User reviews

A good and just samurai lord is betrayed and murdered by one of his own men, who then claims the throne for himself. The samurai's two children, a boy and a girl, escape to the mountains and take refuge near a huge stone statue...a statue called Daimaijin, a huge man-god whom all fear. Ten years go by and the evil new lord has decimated the valley, enslaving all of its inhabitants and turning a deaf ear to the warnings of the wise woman; Daimaijin will not allow the evil overlord to go unpunished...and neither will the samurai's now adult son, who descends from the mountain, seeking vengeance.

Daimaijin is a simplistic fairy tale, beautifully executed. The noble samurai, the evil usurper, the determined son and the innocent girl whose voice and tears are the only thing the giant Daimaijin will respond to; all of the necessary elements are here. Though perhaps too violent for very young children, this film still reminded me of the films I loved as a child, i.e. Sinbad or Jason and the Argonauts. It's a simple tale of good versus evil with a triumphant, satisfying ending and lots of real estate trampled beneath Daimaijins stone feet. If you liked Godzilla, or the massive monsters created by Ray Harryhausen, you should see this one.

With its rerelease by ADV Films, I've had a chance to watch "The Giant Majin" for the first time without the deep cuts and unkind words of a late night Horror Chiller Theaters. Guess what? It's a pretty damn good movie!

The sets are authentic, the acting in subdued and believable, and the giant Majin is stately, powerful, and unstopable. I loved the subtle fantasy touches (the enchanted wood, luck charm, etc), and the potrayal of the god as a little less than 'good'.

This movie is begging for a remake in the new century!

I was expecting a decent film due to the ratings on IMDb, but what I experienced, was much greater than that. This period piece forces us to be an active participant by enveloping us with its desperate atmosphere. It's melodramatic set up brings the pacing down, so don't expect monster mashing anytime soon. It's tone is fierce and foreboding throughout. The tension is wonderful, and the anticipation of a reluctant savior slow to awaken, is as brutal as the wrath it releases! DaiMajin is like a freight train, slow to get going, and hard to stop! 8/10.

**By the way I always recommend the Japanese versions with their acting and English subtitles.**

I have to admit, I'm a bit of a sucker for the giant monster on a rampage flicks that came out of Japan in the late 60's/70's, and picked this up expecting more of that. After the opening scene, showing just how powerful Daimajin actually is (let's just say, he's more a force of nature than a giant monster), I was completely hooked. The entire series is fairly grim, and I loved the fact that Daimajin isn't necessarily a good or bad guy. He does what he does because he wants to, for whatever reason, be it that the villain offended him, or he felt sorry for one of the people who suffered over the course of the movie. They're not exactly art films, but they're not quite the kitsch of the later Godzilla movies, either. Highly recommended.

I saw the American version of "Daimajin" which was dubbed and released by American-International...a company known for bringing us a lot of crap. And, I assumed it would be another Godzilla-style film...which, fortunately, it turned out not to be. Instead, it's more a samurai movie...and a pretty good one as well.

Early in the story, Samanosuke murders his master,, the local warlord. And, to make sure none of the dead man's family could reclaim the territory, he orders his men to track down all his family and kill them as well. Fortunately, his two children escape and time passes. During this time, Samanosuke has increased his power--and he's done that by tormenting his people and making them his slaves. In addition, he's blasphemous and eventually orders his men to destroy a giant statue of a god in the hills. After all, the local priestess said it would come to life and destroy him...and the idiotic man decides to incure the wrath of the gods. Not suprisingly, eventually the giant statue comes to life...but there seems to be no controlling it and it appears ready to kill everyone!

The giant is actually NOT cheesy looking and I think it helped to make him big but not Godzilla big. That way, there wouldn't need to be any cheesy sets to destroy...and it looked much more realistic. Overall, an exciting and watchable film...more a movie for samurai movie fans.

