I saw this film when I was a child, and never forgot it. While somewhat similar to films such as 'The Blob' and 'Caltiki, The Immortal Monster' (a Spanish/Italian/Mexican rarity), 'The H-Man' is, as others note, a sort of film noir sci-fi/mystery film. Like most Japanese sci-fi & horror films of the 1950s and 60s, there are instances of unintentional humor, over-the-top acting and a fixation on the effects of radioactivity (not surprising). I had almost given up on finding this title, when fortuitously I ran into a really nice Japanese DVD with superb color and in a widescreen format; no English dubbing, but rather subtitles in the bottom black bar. It was as if I was seeing the film for the very first time! While I have no American version to compare it to, I have no doubt that this version has footage edited from the American release. Interestingly (for me, anyway), the title in Japanese is 'Beauty and the Liquid Human', an odd but actually more accurate title. The H-Man provides some very well-done special effects, creepy atmosphere and a decent amount of suspense. Along with 'Rodan' and 'The Mysterians' (and, I guess, Godzilla), this is among the best of early Japanese sci-fi films.
48 Reviews
Good Stuff!
Space_Mafune11 May 2003
THE H-MAN is a fine, and most rare, blend of film noir and 1950s Japanese science fiction. The film is filled with startling visuals from start to finish. It grabs your attention and rarely lets up. Favorite scenes involve the events inside the derelict ghost ship and all the scenes in the nightclub which abound with the right atmosphere. Stylistic and often startling visually, this is a lot of fun to watch and get into. It does require one to suspend their disbelief quite a bit though.
Childhood nightmares
partnerfrance13 January 2005
Like many other posters, I saw this film as a young boy and it gave me nightmares for weeks (maybe even months)! Luckily, my older brother finally convinced me that the "liquid creature" would not survive a swim from Japan to the United States and I was able to sleep again.
I suspect that the modern age's Freddies, Jasons and Leatherfaces would not hold a candle to the effect that this film had on an impressionable youth back then. Perhaps the very fact that the monster had no tangible qualities and could theoretically be any puddle of water you came across was what gave it its fright value.
It would certainly be interesting to see how a remake of this would play today.
I suspect that the modern age's Freddies, Jasons and Leatherfaces would not hold a candle to the effect that this film had on an impressionable youth back then. Perhaps the very fact that the monster had no tangible qualities and could theoretically be any puddle of water you came across was what gave it its fright value.
It would certainly be interesting to see how a remake of this would play today.
Bijo to ekitai ningen: Expected little Toho film
Platypuschow19 September 2018
Toho are known for dark gritty movies (Usually about Samurai or the struggles of Japanese life) and goofy giant monster films (Godzilla). That is why this came as so much of a surprise to me as it isn't either.
While the west the same year made The Blob (1958) Toho made their own liquid monster movie and truth be told it's not at all bad and makes me wish Toho had done more horror.
What struck me immediatly was how amazing everything looks, sure it doesn't have the usual incredible writing of Toho and lacks the direction of Kurosawa but it looks a couple of decades ahead of its time. Seriously, I'm blown away.
It tells the story of the police looking for a missing man and during the investigation coming across a mysterious liquid creature whose very touch dissolves its prey.
Though the movie isn't outstanding it makes up for it in enough areas to be more than watchable.
Genuinely creepy and unnerving in places, the H-Man is deserving of any horror fans time.
The Good:
Looks incredible for its time
The Bad:
Cast are pretty below par
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
Microphones are overrated
Before putting your jacket around a woman dip it in sewage first
While the west the same year made The Blob (1958) Toho made their own liquid monster movie and truth be told it's not at all bad and makes me wish Toho had done more horror.
What struck me immediatly was how amazing everything looks, sure it doesn't have the usual incredible writing of Toho and lacks the direction of Kurosawa but it looks a couple of decades ahead of its time. Seriously, I'm blown away.
It tells the story of the police looking for a missing man and during the investigation coming across a mysterious liquid creature whose very touch dissolves its prey.
