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| Terror Beneath the Sea at the Laputa Asagaya. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
Tonight (Tuesday, February 14), I had the privilege of attending a rare screening of Toei's Terror Beneath the Sea (1966) in 35mm at the Laputa Asagaya as part of its ongoing Science Fiction Film Festival. I hadn't seen the film in more than 20 years, and I'm not sure I'd ever seen it more than once before tonight. While several interesting scenes had been etched in my memory, in many ways it was like watching a brand-new flick.
The film print was in excellent shape, especially compared to some of the Toho prints that I've seen. The only questionable moment was when Sonny Chiba and Peggy Neal were poolside toward the beginning of the film. The screen went totally black for about 20 or so seconds while the audio from the scene could be heard. I'm not sure if that was a projection issue or what, but it was the only major problem I noticed. Otherwise, the print was extremely clear, and the images truly popped off the screen.
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| Publicity material for Terror Beneath the Sea on display in the theater lobby. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
The movie itself is quite entertaining, and, if you're a fan of mid-'60s tokusatsu movies, then there is a lot for you to admire. Hajime Sato's directing is rather impressive, and a lot of his shot compositions are reminiscent of Akio Jissoji's work. Even though the tokusatsu is a bit limited here, it's still a visually fascinating film.
I was also surprised at the sheer lack of Japanese characters in the movie. Aside from Sonny Chiba, none of the main characters is Japanese. It almost comes across as a practice run for The Green Slime (1968), but who knows if any such plans were in the works by then.
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| Ticket, please! Photo by Brett Homenick. |
All in all, it was a fun night at the movies, and I look forward to the next screenings in the upcoming weeks!
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