyone encountered on Earth is a scientist, doctor, or a small child.
These salamander dudes are pretty creepy when in disguise as humans (and appear like ghosts when they feel like it). They also breathe radioactive mist that can control humans. While trying to steal some scientists, Starman thinks he'll take in a show and gets drawn into a teleporting fight with the Salamanders, which results in an even bigger fight in a swamp. This is only the first half of the film! The latter half goes all Ju-On on us as an especially creepy Salamander turns up to take care of kids who have stumbled upon the alien's plan to follow a scientist to the secret Earth weapon stash (and when I say stumbled, I mean the aliens just told the kids about it). This leads to a half salamander lady chasing kids about for ages and the kids stumbling on the alien's weakness.
All this of course leads to a big showdown, where the aliens have a weapons that disrupts Earth's orbit (causing random objects to float in the air), a battle where Starman takes on loads of Salamanders and even stops mid air for a punch up with a guy (closely followed by an underwater punch up) aw man.
Starting with the surreal good alien committee meeting at the start, and fill with crazy imagery from start to finish, Invaders From Space is yet another utterly bonkers entry into the Starman series. Crazy rubber suits for the Salamanders, Joker-like grins on the half-aliens, dance routines, people melting, aliens causing water to explode, time running backwards, alien spaceships where the controls seem to be shadows on the wall. This film has it all. Fast paced and mental. I love these films.
And RIP Starman. I'm just discovering your films now. Your vibrations will live on.
These salamander dudes are pretty creepy when in disguise as humans (and appear like ghosts when they feel like it). They also breathe radioactive mist that can control humans. While trying to steal some scientists, Starman thinks he'll take in a show and gets drawn into a teleporting fight with the Salamanders, which results in an even bigger fight in a swamp. This is only the first half of the film! The latter half goes all Ju-On on us as an especially creepy Salamander turns up to take care of kids who have stumbled upon the alien's plan to follow a scientist to the secret Earth weapon stash (and when I say stumbled, I mean the aliens just told the kids about it). This leads to a half salamander lady chasing kids about for ages and the kids stumbling on the alien's weakness.
All this of course leads to a big showdown, where the aliens have a weapons that disrupts Earth's orbit (causing random objects to float in the air), a battle where Starman takes on loads of Salamanders and even stops mid air for a punch up with a guy (closely followed by an underwater punch up) aw man.
Starting with the surreal good alien committee meeting at the start, and fill with crazy imagery from start to finish, Invaders From Space is yet another utterly bonkers entry into the Starman series. Crazy rubber suits for the Salamanders, Joker-like grins on the half-aliens, dance routines, people melting, aliens causing water to explode, time running backwards, alien spaceships where the controls seem to be shadows on the wall. This film has it all. Fast paced and mental. I love these films.
And RIP Starman. I'm just discovering your films now. Your vibrations will live on.
Love this!
BandSAboutMovies9 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
A bunch of salamander men from the planet Kulimon in the Moffit Galaxy plan on taking over Earth by unleashing a lethal plague on mankind (maybe not what you want to watch right now). It's up to Starman from the Emerald Planet to save the human race.
I always wondered why these movies didn't make any sense when I was a kid.
That's because they were all part of a much larger story that we had no idea about. We're coming into the middle of a movie serial called Kotetsu no Kyojin (Giant of Steel). To be more exact, we're watching episodes 3 and 4, which were called The Mysterious Spacemen's Demonic Castle and Earth on the Verge of Destruction.
That's because Walter Manley Enterprises and Medallion Films bought these movies from Japan and then did pretty much whatever they wanted with them. While the original films are 48 and 39 minutes long, they jammed them together, took out 9 minutes and used library music and dubbed dialogue.
While the American version refers to the bad guys as salamanders, those that love Japanese cryptozoology will recognize them as kappas, the dreaded frog-like beasts that haunt rivers and lakes. They also have a doctor who can hypnotize people, a witch and their leader, who is able to change the rotation of the planet.
Starman predates both Ultraman and the sendai ranger shows, but he's very similar. He tends yo leap off things and do tons of backflips. A lesser hero would get dizzy and puke from the acrobatics that he does, but that's why he's such a winner, I guess.
Walter Manley Enterprises also brought the Jayne Mansfield-starring The Loves of Hercules, Invasion of the Neptune Men, Curse of the Blood Ghouls, Giants of Rome, Cavalier in Devil's Castle and Revenge of the Black Eagle to America, amongst other films.
They also made three more Starman movies. It all begins in Atomic Rulers of the World, which is Super Giant and Super Giant Continues; Attack from Space which is The Artificial Satellite and the Destruction of Humanity and The Spaceship and the Clash of the Artificial Satellite; and finally Evil Brain from Outer Space, which took the full color films The Space Mutant Appears, The Devil's Incarnation and Kingdom of the Poison Moth and made them black and white. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.
Director Teruo Ishii, known as "The King of Cult," made tons of movies. He directed 10 of the 18 A Man from Abashiri Prison films, all eight of the Joys of Torture series, Horrors of Malformed Men, Sonny Chiba's The Street Fighter's Last Revenge, some Pinky violence films, a few biker movies, two Yoshiharu Tsuge manga adaptions (Master of the Gensenkan Inn and Wind-Up Type) and so many more. In all, he made 83 films and numerous shows for TV.
Ishii left the series after the sixth movie, as he learned that a child had imitated Super Giant, dressing up like the hero and jumping out of a window to the street below. This is why Japanese superhero shows began airing a disclaimer before every show, warning kids to not imitate the things they saw on screen.
I would hope that no one copied any of the Yakuza and erotic torture that he'd be in charge of in his later films.
Seriously, I love this movie. It's kind of goofy looking compared to the CGI superheroics that we have today, but it has a charm that none of them do.