1966's "Majin, the Monster of Terror" (Daimajin or Great Demon God) kicked off the brief trilogy of Majin films produced by Daiei in the wake of their success with the debut of Gamera, all three scripted by Tetsuro Yoshida and filmed back to back by three different directors, failing to achieve the box office results expected and eventually leading to the company's bankruptcy after completion of the 7th Gamera title in 1971. Using medieval Japan as the backdrop, and mixing samurai swordsmanship with a giant monster, the series is unique for presenting a god that is worshipped as such by its people who actually comes to life in human form, unlike the Toho examples of Godzilla or Mothra. Sporting the samurai look in appearance and fixed, angry grimace, this is a god deservedly feared by all, though his revival is for a just and noble cause. The Tanba Province has remained safe and prosperous accepting outsiders such as the orphaned Odate, who repays his Lord Hanabusa by taking the throne by force, murdering the Lord and his wife but unable to prevent their children from escaping with a protector. 10 years pass and the citizenry continue their slave labor for Odate's profit, only now the Prince is 19 and yearning to free his people from oppression, both his protector and himself unable to prevent being captured for eventual execution. The elderly priestess makes one more plea to the current ruler, risking the wrath of Majin from his mountain prison, in response she is cruelly slaughtered. The stone statue of Majin is attacked by Odate's guards, a spike embedded in its forehead, bringing down an earthquake to swallow them beneath the earth, but Majin only comes to life through the tears of the surviving Princess (at the 68 minute mark), the mountain crumbling away as it arrives in the village by a bolt of lightning. The Great Demon God is indeed a magnificent creation, setting its narrowed sights on destroying the usurper's fortress, easily pulled down by the chains meant to hold it back, finally grasping Odate for a final stroll that will end with the very spike from its skull. It's a giant Japanese take on The Golem with a twist, not only an avenging spirit but one that guarantees safety for no one during its deadly rampage, and in saving it for the climax the effects work is more impressive with its man in a suit shot from lower angles to increase depth and magnitude. Immediate sequel "Return of Giant Majin" also made the rounds on the small screen, second sequel "Wrath of Majin" unissued in the US until 2005.

This is more of a samurai movie than a kaiju, but once the statue comes alive, then it really shines. That's not to say it's bad, because it's not, but if you're expecting giant statue smashing then temper that a bit because that's only the final 15 minutes or so.

This monster movie is set in 17th century feudal Japan. A band of bad guys pitch up and start enslaving the peasants but those same peasants pray to the giant statue up in the mountains of the Samurai Majin. Is he going to come down and start stomping on the villains? Oh, I sure hope so! Actually, he does but he takes his time about it, meaning that the first three-quarters of the movie involves the dramas involving the good guys and the bad guys and it does get somewhat tedious. When Majin does arrive, he's pretty impressive though - a super stern giant rock Samurai who starts leathering everyone and everything he comes across. So, the movie takes too long to get there but when it does, its quite memorable.

He does not turn green though. And please excuse the pun, I mean whether you compare this with a superhero or a kaiju ... what's the difference? I'm kidding of course - neither is "true". The statue is supposed to be a god. And while the pacing issue is one thing to deal with (even at 90 minutes it may feel longer to some, fair point to make), it is many other things that are way more outdated.

Catching the stunt people beating themselves does not work in favor of the movie. What do I mean? There is one scene where people fight each other, one of the "good" guys jumps in front of some bad guys. One of them waits for the good guy to hit him I suppose ... that never happens, but he still does his choreographed stunt and throws himself to the ground without having been touched by the other dude ... not even a little bit.

If you can be forgiving of such things, you may relish in the special effects you get to see. For the time being those were quite good - shooting all in camera and with forced perspective, sets and all that.

But the real action (apart from some fights in between) comes at the end - can you stay interested for so long, for a story that is paper thin at best? Always be respectful - no pun intended.

Daimajin delivers a solid quarter-of-an-hour of Kaiju-style action, with a giant statue stomping on buildings and bad guys. Unfortunately, it's the final fifteen minutes of the film, with not a single appearance by the animated stone warrior before that. By the time the film eventually got around to the good stuff, I had kinda lost interest, the first hour of the film consisting of tedious feudal drama.

The film opens as traitor Samanosuke Odate (Ryûtarô Gomi) conducts a coup, seizing power from Lord Hanabusa. After their father is killed, young Tadafumi Hanabusa and his sister Kozasa are smuggled to the safety of the mountains by loyal samurai Kogenta Sarumaru (Jun Fujimaki), where they spend the next ten years in the company of priestess Shinobu (Otome Tsukimiya).

