Space Amoeba (1970)
1h 24m | PG-13
When a space probe crash-lands on a far-flung Pacific atoll, the craft's alien stowaways decide to take over their new world one creature at a time. Soon, the parasitic life forms latch onto three indigenous critters -- a squid, a crab and a snapping turtle -- and transform them into colossal mutant monsters.
Director: Ishirō Honda
Studio: TOHO
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Horror
Video: 720p
Cast
Akira Kubo
as Taro Kudo
Yukiko Kobayashi
as Saki, native girl
Atsuko Takahashi
as Ayako Hoshino
Yoshio Tsuchiya
as Dr. Kyoichi Mida
Tetsu Nakamura
as Chieftain Ombo
Sachio Sakai
as The Editor (uncredited)
Reviews
This is certainly not one of Ishiro Honda's better efforts; but it does kind of work. Some would-be alien invaders hitch a ride on a probe returning to the Earth that lands on a Pacific atoll. They set about creating supersized monsters bent on humanity's destruction so they can take over the world. Nothing new so far, nor indeed anywhere really, as a team of human hoteliers and local islanders try to fight off this threat. The visual effects are OK - the monsters; explosions and acting are low budget, but together keep this fun yarn moving along fine. The dubbing actors are way over the top and the music grates but it's still just about worth watching - for some reason really bad Japanese films of this genre are not as bad as anyone else's!