I always wondered why these movies didn't make any sense when I was a kid.
That's because they were all part of a much larger story that we had no idea about. We're coming into the middle of a movie serial called Kotetsu no Kyojin (Giant of Steel). To be more exact, we're watching episodes 3 and 4, which were called The Mysterious Spacemen's Demonic Castle and Earth on the Verge of Destruction.
That's because Walter Manley Enterprises and Medallion Films bought these movies from Japan and then did pretty much whatever they wanted with them. While the original films are 48 and 39 minutes long, they jammed them together, took out 9 minutes and used library music and dubbed dialogue.
While the American version refers to the bad guys as salamanders, those that love Japanese cryptozoology will recognize them as kappas, the dreaded frog-like beasts that haunt rivers and lakes. They also have a doctor who can hypnotize people, a witch and their leader, who is able to change the rotation of the planet.
Starman predates both Ultraman and the sendai ranger shows, but he's very similar. He tends yo leap off things and do tons of backflips. A lesser hero would get dizzy and puke from the acrobatics that he does, but that's why he's such a winner, I guess.
Walter Manley Enterprises also brought the Jayne Mansfield-starring The Loves of Hercules, Invasion of the Neptune Men, Curse of the Blood Ghouls, Giants of Rome, Cavalier in Devil's Castle and Revenge of the Black Eagle to America, amongst other films.
They also made three more Starman movies. It all begins in Atomic Rulers of the World, which is Super Giant and Super Giant Continues; Attack from Space which is The Artificial Satellite and the Destruction of Humanity and The Spaceship and the Clash of the Artificial Satellite; and finally Evil Brain from Outer Space, which took the full color films The Space Mutant Appears, The Devil's Incarnation and Kingdom of the Poison Moth and made them black and white. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.
Director Teruo Ishii, known as "The King of Cult," made tons of movies. He directed 10 of the 18 A Man from Abashiri Prison films, all eight of the Joys of Torture series, Horrors of Malformed Men, Sonny Chiba's The Street Fighter's Last Revenge, some Pinky violence films, a few biker movies, two Yoshiharu Tsuge manga adaptions (Master of the Gensenkan Inn and Wind-Up Type) and so many more. In all, he made 83 films and numerous shows for TV.
Ishii left the series after the sixth movie, as he learned that a child had imitated Super Giant, dressing up like the hero and jumping out of a window to the street below. This is why Japanese superhero shows began airing a disclaimer before every show, warning kids to not imitate the things they saw on screen.
I would hope that no one copied any of the Yakuza and erotic torture that he'd be in charge of in his later films.
Seriously, I love this movie. It's kind of goofy looking compared to the CGI superheroics that we have today, but it has a charm that none of them do.
Easily the best of the four Starman films
benjaminweber8 March 2018
Out of the four films edited together from the Japanese television series, this one is by far the best. While the costumes look fairly basic in places, there are also frequent moments where the costume design suitably capture the overall creepy atmosphere of the film. The sound works well in helping to establish atmosphere, and while a traditional story structure still isn't possible due to being formed from multiple TV episodes, there is an overall plot and several cases of setting up a climax that actually pays off. An additional bonus is there seems to have been more effort into creating the fight scenes, with better choreography and better editing, giving a more convincing appearance than the usual festival of minions throwing a punch, missing and consequently falling over.
In conclusion, if you're going to watch the Starman films, watch this one last. Otherwise the others will not live up to expectation!
In conclusion, if you're going to watch the Starman films, watch this one last. Otherwise the others will not live up to expectation!
The king of old corny tv movies
xinzhaorekter2 March 2018
This movie is so corny that its fun, watching starman beat the shait out of every salamender man (i am going to call them that) is pretty fun, the story is, meh, but the action is well paced and pretty good to be honest, a must watch if you are intrested in corny action
Insane but amazing, 10/10
worldsworstwryter15 October 2022
When Starman flies, he makes the same noise that my Xbox does when it overheats. And for the same worryingly long length of time, too.
This film is the most ridiculous, insane, incredible thing I've ever seen. It's hilarious story is only made better by the amazing acting and fight scenes which will completely blow your mind with their sheer awesomeness. Seriously, watching this is a joyous experience which I really would recommend whenever you feel down.
Also, I've never seen so many backflips in my life! Surely in all their genius, the salamander men should've been able to think up a slightly more practical way of moving around...
This film is the most ridiculous, insane, incredible thing I've ever seen. It's hilarious story is only made better by the amazing acting and fight scenes which will completely blow your mind with their sheer awesomeness. Seriously, watching this is a joyous experience which I really would recommend whenever you feel down.
Also, I've never seen so many backflips in my life! Surely in all their genius, the salamander men should've been able to think up a slightly more practical way of moving around...
"I Thought We Were Indestructible, But We're Not!"...
azathothpwiggins7 June 2021
INVADERS FROM SPACE stars Ken Utsui as Starman, who must save humanity once again! This time, those pesky salamander men from the planet Kulimon have released a plague upon the Earth. Watch as Starman flips, flies, and bounds his way into our hearts!
Without Starman, no butterfly-collecting youths are safe from the Kulimonian hordes! See him utilize his spectacular ballet fu on these dreaded men in amphibian pajamas!
Watching this movie is like finding out that your brain is made of cotton candy! You'll never be the same again, seeing salamander men everywhere you look! Even in the mirror!...
Without Starman, no butterfly-collecting youths are safe from the Kulimonian hordes! See him utilize his spectacular ballet fu on these dreaded men in amphibian pajamas!
Watching this movie is like finding out that your brain is made of cotton candy! You'll never be the same again, seeing salamander men everywhere you look! Even in the mirror!...
See also
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