Meanwhile, evil tyrant Samanosuke has increased his power and enslaved the villagers, ultimately forcing Kogenta and Tadafumi to come out of hiding to help a band of rebels. When the pair are captured and tortured, Shinobu warns Samanosuke that the mountain god will take revenge. An unbeliever, Samanosuke kills the old woman, and orders the destruction of the stone idol that stands over her temple. Not his best idea...

There are better samurai movies than Daimajin, and there are better Japanese monster movies. The first hour of this film is a laborious build-up to what I imagine most viewers came to see: the statue wreaking havoc. When all of the tedious drama and lackluster sword swinging is done, the Daimajin finally gets to work, and delivers the goods, smashing flimsy buildings, crushing the enemy, and impaling Samanosuke through the heart with a large metal spike. While this is a lot of fun, with some impressive special effects for the day, it doesn't make up for the disappointing majority of the movie.

4.5/10, rounded down to 4 for the obligatory annoying kid.

I picked up this movie because I like giant monster films and was expecting this to be your average monster smash up. Often with giant monster films the bits with humans in are nothing more than padding and have little or nothing to do with the plot. I'm thinking of Godzilla vs King Kong with the pointless magic string guys or the awful little poet kid in Godzilla vs The Smog Monster. This film is nothing like that, the story is interesting in its own right.

The real draw is of course the big guy and he's excellent too. His inevitable rampage is well put together with some nice special effects. I was really surprised by this film, it was a lot better than I expected and definitely worth seeing.

Much better than I expected it to be. This one has become one of my favorite non-gaiju movies. It has some honest creepy moments. It is somewhere between Gojira and National Lampoon's Ninja Vacation.

Chomp the popcorn and enjoy this under-rated jewel.

Numerous times throughout the runtime of this film, our heroes and main characters stress the importance of believing in and fearing god and making sure to uphold traditional rites and rituals of religious importance so as to not anger said god. The bad guys are all without religious conviction and have the sole character traits of being power hungry and vicious while disregarding all deities. Seemingly this film has a religious message, one that didn't quite work for me personally, but it did however lead to a film that manages to be a morality tale, a samurai film and a Kaiju film all in one, quite unique.

Those expecting an action-packed film with Kaiju battles/destruction should instead prepare themselves for a samurai drama with a religious message. As such it is solid entertainment but nothing spectacular. The effects work when Daimajin does appear and exacts his justice is quite well done and is much better than what is seen in the Gamera films of the same era (Daimajin is from the same studio as Gamera).

6 Stone statues out of 10!

A small Japanese village finds itself in turmoil after a revolution kills their kindly lord and replaces him with a brute. A few loyal supporters manage to smuggle his two young children away, though - and they seek the protection of the God of the hill that overlooks their home. Ten years later, the children have grown to adulthood and the nasty new Lord sends a gang of his warriors to destroy a statue of the God to prove he is all powerful. A combination of prayers from the villagers and these vandals awaken the spirit of "Daijamin" who is not exactly forgiving... This is an engaging, if a bit disjointed, fantasy adventure that combines the worst in human nature with a bit of sentimental optimism, some Samurai integrity and a great "Talos" like stone man on a bit of a mission. My problem was the rotten dubbing - it was so exaggerated as to render much of the dialogue little better than silly. The acting - especially the feigned looks of shock - is fun and it's got quite an enjoyably destructive last fifteen minutes. If you like these mythical style films with a bit of nature thrown in, then this is for you.

In late Edo Japan, a wicked chamberlain betrays his lord, enslaves the local villagers, and desecrates their god, an enormous statue of a warrior, which ultimately comes to life as 'Daimajin' (roughly: 'giant demon'). As Japanese monster movies go, this one is pretty subtle and the titular monster doesn't show up until the final reel, but the sometimes grim 'samurai' story leading up to the tokusatsu climax is actually quite good. The film is very well made (I watched a reasonably well-done subtitled version) with an excellent score by Akira Ifukube (reminiscent of his iconic Godzilla and Mothra themes). Worth tracking down for fans of the fanciful (I found it on YouTube). As a cautionary tale about the dangers of iconoclasm, I only wish something similar had happened when the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan.

