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Kyuketsuki Gokemidoro More at IMDbPro »

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9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
One of the best sci-fi/horror films, 12 June 2004
Author: LJ27 from Vancouver, Canada

I saw a cheap pan & scan VHS of an English dub of this film years ago but I found a Japanese DVD of it recently and even though it is not dubbed or subtitled, and I don't speak Japanese, it is still quite unsettling. The Japanese don't play when it comes to stories like this and they don't pull punches either. At least the disc is widescreen, preserving the Shockiku Grandscope compositions. If you have seen KILL BILL Vol. 1, you will find out that even Quentin Tarantino was inspired by this film once you see the opening scenes. The special effects are usually not realistic but are quite imaginative. The whole film could be seen as something of a morality fable.

There is definitely a message to the film, although most people write this one off because of it's exploitative sounding title. There are several very creepy and effective scenes in the film and this film left a lasting impression on me. I think someday this film will be recognized for the horror classic that it is. Even if you have to watch a pan & scan dubbed copy, it is well worth catching.

By the way, the English-language version is called GOKE, BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL. It certainly got my attention. Pacemaker was the American distributor. I first saw it on a lousy VHS rental copy. Rumors about a letterboxed American NTSC release to DVD have yet to be fulfilled but I remain optimistic.

9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
'Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell' is the perfect example of a low budget horror movie transcending its limitations, coming up with something surprisingly creepy and surreal., 14 March 2004
Author: Infofreak from Perth, Australia

Thanks to Quentin Tarantino homaging 'Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell's blood red sky in 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1' I can finally get to see this obscurity on DVD in Japanese with English subtitles, instead of a badly dubbed fading old VHS tape. Yay! Okay, this is a b-grade movie and the effects are pretty lousy (especially the plane crash sequence), but to say it's a bad movie is far from the truth. For me it's the perfect example of a low budget horror movie transcending its limitations, coming up with something surprisingly creepy and surreal (See also William Castle's 'The Tingler', Herk Harvey's 'Carnival Of Souls', Coffin Joe's 'At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul',etc.) The opening is terrific - a plane flies through an eerie red sky and birds throw themselves at the windows in sheer terror. There's a suspected bomb on board and the plane crashes after sighting a UFO. On the ground the survivors are initially worried about the basics, like water and rescue, plus the presence of a suspected assassin, but pretty soon they also have to contend with a bizarre alien invasion! Like I said, many of the special effects are cheesy, but they're still effective. The acting is generally quite good, the alien will freak you out, and there's several interesting references to the Vietnam war, which was unexpected and gave the movie quite a unique background (can you remember any American SF movies of the 1960s even MENTIONING Vietnam?). I highly recommend 'Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell' to all horror fans who treasure the offbeat and the unusual. Hopefully this overlooked movie will now reach a larger audience. QT, I salute you!

5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Interesting premise with heavy handed treatment, 30 October 2004

Author: rixrex from United States

First of all, if you want to see this flick, you'll have to look for one of the out of print tape copies made by Sinister Cinema. They used to have them and in widescreen (more or less) but apparently cannot make any more. Mine was one I found for sale that was already viewed but was lucky to find.

The widescreen is not the complete picture, but it's close, there's not too much cropped off at the sides and it's about 1.66 to 1 ratio. Pretty good image and color too. The story concerns an airplane crash landing on some sort of island or rural area, where a spaceship has landed. The alien is a life form which takes control of a person by entering the body, and then turns that person into a vampire, who drains its victims of all blood. It seems this alien is the vanguard of an advancing conquest. The whole thing is pretty eerie but has plenty of goofy moments that will make for laughs. There's the whole idea of mankind racing to destroy itself along with pretty vapid references to Vietnam, and how terrible the world is. The idea is that the earth will get what it deserves since we can't live in peace. Good old 1970s peacenik hand-wringing at the terrible state of humanity, with a good dash of cardboard character clichés thrown in. You'll want to see it for the really weird execution of a pretty spooky premise, and fast paced too. One of those type of films that cries out for a remake by someone who knows how to handle sci-fi horror.

7 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Pulp Excellence, 3 October 2006

Author: Elliot James from Miami

Turner Classic Movies broadcast Goke at 2AM, October 03, 2006 in a gorgeous, widescreen, sub-titled print. It's great that they were able to secure a print of this quality. There are many questions, few answers, in the allegorical script. The last of the J-horrors produced late in the decade, the pulp sci-fi magazine elements are presented in searing colors and psychedelic effects, giving this film an unforgettable visual impact. Great looking women are a major plus. Injecting an anti-war, anti-Viet Nam stance throughout the entire film took a lot of nerve and must have damaged its theatrical distribution with US exhibitors. The movie producers at the Sci-Fi channel should carefully study this film.