Though the movie isn't outstanding it makes up for it in enough areas to be more than watchable.
Genuinely creepy and unnerving in places, the H-Man is deserving of any horror fans time.
The Good:
Looks incredible for its time
The Bad:
Cast are pretty below par
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
Microphones are overrated
Before putting your jacket around a woman dip it in sewage first
Nuclear noir
jamesrupert20143 April 2018
Odd, moody crime-horror melodrama as a predatory radioactive liquid haunts the Tokyo waterfront. The films opens with a drug deal gone bad. The police investigation is complicated by a Dr. Masada (Kenji Sahara), a local scientist who suspects that there is a connection between the missing criminal and recent H-bomb tests. He has interviewed a sailor who told him about a drifting ship, where all that remained of the crew were their clothes and how almost all of the sailors investigating the derelict were attacked and dissolved by a blue ooze that could take on a vaguely humanoid form. When Masada finds a radioactive life-ring from the doomed ship, he becomes convinced that at least one of the "H-men" made it to Tokyo and, as more people disappear, the police realise that they have both a vicious drug dealer and a viscous killer to deal with. Directed by Ishiro Honda and with effects by Eiji Tsuburaya (both of Godzilla, 1954 fame), "The H-man" is an effective and entertaining thriller. While there are some weak moments (the car chase comes to mind), the film is overall a well done blend of Japanese-noir and horror. While somewhat similar to the contemporaneous "The Blob", "The H-man" is a more 'adult' film, with a gritty gangster subplot and some genuinely creepy sequences (especially those on the ship and in the sewers). Tsuburaya's effects are very good, with scenes of the sentient goo oozing up walls and along ceilings and of people dissolving into piles of clothing. Like Godzilla, the film is a cautionary tale of the dangers of radioactivity and both films feature scenes on a ship whose crew was exposed to radiation (inspired by the true story of the 'Lucky Dragon 5'). I watched an English-dubbed version of the film which differs somewhat from the original (there is less emphasis on the underworld background story) and opens and closes with the typical ominous voiceover warning of atomic danger. The dubbing itself was OK although a few of the heavies had cartoonish 'gangster' voices. All-in-all, a bit dated but worth watching.
This was a truly creepy film~!
cborchids1 December 2006
There were a few films from my childhood that really left an impression, and this was one - creepy! It IS out on VHS at least, maybe DVD, but Netflix doesn't have it. One of five or six such films that still hold up both as documents of their times and as scary as they were to a kid. I'd also recommend Quatermass 2, aka Enemy from Space, and for nonscary monsters, try 20 Million Miles to Earth. It's an interesting project to go back and see what of the stuff from childhood is still effective, and in what ways it is not. This Island Earth totally creeped me out, as did the 1953 War of the Worlds, and the original Invaders from Mars, but the remakes of these last two mostly failed. The H Man however is great. Enough lines yet?
Much better than I'd expected
planktonrules13 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
While I am a huge fan of Japanese films, I don't care for giant monster films. While Godzilla and the like have huge followings, seeing a guy running around in a rubber monster suit does nothing for me. Because of this AND the fact that the film was made by Toho Studios (home of 'Zilla) AND the director of many of these films (Ishirô Honda), my expectations were very low. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded and H-MAN turned out to be a decent film--with an interesting plot and decent dubbing (though I would have preferred it to be subtitled).
The film begins with some drug dealers stealing some drugs. However, unexpectedly, one of the men suddenly vanishes and all that is left of him is his clothes!! What happened and where he went was a mystery and so far the film reminded me of THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, where in the town the people were missing and all that was left were their clothes and some powder. However, the similarities to this Michael Crichton film/novel seem to end there and it really seems more like a variation on the film THE BLOB (also 1958).
The police go on the assumption that the criminal is alive (and naked) somewhere and refuse to consider anything else. So, when a young scientist insists that he knows what happens, they naturally ignore him completely (even though they have no leads). He insists that nuclear testing (THE 1950s cause of all evil in horror films) created a monster that could dissolve people almost instantly but is forced to work on his own. Along the way, he falls for the missing gangster's lady friend and together they both set out to prove it.