This is the first of the Daimajin trilogy that was created by Daiei on the backs of their famous Gamera series, and their samurai movies.

Kozasa, and Tadafumi are brother and sister of the Hanabusa clan who's father Tadakiyo (Ryuzo Shimada) is the lord of the Yamanaka castle. One night their fate is changed abruptly when their minister Samanosuke Odate (Yutaro Gomi) unleashes a coup against their father. They are rescued by their faithful servant Kogenta (Jun Fujimaki), and escapes. They are now on the run from Samanosuke. Kogenta has a aunt Shinobu (Otome Tsukimiya) who is a priestess for the shrine of Daimajin - a god who is sealed under the large stone statue located in a near by mountain. Kogenta seeks refuge under her, and together they decide to hide Kozasa, and Tadafumi in that mountain. 10 years later, people of their country are suffering under the oppressive regime of Samanosuke. There is now a guerrilla force that is attempting to regain control of the country by the Hanabusa clan. Tadafumi (Yoshihiko Aoyama), now grown up is planning to overthrow the regime of Samanosuke. One day Kogenta is captured by Samanosuke's men. They now suspect that Tadafumi is alive, and waits for him to show up to rescue Kogenta. Tadafumi in an attempt to rescue Kogenta is himself captured, and is scheduled for execution. Shinobu goes to see Samanosuke to convince him to release Kogenta and Tadafumi, warning him that he will incur wrath of Daimajin unless he changes his evil ways, but instead she is cut down by Samanosuke. Samanosuke now decides to destroy the statue of Daimajin to prove that there is no such thing as wrath of god, but unfortunately for him, Shinobu's words comes true for him. Samanosuke's men tries to destroy the stone statue by driving a spike through its head. The stone statue starts to bleed and Samanosuke's henchmen are frightened out of their wits. There're now stormy clouds that is conjured by the Daimajin as it comes alive and he is now coming after Samanosuke. It's a bad day for the bad guys from that point on.

This is a story about a fictitious folklore in the feudal age Japan coming to life. Ironically Daimajin himself has become somewhat of a lore in Japan making cameo appearance in comics, and other places. This is the seminal movie that started it all. Quality is very good as Daiei studio had much experience making samurai movies, and also worked on the Gamera series monster movies. It is a movie made mostly for the younger audience, but entertaining for the adults as well.

Good entertainment from the '60s Japan that is still worth watching, and a classic in its own right.

Daimajin (1966) is a film that utilizes both the Japanese Samurai Genre and the Japanese Giant Monster Genre - both genres I clearly admire - and turns it into a concept that could have easily worked only if it wasn't for the actual film we got.

Daimajin is the type of monster movie where the monster shows up for like ten minutes at the end, tears up some buildings, and then walks off. The type that leaves you dissatisfied and wanting more. What the heck?! The destruction at the end is some of the best in the genre; it should be the main attraction of the movie, and you utilize it only at the end?

Throughout the movie, you are forced to sit through a Samurai plot that is nowhere near the same level as "Seven Samurai" or "Ran" or "Zatoichi Challenged." It's some dull story about an invasion of an army and the quest to take back the castle. Dull stuff. You know what might have redeemed the bland plot line? If the monster was the central focus of the story! Then it would be a pretty solid monster flick.

I saw this at least twice on Channel 56 (Boston) Creature Double Feature when I was a kid- and it's the kind of movie you remember but can't believe existed. It was pretty amazing! This giant ancient Japanese warrior statue comes out of the sea and starts kicking ass. I had to wait for the internet and the debut of Google to find that I was right---it does exist. Now I am psyched and want to get the DVD if it exists. Right on !

Other films on Channel 56 were the original War of the Worlds, which scared the hell out of me (it's really scary for a bad old sci fi flick---its the tentacles which I could psyche myself could be outside my window) and also the X from outer space and some other weird stuff that I will no doubt find out about someday, but this is really hallucinatory and amazing.