7 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
I love this movie!!!!!!!!!!!!, 23 April 2004
Author: (j.maare@chello.nl) from Netherlands

Goke has this great, rare exploitation look of the 60's. With extreme bright colours like orange, red and yellow. Great sounds of cheap ass spaceships sending out information to those who has a twisted mind, and venerable for their wicked master plan. Namely to take over the world again. The real cool thing of this cheap thrill flick is the message underneath. In fact the aliens want to make clear to us that taking over the world isn't that difficult. Cause we people are bound to destroy each other. We are building for the kill and the only thing the invaders have to do is to sit and wait till each and one of those humans are dead. Of course in Goke are some people who don't give up and try to fight the aliens. Only for them to find out that this guy and girl are all alone on planet earth. Goke take you all the way. Spaceships, weird landscapes psychocolors weird sound effects, enough action packed scenes and classic shots of spaceship invaders attacking the world. I love this Movie deeply!!!!!!!!!!!

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Vampires, body snatchers, aliens, and other menaces, 18 February 2008

Author: MartianOctocretr5 from Redondo Beach, CA

This isn't one of those typical rubber suit movies where a giant beast smashes everything in sight while being shot at by toy airplanes. This is a slick, well-done horror/sci-fi that blends many elements and does it well.

There's some vampires, people's minds being taken over, driven insane, killing each other, invading aliens with sinister plots, and a lot of innocents in peril. This is the stuff of a good horror flick. The movie opens with a UFO sighting, and a plane being knocked out of the sky and forced to crash land in the wilderness. From there, evil starts to infect the survivors of the airplane, and a desperate battle for survival is on. All levels of conflict ensue: characters against each other, the environment, and even themselves.

A lost gem of the horror/sci-fi genre, worth seeing.

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
classic antiwar allegory, 12 February 2006

Author: rjobrien_1943 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Though hardly subtle, GOKE is an effective moral parable with science fiction, horror and disaster movie trappings. This is the earliest film I've seen with references to the Vietnam War, then ongoing. One of the characters is a young American widow en route to collect her husband's remains. The script and direction are generally strong, though characterisation is sketchy. The moral seems to be: never trust politicians, businessmen, psychiatrists or scientists. In fact, the only honourable characters are the air crew. The special effects are outstanding, though they obviously couldn't afford a stuntman in a fire-suit. The downbeat ending still packs a punch. The UK DVD is a subtitled, widescreen transfer, though the picture quality isn't great. Don't view the trailer first, as this gives away the haunting final shot.

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Unique Japanese Sci-Fi/Horror, 16 March 2008

Author: Chung Mo from NYC

Goke is one of those films that I had only heard about in the 1980's but was never able to see. It had a reputation among the hard core film fans as something out of left field but not very good. Many years later I had forgotten about the film but had chanced across director Sato's deliriously silly kid's film "Golden Bat". I was rather surprised that this film was by the same man.

The film is very artificial from the first shot of a model jet in front of a red sky to the rock quarry most of film takes place in. Most Japanese film fans will recognize this quarry. It's in samurai films, gangster films and every other episode of Power Rangers. The cheapness is off-set by the care of the direction and photography. The special effects are super color saturated and very bizarre at times. While definitely not a children's film, Sato utilizes a number of techniques from Golden Bat including the generic action music and the kabuki inspired movements for the possessed.

The energy that's put into this film makes up for the logic gaps, bad acting and cheapness. The ending is very unexpected, nightmarish and disturbing. Finishing this film is like waking from a very bad night of sleep. As Sato has no further films in his listing here yet lived for quite a while after, I wonder what was his state of mind while making this film.

Recommended.

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
If you hate Politicians, well this is the movie, 29 October 2007

Author: marbleann from Houston

The title did it for me. I had to watch it. If you can get past the real cheesy effect of a model plane posing as a real plane. Making a left to go to Okinawa when the plane is Hijacked be prepared to be surprise My first hint this was going in another direction then I thought is when the lone American turns out to be a widow of a GI who was just killed in Vietnam and she was on her way to claim his body. AlL I will reveal is there is a plane crash. And the plane coincidently was filled with passengers that made the passengers in Con Air look like ballerinas. And a cowardly politician that makes no qualms in about being a coward and will go to any means to survive. A great performance that rivaled Eddie Arnold's cowardly Captian in Attack. I am not sure in the end who was worse the blood suckers in the title or him. The ending is great.

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
On Turner Classic Movies again !, 29 October 2007

Author: iainhammer from United States

I saw Goke in a movie theatre in Kilburn, London, in the early 70s. A friend was the theatre's night manager; he and I sat and watched Goke in some sort of dazed disbelief - I suspect that our ingestion of psychotropic substances may have contributed to our great joy in the movie ... that and the remarkable fact that we were the only people in the theatre, which made the whole experience gloriously surreal, totally in keeping with the dreamy tone of the picture and consequently I have never forgotten this wondrous gem of a movie. As I write this it's playing - yes, right now - on TCM. Turner screenings often coincide with a new DVD release so I have my hopes. Meanwhile bombard TCM.com with your requests for the movie. And by the way, another poster comments on a defective first pressing of the Criterion release 'Jigoku'. I bought a copy of this movie on the day of its release and there was nothing wrong with it.

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