Eventually, after several folks are dissolved by this evil slime, the cops FINALLY admit that the scientist might just be right! And, in a very radical departure from what they'd been doing, they order the sewers of Tokyo to be flooded with gasoline and ignited to kill the beasts (which, apparently, isn't all that hard to kill--unlike most nuclear mutants). But, the girl is kidnapped and carried into the sewers, so it's up to the studly scientist to come to her rescue and save the city--at the same time (what a guy!!).
While a lot of the film is the standard "nuclear slime dissolves the masses" film, it manages to do a good job thanks to better than normal dubbing, a decent story and a monster that isn't nearly as laughable as Godzilla, Rodan or Mothra!! Good old 50s horror entertainment for all.
The film begins with some drug dealers stealing some drugs. However, unexpectedly, one of the men suddenly vanishes and all that is left of him is his clothes!! What happened and where he went was a mystery and so far the film reminded me of THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, where in the town the people were missing and all that was left were their clothes and some powder. However, the similarities to this Michael Crichton film/novel seem to end there and it really seems more like a variation on the film THE BLOB (also 1958).
The police go on the assumption that the criminal is alive (and naked) somewhere and refuse to consider anything else. So, when a young scientist insists that he knows what happens, they naturally ignore him completely (even though they have no leads). He insists that nuclear testing (THE 1950s cause of all evil in horror films) created a monster that could dissolve people almost instantly but is forced to work on his own. Along the way, he falls for the missing gangster's lady friend and together they both set out to prove it.
Eventually, after several folks are dissolved by this evil slime, the cops FINALLY admit that the scientist might just be right! And, in a very radical departure from what they'd been doing, they order the sewers of Tokyo to be flooded with gasoline and ignited to kill the beasts (which, apparently, isn't all that hard to kill--unlike most nuclear mutants). But, the girl is kidnapped and carried into the sewers, so it's up to the studly scientist to come to her rescue and save the city--at the same time (what a guy!!).
While a lot of the film is the standard "nuclear slime dissolves the masses" film, it manages to do a good job thanks to better than normal dubbing, a decent story and a monster that isn't nearly as laughable as Godzilla, Rodan or Mothra!! Good old 50s horror entertainment for all.
Cheap and Superficial...Made In Japan
LeonLouisRicci18 July 2012
The Japanese horror and sci-fi films from the 50's never really reached any sort of high level of artistic quality other than superficial curiosity. Almost always a notch below even the least of its American and UK cousins.
The movies did have a surreal quality although most of that seems to stem from the cultural and cinematic differences in style, approach, and mindset. The best of the line just didn't have that crisp, clean veneer that the domestic releases contained. It is probably this shortcoming that gives these films that other-worldly wonder that the kids of that era and film buffs today find so fascinating.
The H-Man has a few eerie scenes and some somewhat different looking, if not cheap imitations, of American nightclub gangsters and performers (a forced assimilation of their conquerors pop culture). But overall it is talkie and rather vapid. At least it is a mild diversion from the rubber suit, erector set extravaganzas.
The movies did have a surreal quality although most of that seems to stem from the cultural and cinematic differences in style, approach, and mindset. The best of the line just didn't have that crisp, clean veneer that the domestic releases contained. It is probably this shortcoming that gives these films that other-worldly wonder that the kids of that era and film buffs today find so fascinating.
The H-Man has a few eerie scenes and some somewhat different looking, if not cheap imitations, of American nightclub gangsters and performers (a forced assimilation of their conquerors pop culture). But overall it is talkie and rather vapid. At least it is a mild diversion from the rubber suit, erector set extravaganzas.
