El Hombre H

Toho are known for dark gritty movies (Usually about Samurai or the struggles of Japanese life) and goofy giant monster films (Godzilla). That is why this came as so much of a surprise to me as it isn't either.

While the west the same year made The Blob (1958) Toho made their own liquid monster movie and truth be told it's not at all bad and makes me wish Toho had done more horror.

What struck me immediatly was how amazing everything looks, sure it doesn't have the usual incredible writing of Toho and lacks the direction of Kurosawa but it looks a couple of decades ahead of its time. Seriously, I'm blown away.

It tells the story of the police looking for a missing man and during the investigation coming across a mysterious liquid creature whose very touch dissolves its prey.

Though the movie isn't outstanding it makes up for it in enough areas to be more than watchable.

Genuinely creepy and unnerving in places, the H-Man is deserving of any horror fans time.

The Good:

Looks incredible for its time

The Bad:

Cast are pretty below par

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Microphones are overrated

Before putting your jacket around a woman dip it in sewage first

As a first grader at age 6, I felt underpriveledged. All my class mates would come to school on Mondays bragging about whatever Saturday movie experience they had. Most of the time it was a Hercules, or Sinbad or other epic tale and their comments were vivid. But when the conversation revolved around a horror movie their version turned out to be a tease. I could tell that the real deal with horror pictures was to experience it personally. Here was the conumdrum, I wasn't allowed to go the the show without an adult and I didn't want to be seen by my friends with a parent. Well finally an aunt stepped up and volunteered to take me. In that darkened theater, finally seeing a horror movie for the first time, my anticipation was peaking: that is until the H Bomb went off and the tale of this insidious monster began. Needless to say my horror fascination came full circle by the end of the first reel, and the experience left me anxious for many, many, months! Thinking back to that screenining I feel that the H man was a landmark movie and probably generated the same type emotional response as the radio broadcast of War of the Worlds had a generation earlier. A remake would be awesome with todays technology, looking forward to it, and even a peak back to the past with the original version would be nice.

THE H-MAN is a fine, and most rare, blend of film noir and 1950s Japanese science fiction. The film is filled with startling visuals from start to finish. It grabs your attention and rarely lets up. Favorite scenes involve the events inside the derelict ghost ship and all the scenes in the nightclub which abound with the right atmosphere. Stylistic and often startling visually, this is a lot of fun to watch and get into. It does require one to suspend their disbelief quite a bit though.

Be sure to watch for the really creepy flashback sequence wherein the title creature is first discovered by sailors exploring an abandoned ship. The film's photography and special effects deserve a nod also. Those with a soft spot for blob movies are urged to also check out the Steve McQueen film of that name (released the same year), as well as Hammer Films' "X the Unknown" (1956).

I saw this film when I was a child, and never forgot it. While somewhat similar to films such as 'The Blob' and 'Caltiki, The Immortal Monster' (a Spanish/Italian/Mexican rarity), 'The H-Man' is, as others note, a sort of film noir sci-fi/mystery film. Like most Japanese sci-fi & horror films of the 1950s and 60s, there are instances of unintentional humor, over-the-top acting and a fixation on the effects of radioactivity (not surprising). I had almost given up on finding this title, when fortuitously I ran into a really nice Japanese DVD with superb color and in a widescreen format; no English dubbing, but rather subtitles in the bottom black bar. It was as if I was seeing the film for the very first time! While I have no American version to compare it to, I have no doubt that this version has footage edited from the American release. Interestingly (for me, anyway), the title in Japanese is 'Beauty and the Liquid Human', an odd but actually more accurate title. The H-Man provides some very well-done special effects, creepy atmosphere and a decent amount of suspense. Along with 'Rodan' and 'The Mysterians' (and, I guess, Godzilla), this is among the best of early Japanese sci-fi films.