STARRING
Tamio Kawaji, Yoko Yammamoto, Yuji Okada, Koji Wada, Tatsuya Fuji DIRECTED BY
Haruyasu Noguchi SCREENPLAY
Ryuzo Nakanishi, Gan Yamazaki MPAA RATING
NR RUNNING TIME
90 Mins. DISTRIBUTED BY
Cheezy Flicks BUY THIS FILM
"Monster From a Prehistoric Planet" Available from Cheezy Flicks
You kind of know what you're getting into when a film openly has the tagline on their DVD "Bad, even for a Japanese Monster Movie."
Indeed.
You also know that when you pick up a Cheezy Flicks film that you're dealing with a not so shining example of cinema, a B-movie or a bad horror flick or some other awkwardly awful low-budget gem.
The 1967 film Monster From a Prehistoric Planet is no exception. When the best thing about a film is its use of the word Triphibian, then you'd best know you need to lower your expectations and just have a good time with it all. The film centers around an expedition funded by Playmate Magazine in the South Pacific area that lands on a tropical island where the natives worship the mysterious deity Gappa. An earthquake opens up an underground cavern and a baby reptile is discovered inside. The natives worn the foreigners to leave this baby alone but, of course, we wouldn't have a movie then. The foreigners take the baby hatchling back to a Japanese zoo and, not surprisingly, Mom and Dad Gappa start smashing Tokyo while looking for their kidnapped child.
The film has been released under multiple different names including Gappa the Triphibian Monsters, The Triphibian Monster, Giant Beast Gappa and Gappa, The Triphibian Monster in addition to its current name.
Fans of this particular genre of film are likely to find things to enjoy in this Cheezy Flicks release. The film actually picks up its action fairly early on and by about the 45-minute mark you're getting quite a bit of cheezy, fun action. The Cheezy Flicks packaging is solid enough, though there's little denying that this is your usual Japanese monster flick with cheap rubber suits, hilarious boats, and monsters that look monstery (Is that a word?) only in the Asian monstery sense.
If you're a collector of such films, the Cheezy Flicks films are always fun and affordable additions to your DVD collection. While you won't be getting anything close to groundbreaking cinema, you'll definitely be getting some B-movie type action and a monster of a good time.