Mutated Man Menace In Japan
AaronCapenBanner30 April 2014
Ishiro Honda directed this unusual film, which combines plot elements from both the crime and science fiction genres. A wanted criminal mysteriously disappears from a crime scene, leaving behind only his clothes. Japanese police track him by following his wife, who does lead them to the criminal, who has somehow mutated into a hydrogen creature who can change into a blob-like creature at will, and who can be traced to a mysterious ghost-ship anchored in the harbor that was exposed to unknown radioactive fallout. Can this menace be stopped? Good F/X, but story drags, and differing genres clash unsuccessfully in forgettable film.
Creepy and Crawly Sci-Fi.
OllieSuave-00711 January 2004
One of my favorite films from Toho, a story about the city of Tokyo being terrorized by a transparent, liquid, radiated being called the H-Man. One-by-one, people start to disappear and it's up to the policeman and scientists to crack the case. This movie combines pure sci-fi and film-noir, giving us tense and non-stop thrills. Just the plot of policemen investigating drug dealers and scientists investigating the H-Man effects, with a beautiful nightclub singer mixed in, are pure excitement. A good, dramatic, but hopeful story from Takeshi Kimura and good directing from Ishiro Honda. A strong message of the consequences of misusing the hydrogen bomb is delivered in this film. I've only seen the English-dubbed version so far, but the dubbing was very good. Even the nightclub songs sang by Yumi Shirakawa fit the English dubbing. The nightclub scenes are a real treat. This movie ranges as one of the best non-Godzilla films from Toho.
Grade A
Grade A
Fairly adult Toho terror
kevinolzak2 May 2019
1958's "The H-Man" was not a kaiju eiga from Toho but a mixture of gangsters, science fiction and horror that shows how director Ishiro Honda could produce something unsettling and genuinely scary. An arresting rain drenched opening in which a thief is unable to escape an unseen menace that leaves only his empty clothes behind moves on to a police investigation into a narcotics ring using a popular nightclub as a front. The primary singer just happens to be the main squeeze of the missing thief, whose witness of a second gangster dissolving in the rain inspires a scientist (Kenji Sahara) to confirm a story about a ghost ship that passed through radioactive fallout from the H bomb, producing a liquid creature that devours human beings to survive (the original Japanese title translated as "Beauty and the Liquid People"). Whether aboard the ship's shadowy corridors or underneath the streets of Tokyo there's much to admire, as Eiji Tsuburaya delighted in the horrifying deaths, simply using human shaped balloons properly deflated to show the victim dissolving on screen, more effective than "The Blob," where we never actually saw anyone swallowed by the monster. A special compound was used for the liquid monster, tilted sets built so that technicians could just pour it down a wall for the desired effect. Another notable sequence shows how a frog can melt into a liquid creature, bubbling up in disquieting fashion, the stuff of childhood nightmares for those who saw it at the time. Toho would do more items of a similar nature, "Secret of the Telegian," "The Human Vapor," and "Dagora the Space Monster," all mixing gangsters and monsters, but Honda's horror masterpiece would be 1963's "Matango."
I't's OK
keithomusic30 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I have the unfortunate experience of having to watch the English dub of this movie. The plot seems to be fine, but the dub version is a bit confusing at times. Is there some logical/sane reason for the U. S. distributors to apparently deliberately screw up foreign movies. The voice actors or their directors seem to be idiots or racist a**holes, maybe both with the cartoon like voices they use. And some of the dialogue did not fit with the actors expressions.
