Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (1977)
"Kyôryû kaichô no densetsu" (original title)

A Japanese village is menaced by a plesiosaur from the depths of the sea. Meanwhile, deep in a cave of ice, a prehistoric egg begins to hatch. The plesiosaur and the mystery creature ... See full summary »

Director:

Junji Kurata

Writers:

Masaru Igami, Isao Matsumoto,

Stars:

Tsunehiko Watase, Nobiko Sawa, Shôtarô Hayashi

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tsunehiko Watase	...	Ashizawa
Nobiko Sawa	...	Akiko
Shôtarô Hayashi
Tomoko Kiyoshima
Fuyukichi Maki
David Freedman	...	Harold Tucker
Maureen Peacock
Catherine Laub
Hiroshi Nawa
Ginji Nakamura
Masataka Iwao
Gorô Ôki
Yûsuke Tsukasa
Yukio Miyagi
Akira Moroguchi

Storyline

A Japanese village is menaced by a plesiosaur from the depths of the sea. Meanwhile, deep in a cave of ice, a prehistoric egg begins to hatch. The plesiosaur and the mystery creature hatching from the egg seem destined to clash.

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Plot Keywords:

prehistoric egg | dinosaur

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Taglines:

From appetizer to dessert - One town becomes a monster meal.

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

29 April 1977 (Japan)

Also Known As:

The Legend of the Dinosaurs

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toei Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Despite its title, neither of the creatures in this film are actually classified as dinosaurs. Plesiosaur is actually classified as a marine reptile, while the rhamphornycus is classified as a flying reptile.

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Connections

Edited into Out of this World Super Shock Show (2007)

User Reviews

This Japanese film really amps up the blood, but it is still rather dull in places.

This one had potential, unfortunately it moves so slowly that it kind of shoots itself right in the explosive tank. The film is about mysterious killings in a lake and does follow a basic 'Jaws' formula for the first bit of the movie. They wait awhile to reveal the beast then it is finally shown, killing a couple of guys who played a very bad prank. The film follows a man who wants to get to this area near Mount Fuji where there has been mention of a petrified egg. He thinks that perhaps there is money to be made from this discovery. Strange though that they mention this discovery as no scientist actually sees this, but rather a woman who falls into a cave and then runs from the forest in a panic and falls into a coma shortly thereafter. Why this makes the news is beyond me. Still, he gets there and there start to be strange incidents happening such as a horse with its head bitten off. After a bit the dinosaur comes in, chomps a few people and then near the end the bird of the title swoops in and makes an impressive first appearance. Of course, the two duel in a very unimpressive battle that made me lower my initial score of six to five. This one had potential, they just needed to have more bloody kills and less banter. Sure they were copying "Jaws", but this film was not going to be in that film's league as far as acting and atmosphere so you have to go the bloody route. They did, but not quite enough. They even managed to show the naked rear end of a lady, so for the most part this one was quite different from most Japanese monster films of its day. Just needed more monster action. Though one thing I notice a lot of people saying about this is that the people in the film seem to say that the appearance of the dinosaurs causes the volcano to erupt, but in actuality the scientist is saying that if there was a dinosaur present than the conditions are such to release it from its slumber and one of the conditions is that there is going to be an imminent eruption of Mount Fuji. However, for the most part the film has way to many plot holes and such and suffers from not enough monster action.