Deathquake (1980)
"Jishin rettô" (original title)

A large earthquake hits Tokyo, which was predicted by a seismologist but was ignored.

Director:

Kenjirô Ohmori

Writer:

Kaneto Shindô

Stars:

Hiroshi Katsuno, Toshiyuki Nagashima, Yumi Takigawa

Cast

Credited cast:
Hiroshi Katsuno	...	Yoichi Kawazu
Toshiyuki Nagashima
Yumi Takigawa
Kayo Matsuo
Hideji Ôtaki
Eiji Okada
Shin Saburi
Norihei Miki
Tsutomu Yamazaki	...	Director General of Meteorological Agency
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ted Fisher
Hal Linden	...	Narrator (voice)
Chiaki Matsubara
Yôji Matsuda
Francis Smith
Mizuho Suzuki	...	SDF General

Storyline

Seizmologist Hoichi loses touch with his family when he predicts that there will be an earthquake in Tokyo of greater magnitude than the one in 1923, which his father predicted. Because of this he starts seeing another woman, who already has a boyfriend. Hoichi's wife wants to meet her before she will grant a divorce. Eventually, the earthquake he predicted does come, which changes all relationships and exemplifies the character of the Japanese.

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Plot Keywords:

earthquake | location in title | disaster | falling from height | two word title | 

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Taglines:

This Is the Big One.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

5 February 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Earthquake 7.9

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

References Tidal Wave (1973)

User Reviews

Good, rare film

Having heard about this film, I was very eager to see it. However, I wasnt sure where I could find it.However, I got lucky and found it at a flea market for 3 bucks. What a bargain! Although not on the same level as "Earthquake"(1974) or the other Japanese disaster movie "Virus"(1980), the film moves along very nicely, creating and keeping tension throughout. Deathquake features some really well done special effects. Even though some of the effects are pretty campy(like the guy falling into the crack in the ground and having blood GUSH out his mouth when the crack closes back up) and even though some are obviously models, the effects are very exciting and visually pleasing. Overall, this film gets 9/10. I took off one for the dubbing, which isnt very good and hurts the movie sometimes. If you can find this rare film, I recommend you take a look at it.