The special effects are good for the time and their solution to the problem is pretty good. The acting is good,(just not the voice acting) and it is a watchable movie. If you can, avoid the English dub and watch in the original Japanese (hopefully the English subtitles are better than the dub dialogue)
The special effects are good for the time and their solution to the problem is pretty good. The acting is good,(just not the voice acting) and it is a watchable movie. If you can, avoid the English dub and watch in the original Japanese (hopefully the English subtitles are better than the dub dialogue)
My first horror film the H Man left lasting impression
h-mansleeplessin587 January 2006
As a first grader at age 6, I felt underpriveledged. All my class mates would come to school on Mondays bragging about whatever Saturday movie experience they had. Most of the time it was a Hercules, or Sinbad or other epic tale and their comments were vivid. But when the conversation revolved around a horror movie their version turned out to be a tease. I could tell that the real deal with horror pictures was to experience it personally. Here was the conumdrum, I wasn't allowed to go the the show without an adult and I didn't want to be seen by my friends with a parent. Well finally an aunt stepped up and volunteered to take me. In that darkened theater, finally seeing a horror movie for the first time, my anticipation was peaking: that is until the H Bomb went off and the tale of this insidious monster began. Needless to say my horror fascination came full circle by the end of the first reel, and the experience left me anxious for many, many, months! Thinking back to that screenining I feel that the H man was a landmark movie and probably generated the same type emotional response as the radio broadcast of War of the Worlds had a generation earlier. A remake would be awesome with todays technology, looking forward to it, and even a peak back to the past with the original version would be nice.
Effective sci-fi horror mixed with gangster / nightclub genre
ChungMo30 December 2007
This is one of the legendary Toho sci-fi films that is remembered more then actually seen. A number of friends fondly recall this film as one of the best that Honda directed even with the less than stellar English dubbing.
The film is very well done but with some weak points that detract from the overall effect of the production. One aspect that is very good is the excellent special effect work by Eji Tsuburaya. The scenes of liquid humans going up walls works and the scenes where the victims are liquefied are still effective. Towards the end we are treated to some great miniatures of the Tokyo waterfront and sewer system that are almost indistinguishable from the life-size sets. The film is filled with shadows and creepy sets.
The story moves along quite well until the times we get to the nightclub were everything stops for dance numbers with bikini clad women and two songs (one in English!). The film would be a good fifteen minutes shorter without them and they contribute nothing to the story. Of course you might enjoy these for their own qualities.
The ending is a little screwy and there seems to be some budgetary constraints as a promised H-Man destruction event never occurs.
Overall, a very good horror film that stands up to anything that came out of the US or Britain at the same time.
The film is very well done but with some weak points that detract from the overall effect of the production. One aspect that is very good is the excellent special effect work by Eji Tsuburaya. The scenes of liquid humans going up walls works and the scenes where the victims are liquefied are still effective. Towards the end we are treated to some great miniatures of the Tokyo waterfront and sewer system that are almost indistinguishable from the life-size sets. The film is filled with shadows and creepy sets.
The story moves along quite well until the times we get to the nightclub were everything stops for dance numbers with bikini clad women and two songs (one in English!). The film would be a good fifteen minutes shorter without them and they contribute nothing to the story. Of course you might enjoy these for their own qualities.
The ending is a little screwy and there seems to be some budgetary constraints as a promised H-Man destruction event never occurs.
Overall, a very good horror film that stands up to anything that came out of the US or Britain at the same time.
Lively Mix of Noir and Monsters, 1958-Style
alisonc-123 July 2017
In the midst of a drug heist, criminal Misaki somehow disappears; his girlfriend, the nightclub singer Chikako, is thought to know something of his whereabouts and so she is pursued by both police and gangsters (the latter having owned the drugs Misaki stole). But what if Misaki really *had* disappeared, had, as it were, *dissolved* leaving only his clothes behind? Scientist Dr. Masada has a theory about the cause of such a horror: the effects of radiation from H-bombs have created a liquid monster, the terrible H-Man, and now that monster is coming to Tokyo
. Director Ishiro Honda is best known in the West as the director of the first "Godzilla" movie, but he has a lengthy and varied body of work that is soon to get its due in the form of a biography co- written by Steve Rylfe and Ed Godziszewski; the latter presented a screening of "The H-Man" at Montreal's FantAsia Festival 2017 and preceded it with a talk about the man, his life, recurring themes in his films and more. Really interesting information, and it made this film, similar in ways to many such radiation cautionary tales of the 1950s, resonate that much more deeply. I look forward to discovering more of Mr. Honda's films!
With some reservations, I would even go so far as to call this one of my more favorite Toho movies of the 50s.
