(1966/Japan/US/Italy)
(A.k.a Kaitei Daisenso, Water Cyborgs)
Review by Nick Frame Directed by Hajime Sato Starring: Sonny Chiba, Peggy Neal, Franz Gruber, Erik Neilsen, Mike Daning Source: Dark Sky Films (USA) (NTSC Region 1 DVD / 79mins / 2005)
A Japanese monster movie starring the great Sonny Chiba! This I had to see and all things considered it certainly does not disappoint. Produced in 1966 by the legendary Toei studios, Terror Beneath the Sea stars a very young Sonny Chiba as Ken, a journalist who teams up with pretty young reporter Jenny (Peggy Neal). They are seen attending a press conference on a submarine organised by the US Navy who are about to show off some new state of the art torpedoes. Something goes wrong during the test, but a strange image flashes across the ships monitors. Ken and Jenny don the scuba gear and take it upon themselves to investigate further. While diving they encounter the curious fishmen creatures and report back to the Navy, who naturally are reluctant to believe them. Back our intrepid heroes go, but this time they are captured and taken to the big sunglass wearing Dr Moore’s secret layer. Here they discover that he is creating these monsters from human beings and it looks like they are going to be next!
As said by someone in the film "…but its ridiculous!" I agree, but its also really good fun. It’s a real Saturday afternoon, boys own adventure movie. The acting is not up too much, but it’s evident that Chiba would become a star. The film has a comic book style to it and he really shines as the hero. Peggy Neal as Jenny does little but screams and looks pretty. The other actors appeared in quite a few Japanese films of the time simply because Caucasian actors were in demand in Japan. However they do little more than stand around and deliver the stilted dubbed dialogue.
To be fair it’s never slow and moves along at a nice pace and at 79 minutes long does not overstay its welcome. The effects although crude are effective and at times quite gruesome, although the rubber monster suits would not look out of place on the set of Dr Who. The miniatures SFX were quite nicely done and the soundtrack by Shunsuke Kickuchi, who scored the Gamera movies, fits in well with the movie.
The DVD itself from Dark Sky is presented in anamorphic 1:85:1 and it looks very clear and sharp, obviously coming from a relatively damage free source. However in some instances the image looks tight and cropped slightly at the top and bottom. I believe the film was shot full frame and for this DVD release it has been matted for a widescreen presentation, leading to the cropping and tightness. Overall though I would guess that this is the best this film has looked for years.The 2.0 mono dubbed English soundtrack is clear and concise; it does the job but no more than that.Unfortunately there are no extras present on the disc. However given its relative obscurity this is perhaps not surprising.
STORY/FILM-2.5/5 BITCH SLAPS
PICTURE-4/5 BITCH SLAPS
AUDIO-2.5/5 BITCH SLAPS
EXTRAS-0/5 BITCH SLAPS
OVERALL DVD-3/5 BITCH SLAPS
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