41 Hours of Terror: Eye on The Final War 「第三次世界大戦 四十一時間の恐怖」 circa November, 1960
Effects artisans put the finishing touches on their model of San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate Bridge in this behind-the-scenes still for Toei’s The Final War (「第三次世界大戦 四十一時間の恐怖」, World War III: 41...
View ArticleBehind the Scenes: Wind Velocity 75 Meters 「風速七十五米」
Ginza is swept up in a massive storm surge in the finale of Daiei’s Wind Velocity 75 Meters. We Western tokusatsu fanatics are blessed in that, with some rare exceptions, the majority of Japan’s...
View ArticleThe Harryhausen Legacy: Mysterious Island (1961)
1961′s Mysterious Island begins with one of the great scenes of fantasy-adventure cinema. Imprisoned by Confederate forces in the midst of the Siege of Richmond near the end of the Civil War, Union...
View ArticleVal Guest’s WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH headed to uncut Blu-ray from...
Hammer’s 1970 follow-up to the creature classic One Million Years B.C. (itself arriving on Blu-ray from Kino later this year) will reach Blu-ray from Warner Archive in February. A new master of When...
View ArticleAll Brand New! An Important Film of Our Age Starring Russ Tamblyn, Kumi...
Tokusatsu Tuesdays is a regular feature relating to Japanese special effects entertainments and their associated whatsits, and a bridge, so to speak, between ExploderButton.com and its sister site,...
View ArticleThe Depression-era spectacle of Felix E. Feist’s DELUGE
It’s been nearly 90 years since RKO’s Deluge first raged across the silver screen, leveling the concrete modernity of 1933 to rubble and inviting audiences to ponder the consequences, but its history,...
View ArticleIshirō Honda’s THE H-MAN「美女と液体人間」to Blu-ray from Anolis in March!
German label Anolis Entertainment have announced the Blu-ray world premiere of Toho’s classic 1958 special effects thriller 「美女と液体人間」 The H-Man. The dual-format 2-disc set will present the film in...
View ArticleHaruo Nakajima Remembered: A Few of our Favorite Performances from the Man...
For the best part of two decades, from the first Godzilla in 1954 through Godzilla vs. Gigan in 1972, actor Haruo NAKAJIMA served as the literal backbone of Toho Company’s tokusatsu production. A...
View ArticleFRANKENSTEIN VS. BARAGON and MATANGO to Toho Blu-ray in November
In addition to the two classic films from Ishiro HONDA, Kihachi Okamoto’s Battle of Okinawa and Japan’s Longest Day as well as the complete ’90s Mothra trilogy will also see release. All five are...
View ArticleKrieg im Weltenraum! Ishiro Honda’s BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE blasts onto Blu-ray...
Anolis Entertainment continue to impress with their steady slate of vintage genre Blu-rays. Following on the heels of their dual-format release of The H-Man in March, next week will see the high...
View ArticleOf birds and battleships: Columbia’s essential monster misfire at 60
Spendthrift producer Sam Katzman’s Clover Productions struck gold with It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955) and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956), a pair of mid-century science fiction thrillers that...
View ArticleBlu Notes: The Valley of Gwangi ⋅ 2017 ⋅ Warner Archive Collection
There are few films with which I am more familiar than 1969’s The Valley of Gwangi, pioneering effects talent Ray Harryhausen’s ode to late friend and mentor Willis O’Brien’s never-made tale of cowboys...
View ArticleBlu Notes: BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE「宇宙大戦争」⋅ 2017 ⋅ Anolis Entertainment
Toho tokusatsu fans can scratch one more title off the list, courtesy of dependable German cult outfit Anolis Entertainment. Shinichi SEKIZAWA penned this action-minded follow up to 1957’s...
View ArticleBlu Notes: MATANGO「マタンゴ」⋅ 2017 ⋅ Toho Visual Entertainment
Eiji Tsuburaya’s lauded effects production takes a backseat in this oddball genre offering from Toho studios, released to critical ambivalence and general audience confusion in the fall of 1963. A...
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