TheUnknown837-13 March 2013
Even though it is not, in totality, a great film, Ishiro Honda's "The H-Man" (or "Beauty and the Liquid People" as it was named in its own country) has some remarkable things in it. The cast is a harvest of reliable acting talents; the movie features some tremendously effective special effects; and the photography is luscious and rich with color. What is most remarkable about "The H-Man," however, is the way it combines two radically different genres, and yet gives each genre its due and moments to shine. If the movie were just a horror story or just a yakuza melodrama, it still would have been an interesting picture. And once combined, they form one of Toho's most intriguing, if uneven, efforts to date.
We also get Honda's usual symbolism, once again on the atomic bomb. And once again, as in "Mothra," it is applied in a rather subtle manner. Honda opens the movie with an eye-popping, wholly unexpected nuclear explosion and then shies away from talking about his message for quite a spell. The eponymous H-Men, a race of liquid organisms that can take the shape of humans and dissolve any living thing they come into contact with, are supposedly an aftereffect from nuclear testing in the South Pacific. When they disintegrate a person, leaving nothing but their clothes behind, the area is teeming with radiation. But Honda does not take the cheap shot; he does not drag out his story with chatter and contemplation about man messing with the balance of the world. His only lapse is at the end, when he allows Takashi Kimura's screenplay to blabber, via an unimportant supporting character, about how man should stop tinkering with nuclear energy, else let the H-Men take over in the future. Here, the allegory comes on a bit thick, and the end monologue does not come across as hauntingly fresh as it was in "Godzilla," but instead, on the pretentious side.
For the most part, however, both Honda and Kimura allow the double-edged plot to take center-stage. It's a combination I very much enjoyed, particularly the half about the Japanese gangsters and the police department's attempts to drag them into the gutter. There are some terrific character actors in the film's police force, including Akihiko Hirata, Yoshio Tsuchiya and Eitaro Ozawa. Now granted, the policemen are not developed as really anything but policemen – straight-shooters who seldom smile and scoff at the suggestion that liquid-men are running amok in Tokyo – but the actors breathe such life into them, as to make them interesting. Take Yoshifumi Tajima, for instance. He plays the most skeptic cop you could ask for – no real depth of character – and yet when he winds up being killed by one of the monsters, I actually felt a bit down. I liked that character, or at least Tajima's interpretation of that character.
If only there was more life put into the love story. And this is what I think disqualifies "The H-Man" from being a truly great film. The movie would like us to care about the couple (a yakuza's moll and a daring young scientist trying to warn the cops of the impending danger), but the emotional involvements adds up to zero. This is not a reflection on the two performers. Kenji Sahara and Yumi Shirakawa are superb talents and even proved two years before, in Honda's better film "Rodan," that they can effectively play lovers on film. But "Rodan" gave them things to do together, moments to shine in each other's company. The screenplay of "The H-Man" asks us to believe in their chemistry after they meet very briefly, pass a few insignificant words, and when Shirakawa sobs into Sahara's shoulder. I really wanted more meaningful scenes between them.
Shirakawa, on the other hand, does run away with the show, and she does have the best-rounded character. From the get-go, we like this soft-eyed, confused girl, and we sympathize with her when both rival gangsters and skeptical detectives refuse to quit hounding her. And at the end, when a snarling gangster starts dragging her through the sewers of Tokyo, all the while getting themselves surrounded by liquid-men, I felt myself really worrying about what would become of her, and really hoping her captor would get his comeuppance.
But the horror story works well, too. Most of all, because how Kimura's screenplay depicts the H-Men as mostly a predatory substance, maintaining very little of what made them human to begin with. It's not at all like the cartoonish demeanor of the organism from "Space Amoeba." The H-Men attack like parasites ensuring their own survival. When one of them takes the form of a man, in which case they glow with a tremendous neon aura, they are dazzling. But I really like how most of the time, they melt down into a moving sludge that crawls up and down the walls. There are some laughable moments (such as a freeze-frame shot of a victim while animated sludge consumes her body, mercifully cut from the U.S. print of the picture), but the good moments far outnumber the bad ones. Part of the fun of these special effects is just wondering how, given 1950s technology, the staff could pull it off. Especially when sludge starts crawling out of a pool of water and we cannot see any signs of a reverse-speed shot. Aided by Masaru Sato's gentle yet ominous music, the monsters do have a presence of their own.
