Sci-Fi

  • Toshio Masuda – Shuto shôshitsu AKA Tokyo Blackout (1987)

    1981-1990JapanMysterySci-FiToshio Masuda

    Synopsis:
    Based on a science-fiction novel by Sakyo Komatsu. Tokyo is suddenly covered by a dome shaped electromagnetic cloud for an unknown reason and is totally blocked and isolated from other parts of the world. The temperature inside the cloud is slowly increasing. The Soviet Pacific fleet is getting closer. The U.S. is forcing Japan to form a new government. Scientists and research workers outside Tokyo have to race against time to find out how to get through the cloud in order to rescue the 12,000,000+ lives in Tokyo and the fate of the country.Read More »

  • Matjaz Klopcic – Oxygen (1970)

    1961-1970DramaMatjaz KlopcicSci-FiYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under Tito

    Synopsis
    In this story set in near future, a group of young rebels, hippies and 1968 protesters want to cede and make an independent Island from the Mainland. A journalist who came to the Island to make a report about political summit that takes place there gets involved in the clash between young rebels and establishment.Read More »

  • Koji Hashimoto & Sakyo Komatsu – Sayônara, Jûpetâ AKA Bye-Bye Jupiter (1984)

    1981-1990AsianJapanKoji HashimotoSakyo KomatsuSci-Fi

    wikipedia says:
    “Sayonara Jupiter (さよならジュピター Sayonara Jiupitā?, English release: Bye Bye Jupiter) is a 1984 Japanese science fiction film directed by Koji Hashimoto and produced by Toho. The script was adapted by pioneering science-fiction author Sakyo Komatsu from his novel Sayonara Jupiter (1982). The special effects were directed by Koichi Kawakita. Cast with an unusual mix of actors speaking English, French and Japanese, the film was conceived by the struggling Toho film empire as a rival to the forthcoming box office blockbuster hit 2010. The two films bear comparison of plot elements. This was actor Akihiko Hirata’s final film role. He was set to star in The Return of Godzilla (1984), but died of throat cancer before he was cast. In one scene, Captain Hoger Kinn watches Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, which featured a much younger Akihiko Hirata.Read More »

  • Motoyoshi Oda – Tômei ningen AKA The Invisible Man (1954)

    1951-1960JapanMotoyoshi OdaSci-FiThriller

    A car strikes an unseen object; blood spreads from an invisible source which becomes visible as the bleeding man dies. He carries with him a suicide note dedicated to his only friend, who is also an invisible man. An eager young reporter tracks down Takemitsu Nanjo, a war veteran who makes his living visibly, painting his face like a clown’s and carrying advertising signs. His favorite neighbor is a little blind girl whose mother is running afoul of local gangsters. The gangsters have been terrorizing the city as “the invisible gang,” wrapping themselves up in scarves and trenchcoats so as to be visible to their victims, even though they are supposed to be invisible underneath. Once they discover Nanjo, who is defending his only friends, they beat him and leave him for dead.Read More »

  • Ishirô Honda – Uchu daisenso aka Battle in Outer Space (1959)

    1951-1960AsianIshirô HondaJapanSci-Fi

    Quote:
    With his name firmly ensconced in film history as the creator of the Godzilla and Rodan films, director Inoshiro Honda continues to shape and mold a dramatic sci-fi story in Battle in Outer Space. As in the record-setting Star Wars sagas of the future, special effects also get star billing here. The nations of the earth are banding together to fight off invaders from outer space. At the core of their defense is an attack in which two space ships from the earth land on the moon — the aliens have set up their base of operations there. But this pre-emptive strike is not enough because back on terra firma, heat-ray guns are called into action as the invasion of flying saucers swings into a full-scale operation.Read More »

  • Ishirô Honda – Bijo to Ekitainingen aka The H-Man (1958)

    1951-1960AsianIshirô HondaJapanSci-Fi

    When a narcotics deal goes sour and a suspect disappears, leaving only his clothes, Tokyo police question his wife and stake out the nightclub where she works. His disappearance stumps the police – until a young scientist appears who claims that H-Bomb tests in the Pacific, evidenced by a “ghost ship” that has turned up in the harbor, have created radioactive creatures – “H-Men” – who ooze like slime and dissolve anyone they touch.Read More »

  • Yevgeny Yufit – Ubitye molniey aka Killed by Lightning (2002)

    2001-2010DramaRussiaSci-FiYevgeny Yufit

    Quote:
    The action of the film is unfolding not in the real world, but in subconsciousness of the heroine, professor of anthropology.
    The woman-anthropologist researches roots of the human evolution. Psychic childhood trauma, caused by the death of her father, the captain of a submarine, in the W.W.II, periodically throws her out of balance. Phantoms of the prehistorical past and father’s violent death collide in the scientist’s subconsciousness and bring to life an unexpected theory of human evolution.Read More »

  • Yevgeny Yufit – Pryamokhozhdenie AKA Bipedalism (2005)

    2001-2010ArthouseRussiaSci-FiYevgeny Yufit

    Yufit continues themes from Silver Heads, this time featuring an artist who paints insects, and who discovers evidence of scientific experiments aimed at understanding and controlling the progress of man. Specifically, what caused man to stand upright, thus moving away from a more practical and natural lifestyle and into a modern, intellectual one. The experiments attempt to recreate this effect or fuse the advantages of both. He moves into an old house with his family, is haunted by strange visions and dreams, but when his children uncover a film archive documenting the experiments, and a strange old man disturbs his peace, he loses his simple pleasures and his mind regresses into a form of insanity. While he slowly unravels the truth, experimental bipedals (naked crouched men) roam and terrorize the countryside chased by the government. By far Yufit’s most conventional narrative, with odd, mildly interesting but simplistic meditations on humankind.

    — The Worldwide Celluloid MassacreRead More »

  • Vladimir Maslov & Yevgeny Yufit – Serebryanye golovy AKA Silver Heads (1999)

    1991-2000ArthouseRussiaSci-FiVladimir MaslovYevgeny Yufit

    Synopsis:
    Deep in the woods, in a secret bunker, a group of scientists is working on an experiment to crossbreed a human with a tree. In this low-tech science fiction film, experiments aimed to produce a better, purer human being appear as strange allusions to the films of David Cronenberg, with virtuality and cerebral dimension replaced by pure physicality. Machines stripped of any glamour and reduced to mere function resemble medieval torture chambers powered by electricity. With dark humor and raw visual aesthetic, Silver Heads is a major work from the Saint Petersburg underground art scene.Read More »

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