Whatever you make of Quentin Tarantino as a film-maker (and I can take or leave him), its hard to imagine a livelier nor more influential champion of the weird and woolly corners of cult cinema. I don't recall the moment in Kill Bill cribbed from Goke: Bodysnatcher from Hell (a scene of plane in blood red sky), like many other details it was lost for me, just another colorful bauble in that magpie's nest of a film, but with renewed interest Goke can now be seen as it should, in pristine widescreen subtitled form. And so a new generation of weird cinema enthusiasts can experience a film that, while somewhat flawed offers up enough arresting moments to be an overall solid watch. It begins impressively on a plane mid sky, all around turns blood red and birds fly to bloody smears on windows, then comes a UFO fly pass and system failure leading to a crash. An assassin on board and possible bomb threat have people already very much on edge, but things get a whole lot worse when an extraterrestrial menace comes into play, and the surviving passengers and crew will have to keep their baser instincts at bay if they want any hope of survival. This of course proves easier said than done, the confined space and lack of provisions drawing out every tension, pulling nerves taut till they fray away and snap, the course of things predictable but individual events fortunately less so. The various character decisions that drive the film don't always ring true but they do provide a dramatic pulse, and the cast throw themselves into their roles with suitable aplomb. Hideo Ko wields cold menace as the potential assassin, an understated determined malevolence making him a solid villain. Yuko Kusunoki is entertainingly loathsome as a more outre slimeball, Eizo Kitamura appropriately desperate and irritable as a politician. Kazuo Kato makes for a decent creepy oddball psychiatrist, the sort of person you wouldn't want treating you under any circumstances. There's a dependable good guy in Teruo Yoshida to balance out the overstrained or openly villainous though, and Tomomi Sato as a stewardess backing him up. In fact the only weak link is American Kathy Horan, whose performance is kinda shrill and irritating, though she also has the disadvantage of the film's worst writing. See there's a message here, an obvious one that the film puts across with all the subtlety of a jabbering town crier pounding nine inch nails into your skull with a ball-peen hammer. It's an overbearing approach that detracts from the experience in general, though having reflected on the film for a few days the good stuff does stand out more than the bad. Cool cheapo effects including a model plane, ominous colored lighting and a silvery alien slime creature, cool opening and absolute dynamite finale with enough to sustain between, overall memorably unusual atmosphere, its fun stuff that grew on me all the more thinking on it after. It may not be a truly bonkers classic, but for seekers after the strange this is definitely a worthwhile trip. 7/10
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