It is such a relief to finally have Ishiro Honda's "The H-Man" widely available in the United States. For the picture really is a delightful little experience. Even its U.S. print maintains the fun, making a few small edits for pacing and completely honoring the original premise. With some reservations, I would even go so far as to call this one of my more favorite Toho movies of the 50s.
We also get Honda's usual symbolism, once again on the atomic bomb. And once again, as in "Mothra," it is applied in a rather subtle manner. Honda opens the movie with an eye-popping, wholly unexpected nuclear explosion and then shies away from talking about his message for quite a spell. The eponymous H-Men, a race of liquid organisms that can take the shape of humans and dissolve any living thing they come into contact with, are supposedly an aftereffect from nuclear testing in the South Pacific. When they disintegrate a person, leaving nothing but their clothes behind, the area is teeming with radiation. But Honda does not take the cheap shot; he does not drag out his story with chatter and contemplation about man messing with the balance of the world. His only lapse is at the end, when he allows Takashi Kimura's screenplay to blabber, via an unimportant supporting character, about how man should stop tinkering with nuclear energy, else let the H-Men take over in the future. Here, the allegory comes on a bit thick, and the end monologue does not come across as hauntingly fresh as it was in "Godzilla," but instead, on the pretentious side.
For the most part, however, both Honda and Kimura allow the double-edged plot to take center-stage. It's a combination I very much enjoyed, particularly the half about the Japanese gangsters and the police department's attempts to drag them into the gutter. There are some terrific character actors in the film's police force, including Akihiko Hirata, Yoshio Tsuchiya and Eitaro Ozawa. Now granted, the policemen are not developed as really anything but policemen – straight-shooters who seldom smile and scoff at the suggestion that liquid-men are running amok in Tokyo – but the actors breathe such life into them, as to make them interesting. Take Yoshifumi Tajima, for instance. He plays the most skeptic cop you could ask for – no real depth of character – and yet when he winds up being killed by one of the monsters, I actually felt a bit down. I liked that character, or at least Tajima's interpretation of that character.
If only there was more life put into the love story. And this is what I think disqualifies "The H-Man" from being a truly great film. The movie would like us to care about the couple (a yakuza's moll and a daring young scientist trying to warn the cops of the impending danger), but the emotional involvements adds up to zero. This is not a reflection on the two performers. Kenji Sahara and Yumi Shirakawa are superb talents and even proved two years before, in Honda's better film "Rodan," that they can effectively play lovers on film. But "Rodan" gave them things to do together, moments to shine in each other's company. The screenplay of "The H-Man" asks us to believe in their chemistry after they meet very briefly, pass a few insignificant words, and when Shirakawa sobs into Sahara's shoulder. I really wanted more meaningful scenes between them.
Shirakawa, on the other hand, does run away with the show, and she does have the best-rounded character. From the get-go, we like this soft-eyed, confused girl, and we sympathize with her when both rival gangsters and skeptical detectives refuse to quit hounding her. And at the end, when a snarling gangster starts dragging her through the sewers of Tokyo, all the while getting themselves surrounded by liquid-men, I felt myself really worrying about what would become of her, and really hoping her captor would get his comeuppance.
