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Japanese stars Oguri Shun (“Godzilla vs. Kong”) and Aoi Yu (“Rurouni Kenshin: Final Chapter Part I – The Final”) are set to reunite on screen after 23 years in “Human Vapor,” a new Netflix series produced in collaboration with Toho. The duo last worked together in 2001’s “Ao to Shiro de Mizuiro.”

“Human Vapor” is a modern reimagining of the 1960 sci-fi thriller of the same name. The original film, directed by Honda Ishirō of “Godzilla” fame, tells the story of a librarian who gains the ability to transform into a gaseous state after being subjected to radiation experiments. Using his newfound powers, he embarks on a series of bank robberies to financially support a struggling dancer he admires. The film is renowned for its exploration of power structures and societal oppression.

Yeon Sang-ho, known for “Train to Busan” and “Hellbound,” is set to executive produce and has co-written the script alongside...

Mill Creek again dips into exotic Japanese sci-fi fantasy, and this time scores with the desired language choices and subtitle configurations for these spectaculars from the beginning of Toho’s strongest period. The H-Man is a stylish gangster-horror melange about a radioactive slime that cheerfully transforms Guys ‘n’ Dolls into living goo. Then, a Battle in Outer Space is the result when a two-rocket expedition to the moon uncovers an imminent alien invasion, and flying saucer vs. rocketplane dogfights break out in low Earth orbit and in the skies over Tokyo. Was matinee moviegoing ever better than that? CineSavant writes, uh, at length about all the fan concerns over this disc.

Toho Double Feature

The H-Man & Battle in Outer Space

Blu-ray

Mill Creek

Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date June 9, 2020 /

Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi

Director of Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya

Produced by Tomoyuko Tanaka

Directed by Ishiro Honda

Here’s how a...

Mill Creek again dips into exotic Japanese sci-fi fantasy, and this time scores with the desired language choices and subtitle configurations for these spectaculars from the beginning of Toho’s strongest period. The H-Man is a stylish gangster-horror melange about a radioactive slime that cheerfully transforms Guys ‘n’ Dolls alike into living goo. Then, a Battle in Outer Space is the result when two-rocket expedition to the moon uncovers an imminent alien invasion, and flying saucer vs. rocketplane dogfights break out in low Earth orbit and in the skies over Tokyo. Was matinee moviegoing ever better than that? CineSavant writes, uh, at length about all the fan concerns over this disc.

Toho Double Feature

The H-Man & Battle in Outer Space

Blu-ray

Mill Creek

Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date June 9, 2020 /

Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi

Director of Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya

Produced by Tomoyuko Tanaka

Directed by Ishiro Honda

Here’s how a...

“If man perishes from the face of the Earth, due to the effects of hydrogen bombing, it is possible that the next ruler of our planet may be The H-Man.”

Toho Sci-fi Double Feature The H Man (1958) and Battle In Outer Space (1959) on Blu-ray From Mill Creek Entertainment. This is the Blu-ray debut for both films! Their site can be found Here

Travel back to the days before CGI, when special effects were real and the results were spectacular! Director Ishirô Honda and special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya bring these wildly colorful kaiju eiga (monster movies) to life in this high-definition double feature presentation.

The H-man (1958) Brought on by hydrogen bomb fallout, H-Man is a slimy green monster that dissolves human tissue and anything else in its path on contact. Scientist must figure out how to stop this creation.

Contains both the American and Japanese edits for The H-Man

Battle In Outer Space...

This week’s home media releases are a relatively quiet bunch, as we only have three different titles on the slate heading home on Tuesday. If you missed it in theaters earlier this year, you can finally catch up with The Hunt. Additionally, Mill Creek has put together a collection of genre films for horror fans called A Deadly Place, and they’re also showing some love to a pair of Kaiju films as well: The H-Man and Battle in Outer Space.

