The Mysterians and Flesh Eaters on DVD

[Scott]

Was reading about the DVD releases of two films THE MYSTERIANS and FLESH EATERS that I have  wanted to see again for some time now. They are coming out on DVD. Check out this DVD news at DVD Drive-In. Haven't seen them since the 70's.

They THE MYSTERIANS piece also mentions other Japanese film of the time period also set for future releases.



Post Edited (03-16-05 20:03)

[Brother Ragnarok]

The second in Tokyo Shock's series of non-Godzilla Toho flicks came out Tuesday, "Attack of the Mushroom People."  I scored that one today.  There are several other Toho titles they've got coming out, including "Yog, Monster from Space" and the uncut Japanese version of "Varan the Unbelievable."

[Chris K.]

I was fortunate to go to Best Buy and snatch up THE MYSTERIANS. And I must say, it's an impressive release. It's in the original 2.35:1 Anamorphic Tohoscope and is uncut for the first time ever with the Japanese track with English Subtitles. The film has been restored nicely and looks WAY BETTER than the old VHS releases of the U.S. cut version. Sone scratches remain on the optical effects sequences, but they are not bothersome and are typical of the early optical effects system of the time and would get much better. I was able to get MATANGO as well and it looks real good; better than the old 16mm panned-and-scanned TV prints released by American International Pictures-TV. Plus, we also get the original Japanese track with English Subtitles and the original English International dub track which was also used in the AIP-TV release. Plus, MATANGO is uncut and has a few scenes that were cut from the TV release.

But I have a few quibbles, sadly. First off is THE MYSTERIANS: why call it 'The Mysterians'. The original Japanese on-screen title is CHIKYU BOEIGUN, which is transleated as "Earth Defense Force". THE MYSTERIANS is just the title used in the U.S. version, which was cut severly. And, if Media Blasters plan to release DAIKAIJU BARAN, they better call it GIANT MONSTER BARAN and not VARAN because the monster is called Baran (at least on my copy of the original Japanese version with nicely done English Subtitles). And, while THE MYSTERIANS is presented in it's original Japanese track, we get a new English dub as well. But, the new dub is really p**s poor and was absolutely unessisary. Though one would say why not import the original U.S. dub, but frankly we don't need it as that dub wasn't very good either. That and the legal entanglements as well (i.e., MGM owns the U.S. cut version). And then their is MATANGO: the English Subtitles, while nicely done, sometimes contain a few mispellings. That and some dialog is mis-translated; for example, whenever anybody says "Damn it" in Japanese, it is translated as "Darn it"! Please Media Blasters, keep track of this!

But other than that, I am still impressed with the release of THE MYSTERIANS and MATANGO and I can't wait for SPACE MONSTER DOGORA, GIANT MONSTER BARAN and SPACE AMOEBA. Hopefully, Media Blasters will improve over their small mishaps.

[Scott]

This all sounds wonderful. I wonder how many of those I may have saw a long time ago? Most films back then I never new the titles of. I remember quite a few non-Godzilla Japanese films on during weekend monster shows.

[Flangepart]

I have my MYSTERIANS on order at Best Buy. I am a happy camper.
I'm with ya, ChrisK. These are definatly on my "To DO" list!