Rating: 4/5
Cult Movie Challenge 2017 | 39/52 | J-Horror
The world is going insane. The sky has turned blood red. Birds are smashing into an Air Japan flight. The captain and first officer receive word that there’s a suicide bomber on the plane. A hijacker, totally unrelated to the bomber, takes control of the aircraft, destroying the radio and forcing the captain to fly to Okinawa. A passenger’s radio reports that Japanese and US Air Force fighters are in pursuit of a UFO.
The plane shakes violently as a glowing orb flies past the ship, blowing up the plane’s controls and setting the engines on fire. The plane must make a crash landing on a deserted island. Though many people die, the hijacker escapes into the wilderness with the stewardess in tow. They come across the glowing UFO, drawing the hijacker in. On the outside of the UFO, the hijacker sees pulsating ooze in small chambers. As the hijacker watches, his head splits open, and the ooze climbs inside his skull.
What’s happened to the hijacker? Will a rescue team arrive for the plane survivors? What do these aliens want?
Dude, this movie is so outrageous. I wanted to write down every second of it because crazy shit just kept happening. The first eight minutes before the credits are near-perfect insanity. The effects are good enough for the movie’s tone, especially those bloody birds.
The characters in this movie are so ridiculous. Senator Mano acts like a man-child, disgusted by every act of kindness. The psychiatrist, Momotake, thrives on chaos and pushing people to the limit. Professor Sagai, the space biologist, seems to know everything that’s going on before the movie even does. I love Mrs. Neal, the one American woman who only speaks English even though she understands Japanese fluently and can only talk about her husband, who died in Vietnam when napalm blew up in his face.
My biggest complaint about the movie is when it slows down to discuss humanity. Some characters believe humanity deserves death, while others think we should still care for each other. I’ll let you find out which side the movie is on.
Props to the guy whose carry-on luggage is just Salvador Dali paintings of The Divine Comedy.
I love this pulpy blend of Body Snatchers, vampires, and, I guess, the TV show Lost?