A Deadly Place: 10 Frightening Films

Encapsulating all the frights youve been thirsting for, this 10-film thrill fest includes everything from hauntings and creatures to giant monsters and serial killers. In A Deadly Place collection, theres no way out once you enter.

The H-Man/Battle in Outer Space Double Feature

Travel back to the days before CGI, when special effects were real and the results were spectacular! Director Ishirô Honda...

Ugetsu

Blu-ray

Criterion

1953 / B&W / 1:33 / Street Date June 6, 2017

Starring: Mitsuko Mito, Masayuki Mori, Kikue Mouri, Sakae Ozawa, Kinuyo Tanaka

Cinematography: Kazuo Miyagawa

Film Editor: Mitsuzô Miyata

Written by Matsutarô Kawaguchi, Yoshikata Yoda

Produced by Masaichi Nagata

Music: Fumio Hayasaka, Tamekichi Mochizuki, Ichirô Saitô

Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi

In 1941 Orson Welles was busy giving the film industry a hot foot with Citizen Kane, a bullet-train of a movie whose rhythms sprang from the ever accelerating hustle and bustle of contemporary American life. That same year one of Japan’s greatest filmmakers, Kenji Mizoguchi, was taking his sweet time with a four hour samurai epic set 240 years in the past, The 47 Ronin.

The story of a band of loyal soldiers seeking revenge on a corrupt landowner, The 47 Ronin plays out in a precisely measured, ceremonial style, its 241 minutes leading up to the moment when the fierce band of brothers...

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has added an exciting roster of screen legends and beloved titles to the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival, including appearances by Maureen O’Hara, Mel Brooks and Margaret O’Brien, plus a two-film tribute to Academy Award®-winner Richard Dreyfuss. Marking its fifth year, the TCM Classic Film Festival will take place April 10-13, 2014, in Hollywood. The gathering will coincide with TCM’s 20th anniversary as a leading authority in classic film.

O’Hara will present the world premiere restoration of John Ford’s Oscar®-winning Best Picture How Green Was My Valley (1941), while Brooks will appear at a screening of his western comedy Blazing Saddles (1974). O’Brien will be on-hand for Vincente Minnelli’s perennial musical favorite Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), starring Judy Garland. The tribute to Dreyfuss will consist of a double feature of two of his most popular roles: his Oscar®-winning performance...

It’s the last week of TCM’s string of monstrous Thursday night double-features. Joe Dante has the rundown.

We’re wrapping up Joe’s month-long look (yes, he writes the below copy) at TCM’s month-long series. The previous entries in this series — if you so happen want to program your own set of double features — can be found here:

Week 1!

Week 2!

Week 3!

Week 4!

But, for now, onward and upward with the monster-y goodness, direct from the desk of Joe Dante!

The Blob – Ok, Steve McQueen was embarrassed by his first picture, but he could never have imagined how popular it would eventually become. Yes, it skirts the edge of amateurism, but hey, it’s The Blob! The much-missed George Hickenlooper elucidates.

The H-Man – This Japanese production didn’t play very widely in 1959 but it’s an offbeat combo of gangsters and sci fi from the creator of Godzilla,...

One thing I love about being the designated DC staffer to put up Trembles' review each week is that we just never know what the hell he's going to come up with next! Case in point: 1958's Bijo to Ekitainingen aka The H-Man.

We did some digging on the Net and learned from Wikipedia that the film was released by Columbia Pictures in the United States in 1959. A New York Herald Tribune film critic at the time called it, "A good-natured poke at atom-bomb tests... The picture is plainly making a case against the use of nuclear bombs. At the same time, there is a great deal of lively entertainment in the story involving police, dope smugglers, scientists and some very pretty Japanese girls."

What could be better? You can check it out for yourselves as part of the Icons of Sci-Fi: Toho Collection, which you can order from EvilShop below.

