Pondering The X From Outer Space

I recently rewatched an obscure Kaiju classic, The X From Outer Space; a wholly forgotten, yet very creative and engaging mega-monster flick all but lost to the sands of Toku time. It and it's even rarer 2008 sequel, Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit, have been among my favorite Japanese horror movies since I salvaged them from the depths of TPB as a teen; so, I was very interested to see how it holds up all these years later, finally returning to my gross, shower-free Kaiju phase of long ago.

The X From Ouster space is, for the uninitiated, essentially about a cast of astronauts sent on a veiled suicide mission to Mars; which, in all previous expeditions, has been fatally cut short by an unknown UFO. Of course, besides the whole landing on Mars thing, the astronauts' duty is to report on this mysterious craft should it once again appear - which, it most certainly will.

Along the way, the captain, a bit of an unintentional machismo-idiot conspicuously swooned over by both his fiancé, and flashy blonde co-astronaut, experiences the dreaded space sickness; leading them to visit an imaginative base on the moon, adding the hilariously unwilling Doctor Stein, a chronically pissed off man forced to monitor the ill captain, to the crew, as they return on-course for Mars.

After their inevitable run-in with the alien craft, a mass of flashing eggs wrapped in an odd, thick substance appear on the tail end of the ship; a small egg from which is, wisely, removed and contained by the captain, soon brought back to earth for analysis. As the great minds of earth deem it better to celebrate the crew's triumphant return rather than monitor the literal alien, it escapes - Guilala, the metal-headed astro-chicken beast, emerging from a wicked eruption of fireworks and flame with a unique guttural roar. Awesome.

From here, things go south real fast for the citizens of Japan -  as Guilala wildly races towards civilization, the story becomes almost real-time, following both Guilala's rampage and the astronauts' mad race to orbit, hoping to synthesize a defense against the monster in the vacuum of space, utilizing the unknown substance. As the defense forces hurriedly study the creature, turns out, he's just greedy; targeting any, and all sources of energy - especially, nuclear - as he grows larger and stronger.

Successfully producing the coveted "Guilalanium", the crew return, only for their Earth base itself to be the next target of the power-hungry alien kaiju; the captain racing off, luring Guilala away with highly radioactive fuel in a wicked car chase as he is finally lead to his demise - jets bombarding the monster with the insulating Guilalanium substance, reducing his power, as he shrinks once again to a small, flashing egg. 

In the end, Guilala is sent on a one-way rocketship to nowhere, blasting beyond our galaxy, from whence he came; and, the idiot captain learned nothing. 

While hunting for this movie, I somehow came across what I believe are two totally different English dubs - really strange a movie this obscure would get two go-arounds. One is terrible, one is.. fine. Sure, it's blasphemy to skip the Japanese version, but all things considered, the dub I watched was pretty well done. I appreciated the on-and-off attempts give the very multinational cast mostly correct accents - dated as that may be - but the dubbing on the main mission director, Doctor Swedish, genuinely sounded like Father Guido Sarducci. The moon base's Doctor Stein (awesome name) is also hilariously performed - maybe by the same dude? - constantly on edge, and totally manic as he's a bit inexplicably coerced to join the crew. I love his screaming rant at the blonde astronaut about her crappy space food. Too bad he disappears from the movie about halfway through. 

I really dig the 60s era adventurous spirit, and bright eyed optimism - the very animated, fun music, interesting world and overall goofy vibe are totally engaging, and despite appearances, it never feels low-end or especially crappy. It takes itself seriously in the same way any fantastical sci-fi of the time did; so, in that, there's a lot of room for silliness. A good example is the oversized fruit served on the moon base, explained away by the lack of atmosphere. So creative, so weird! At times this movie feels full on Disney style whimsical.

Awesome effects - again, you go into this expecting schlock, but beyond the inherent and intentional comedy of it all, it's really well done. Lots of really creative shots and cool cinematography, with perspective views of the monster and military forces, as well as various nicely done ground level shots giving great spotlight to the beautiful sets. You can tell they're fake, but it's like a painting - every little, hand made detail is so entrancing. Guilala, portrayed by future King Ghidorah actor Ryu Hariken, is a totally mental design, but very well performed; spastic, childish, and, appropriately, alien, seemingly very entertained by destruction. My favorite part's definitely when he lifts up a massive model ship and tosses it towards a power plant, screeching in joy. You can tell a lot of money went into this production and it's a shame it's become next to public domain. 

All in all, it's hard to call this one a must-see for anyone but dedicated Kaiju nerds; while the effects sequences are awesome, and the overall spirit is lots of fun, the story itself is extremely clunky, offering more in terms of flighty narm-charm than anything resembling depth. Not necessarily uncommon for this era of Kaiju, and in that, there's still a lot to enjoy - it's worth seeing for the loveably, hilariously manic Guilala alone, one of the all-time strangest, coolest and absurdist monsters. A true King. Check'er out.