Esupai (1974) User Reviews

I know about the white mask

[nicestep · 5/10 · 24 February 2014]

I saw this one recently. It is no worse than other Japanese science fiction that I saw in the sixties and seventies. I saw the version with subtitles so I can explain about the black man with the white hospital mask. The one woman in ESPY gets molested by this black man. We get to see her bare breasts, but only briefly, and he tries to force a kiss on her. In retaliation she uses her psychic power to rip the tongue out of his mouth. Afterwards he wears the white surgical mask. The probably left out a key scene in the dubbed version.

The movie does have some interesting locations. The story isn't bad, and the special effects are reasonably good. If you enjoyed movies from the same era, like Battle In Outer Space or Latitude Zero or Atragon you might enjoy this one too.

Just don't expect too much. This isn't You Only Live Twice.

Not Bad...

[down-03576 · 6/10 · 28 November 2023]

Just watched this movie for the first time and it was OK. It was in Japanese with English subtitles which, in my opinion, is the only way to watch foreign live-action movies. To explain the missing scenes in the English dub, I'll give a more accurate account. Yoshio is bound to a chair while a mesmerised Maria is dancing in a very sexy outfit and one of the bad guys comes to her and they start to kiss, but Yoshio gets enraged by this and rips out his tongue. Which is why the bad guy is wearing a mask. This action also breaks Maria out of her trance. Later you see a flashback scene where Maria is remembering and her shirt gets ripped open in the flashback. Seems unecessary and stuck in the movie just to have a topless scene. She looked great in the sexy outfit and we didn't reallty need this.

The movie, as you might suspect, has some unbelievable scenes and it really feels these were not needed to be shown in this way. The first scene in the movie where the bad guy shoots 4 people on a moving train when he had limited mobility sitting in a car. Also, ESP and Telekinesis are one thing(s), but they went as far as teleportation and that was just a conveinient plot device that could have been avoided.

On the positive side, the movie has a James Bond feel and you do have some globe trotting and an over-the-top performance by your head bad guy. There is also some surprising violence. A gun that looks like it blows people to pieces when you see it happens but then in the aftermath, they are just bloody with normal gunshot wounds.

Cheetah the wonder dog!

[Rovin · 16 July 1999]

This film is interesting in that it covers some of the same territory as Scanners (psycho-kinetic empowered mutants who are outcasts in human society) as well as containing a touch of Star Wars and the Force (Kenobi-like ESP guru) before either of those movies were made. At times the dialogue is laughable, at other times it is rather profound (especially in the last speech by the villain). Goofy too (watch for the black heavy who dresses like Shaft but wears a white surgical mask that is never explained--at least in the dubbed version). Or the guy trapped in the car who uses his gun to shoot at the door lock--not the window--to escape.

Cheetah the german shepherd (and wonder dog) steals the show.