Icons Of Sci-fi: Toho Collection (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, three discs, $24.96)

Well, I didn’t realize what I was getting into when I agreed to review this latest Icons. I bought previous Sony Icons collections (namely the Hammer pirates & Tong meisters Icons Of Adventure), but this was a review copy, arriving in my hands (I was sad to note) the day Before it hit stores August 18. Sorry. Not enough time to watch multiple versions of three movies in one day (536 minutes total)—and anyone (even me) would be silly to try. Thus, a later-than-we-would-like review. This Icons assembles three 50-year-old Japanese genre flicks (The H-man, Battle In Outer Space, Mothra), all directed by Godzilla guru Ishiro Honda with special FX by effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya and released by Toho. Just to be contrary, I watched them in Reverse chronological order.

My main motivation for getting this set was Mothra (1961). I...

In this incarnation of our Videolog column (which began in 1982 with VHS and Betamax and later laserdisc), Starlog posts information usually (though not always) on Tuesdays regarding selected genre titles being released (or re-released) now on DVD and Blu-ray. Prices listed are Msrp, though the clickable links lead to Amazon where the savings is significant. Here’s what’s out this week:

DVD Releases for August 18, 2009

Icons Of Sci-fi: Toho Collection (Sony, $24.96): Toho, the most famous of all Japanese movie studios, struck box office gold with the kaiju eiga (monster movies) that began in 1954 with the original Godzilla (Gojira), the creation of director Ishiro Honda and special FX wizard Eiji Tsuburaya. Now for the first time on DVD—and in their original Tohoscope aspect ratios—Sony Pictures presents three Honda films made during Toho’s glory years. The H-man, Battle In Outer Space and Mothra are presented in both their Japanese and U.

Curious to know what frightful films and devilish discs will be available to view in the privacy of your own digital dungeon this week? Fango's got you covered.

Below the jump you'll find the full list of titles arriving in-stores this Tuesday, August 18, 2009 in our weekly version of the famous Fangoria Chopping List - updated with all the last-minute additions and deletions.

Note: Clickable links lead to Amazon.com

Death Note 3: L, Change The World

Inspired by the best-selling manga Death Note, Death Note: L, change the WorLd reveals how L spends the last 23 days of his life. For his final case he takes on a bio-terrorist group, and must also save the lives of two children who have no one else to turn to. Directed by Hideo Nakata (The Ring Two) and starring Kenichi Matsuyama (Death Note).

Dexter: The Complete Third Season (DVD & Bd)

Dexter is an...

Those of you yearning for the golden age of monster movies, where a man in a zipper suit wreaked havoc on a miniature set of downtown Tokyo, can get your fix on October 18th, courtesy of the Sony Pictures Entertainment release, Icons of Sci-Fi - Toho. Read on for a look at the DVD cover art and some stills to whet your appetite for some old school carnage!

Included in this set are three Ishiro Honda classics: The H-Man, Battle in Outer Space and Mothra, each of them presented in both their Japanese and U.S. versions. This is looking like a great release from Sony, so let's show them we appreciate their effort by giving this set a gander when it hits stores on August 18.

- MattFini

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Ravage Downtown Tokyo in the Dread Central forums!

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced that it will release a trio of vintage genre features from director Ishiro Honda (who helmed the original Gojira and many subsequent Godzilla epics) under the title Icons Of Sci-fi: Toho Collection. The three-disc collection will feature digitally remastered versions of the Japanese and U.S. editions of each movie, and streets August 18.

The titles are: 1958’s The H-man, about radioactive creatures that dissolve their victims; 1959’s Battle In Outer Space, in which Earth forces attempt to save our planet from attacking aliens; and 1961’s Mothra, the kaiju favorite that introduced the titular giant caterpillar/moth, which wreaks havoc in Tokyo trying to rescue its kidnapped tiny priestesses.

Mothra and Battle In Outer Space will be accompanied by audio commentaries by J-cinema experts Ed Godziszewski and Steve Ryfle. Cover art is coming soon; retail price is $24.96. Pre-order yours through Amazon.com now for only $17.49 as of this writing.