Leofwine_draca This Japanese variant on THE BLOB sees atomic bomb testing (what else?) responsible for a gloopy ball of slime (nicknamed the 'H-man') going around dissolving people and leaving just their clothes behind. It sounds a lot of fun and it is, even though the majority of this film's plot is actually a crime drama, following a squad of policeman on the track of various criminal gangs. There are the requisite shoot-outs, car chases, and lengthy nightclub scenes involving scantily-clad singers, but it's the sci-fi trappings that make this movie so enjoyable. The first half hour is a little slow – other than a couple of people who disappear, we don't know what's going on – but once we get a flashback about the origin of the creature, the pacing picks up a great deal.The highlight of the film is the aforementioned flashback, a creepy segment involving some sailors investigating an eerily abandoned ship (a cliché, but designed perfectly here). Before you can say 'Steve McQueen', there's a slimy menace on the loose, dissolving people in some surprisingly gooey, graphic scenes that must have caused an uproar when this was first released. Although director Ishiro Honda is more used to shooting gigantic monsters, he's more than able to hand a smaller-scale menace on this occasion, delivering a suitably fiery climax in the sewers and another decent set-piece in which the titular menace invades a relaxed nightclub.The film doesn't offer up much that we haven't seen before, and it's fair to say that the cops-and-robbers element is fairly ordinary. None of the criminals stand out as really dastardly, and none of the cops are very interesting, either. Yet other characters are better – Yumi Shirakawa as a fragile mobster's girlfriend plays a pivotal role (the literal English title translates as Beauty and the Liquidman) and Kenji Sahara's dedicated scientist, forever performing experiments on unfortunate frogs, is entertaining. The special effects are fairly dated but always amusing, with glowing green figures, dissolving heads and a moving blob that looks like nothing more than washing up liquid squirted up the wall. A masterpiece this isn't – but it is a solid B-movie of the kind they made so well in the '50s.

poe426 Director Ishiro Honda, whose GOJIRA would go on to become (if you'll pardon the pun) one of the Biggest stars of the post-World War Two era, also gave us this little (gleaming) gem. Part police procedural and part fright film, THE H-MAN is a taut little thriller with some often exceptionally good special effects. (There are one or two of the gelatin-rolling-across-photo "effects" made popular by THE BLOB- that nifty little fright film from the other side of the world-, but in THE H-MAN, these shots are kept to a minimum.) Unlike all too many fright films from ANY age (Atomic or otherwise), THE H-MAN boasts some outstanding performances by some seasoned veterans: in fact, kick the Fantastic Elements to the curb, and what you'd be left with here is a decent little crime drama. One of Honda's finest.

rm9847 Why is this classic Japanese sci-fi movie not available on DVD? But yet it's on VHS? Come on, VHS?, & with all the other awful ones being offered on DVD, like Revenge of Godzill, Godzilla vs Megalon & Godzilla vs the Bog (Smog) Monster etc. Anything produced by Toho from 1970 thru 1998 were seriously inferior, (& that's pushing the envelope for these types of movies) in terms of plot/actors/building models/creative monster suits, etc. I buy only the good ones (the red one) dating back from 1954 thru 1968, then boom, no more.They seemed to have gotten their groove back on the right track with Godzilla 2000, All Out Giant Monster Attack & Tokyo SOS, combining CGI with old school model making, even bringing back some of the old favorites (Kumi Mizuno, Kenji Sahara, etc.), then boom again, Godzilla, Final Wars. What a terrible way to end the series. That Japanese director was obviously on crack and trying desperately to appeal to today's jaded US pop culture crowd (who needs them) and failed. I understand that Sony Pictures now owns Columbia and MGM (their back-lot too), so how about it? This, and other titles like a newly re-issued original Rodan, Mothra & War of the Garganuas, with both Japanese and unedited US versions, along with other special features that would only appeal to fans of these beloved science fiction icons. Get with the program! Who ever is in charge!

imcrownbyrd I have searched several places to see if that movie was saved for the future generations to see. I was a kid when I saw it and it made a profound effect upon me. I would love to see it again! I seem to remember the part where a guy or a girl is in a telephone booth and is trying to make a call and all of a sudden "The H Man" attacks and you see the H Man melting the person in the booth. It crept up the person's leg and the person melted before your very eyes. It sort of reminds me of "The Blob" but more liquidy and chilling. I recommend it to everyone who wants to go back and see the superb work produced back then. It is a wonder to see the high standard of movie making that was happening back then.