"Kyuuketsuki Gokemidoro"
(BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL)

by Jules Carrozza

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An unbelievable, incredible Japanese horror film! Airplane is flying when suddenly the sky turns blood red and birds commit suicide. Then the pilot and Sugisaka, the copilot get called by Haneda. The airport claims there is a bomb aboard. After checking everyone's luggage, Sugisaka and Kusumi, the stewardess, discover an unknown suitcase. They open it and find a gun instead of a bomb. Suddenly, a terrorist storms in and forces them to change coarse. The plane then collides with a UFO. The plane crashes into an odd desert-like area. The survivors of this crash have no food or water. Everyone is discussing what to do when the terrorist awakens and kidnaps Kusumi. Suddenly, they both encounter a UFO. The terrorist is lured to the UFO and is sucked in. Kusumi falls into shock. Only the psychotic Dr. Momotake is able to hypnotize Kusumi and get her to tell the truth. Suddenly, a truly incredible and shocking scene of the terrorist's head splitting open and forming a wound is shown. A strange blob oozes into the wound and takes possession of the man. A psychopath pushes Dr. Momotake over a cliff for ever making Kusumi talk. Dr. Momotake is attacked by the terrorist who is know a bloodthirsty zombie. The zombie drains all the blood out of him. The zombie is found by an American women named Mrs. Neal who was going to Vietnam to get the body of her husband who was killed in the Vietnam War. The zombie's wound reminds her of her husband's wound (he had is head ripped open by a Napalm bomb). A corrupt business man who makes guns named Tokiasu goes wacko and throws everyone out. Soon the zombie attacks him. Everyone gets back into the plane and find Tokaisu dead. The zombie kidnaps Noriko, Tokaisu's wife and takes her to the UFO. The aliens brainwash her. The next morning, everyone sees her ontop of a cliff. She begins to speak in a horrific alien voice. The alien inside her announces that the Gokemidoro aliens will take over the world. Suddenly, Noriko falls off the cliff. The survivors discover her a rotted corpse. Mano, a corrupt politician and Dr. Sagai, a space scientist realize that all these deaths are being caused by vampires. They decide to kill Mrs. Neal so they a see a vampire suck blood. Mrs. Neal shoots Sugisaka with the gun and locks him and Kusumi up. Then Mrs. Neal, Mano, and Dr. Sagai throw out the psycho. Then the zombie appears. The psycho (he was the one who really had the bomb) lights his bomb and blows up part of the plane. Dr. Sagai is hurt. Mrs. Neal and Mano leave but Kuzumi and Sugisaka stay behind with Dr. Sagai. The zombie appears and Mano abandons Mrs. Neal to the mercy of the zombie. She is killed. Mano returns and locks Kusumi and Sugisaka out of the plane. Sugisaka douses the zombie with gasoline and lights it on fire with a cigarette lighter. The ooze slithers out of the terrorist's head and into Sagai's. Thus, Sagai becomes the zombie. He chases Sugsaka and Kusumi but is then destroyed by a rockslide. Kusumi and Sugisaka return to civilization only to discover everyone in Japan.......................................................................................dead!!
The final scene is of a group of UFOs zooming in on Earth and then turning it into a dead planet.
I enjoyed this one!! It's well done, unsettling, and extremily creepy. This was shocking for Japanese audiences in 1968. It's hard to believe it came from Shochiku (they made the lighthearted Sci-Fi films Uchu Kaiju Guilala (X from Outer Space) and Konchu Daisenso (Genocide) the same year). This has an ominous opening, so many effective moments in-between, and a truly shocking ending.
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