But the horror story works well, too. Most of all, because how Kimura's screenplay depicts the H-Men as mostly a predatory substance, maintaining very little of what made them human to begin with. It's not at all like the cartoonish demeanor of the organism from "Space Amoeba." The H-Men attack like parasites ensuring their own survival. When one of them takes the form of a man, in which case they glow with a tremendous neon aura, they are dazzling. But I really like how most of the time, they melt down into a moving sludge that crawls up and down the walls. There are some laughable moments (such as a freeze-frame shot of a victim while animated sludge consumes her body, mercifully cut from the U.S. print of the picture), but the good moments far outnumber the bad ones. Part of the fun of these special effects is just wondering how, given 1950s technology, the staff could pull it off. Especially when sludge starts crawling out of a pool of water and we cannot see any signs of a reverse-speed shot. Aided by Masaru Sato's gentle yet ominous music, the monsters do have a presence of their own.
It is such a relief to finally have Ishiro Honda's "The H-Man" widely available in the United States. For the picture really is a delightful little experience. Even its U.S. print maintains the fun, making a few small edits for pacing and completely honoring the original premise. With some reservations, I would even go so far as to call this one of my more favorite Toho movies of the 50s.
Ghost Ships, Nightclubs, and Flaming Sewers
davidcarniglia26 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Unusual blend of crime drama with sci-fi. A hood is run down after shooting at something--then he literally disappears. A local businessman is brought in for questioning and identifies Misaki, the missing guy. Misaki's wife, Chikako, works as a nightclub singer. So far this is shaping up as a Japanese film-noir.
But the next guy that the police talk to is a scientist, Professor Maki, He contacts Chikako about Misaki. Maki goes on about recent H-bomb testing, and how it might've caused Misaki's disappearance. The gangsters, frustrated at what they feel must've been Misaki's double-cross in their narcotics deal, threaten Chikako; someone else gets killed. All she can tell police is that she saw "a green shadow" fleeing the scene. Another man is reported missing--dissolved.
Maki's brought back into the picture, along with a colleague, Dr. Masada. Maki leads the group to a hospital--a traumatized seaman relates his tale of a ghost ship encounter. This guy's fairly creepy flashback reveals that when his guys board the drifting ship it's crew has vanished--there's just their clothes lying about--without bodies in them...sounds suspicious!
There's some weird slime that engulfs one of the seamen, dissolving him on the spot. That guy's reincarnated as a ghostly green figure, flickering into the sort of shadowy state that Chikako described. More guys are slimed, the remaining guys retreat back to their ship. The last thing we see is the slime growing and oozing all over the 'ghost ship.'
By this point, the authorities take the scientists more seriously, as now there's evidence that nearby H-bomb tests (i.e., radiation) may have caused these strange happenings. In the lab, Maki demonstrates the process on a frog (I guess there's a sample-packet of H-bomb stuff handy).
The police are impressed, but don't quite believe the scientists' assumption that the wayward ship, drifting inexorably toward Japan, will suddenly download a rapidly-expanding green slimy monster to threaten Tokyo. But as soon as more people show up dead (rather, they don't show up at all), even the skeptics believe in the slime monster/ creature/man.
Meanwhile, another cool nightclub scene, as more gangsters get nabbed by the police. Sure enough, the slime creeps ashore, right into Chikako's dressing-room. It reveals its ghostly form, dissolving people here and there at the club. The victims bubble away like so many fizzies, horrifically; sort of the opposite of how the pod people grow in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with similar silky, cocoon-like coatings.
"What can we do our stop the creature?" asks an official at the ensuing big-shot meeting. They're going to try fire and electricity (why not?). Obviously, shooting a blob doesn't help any. Not to be forgotten, Uchida kidnaps Chikako. There's a very slow, lame chase scene, and he gets away with her.
Uchida's plan is to recover the heroin that's craftily hidden in the sewer wall. "With a guy like me you'd really be living!" He brags to her (he's talking about 50,000,000 yen of drug money). The army follows the creature into another part of the sewer system. Uchida makes Chikako take some stuff off, so when her clothes float out the sewer, it looks like she's been absorbed by the creature. But he's careless enough not to see it close in on him: he's done.
As the creature advances on Chikako from one direction, the army sets the sewer water ablaze from the other end. She's saved in the nick of time. More flame-throwing soldiers light up the remainder of the creature, but not before it manifests itself as two ghostly green figures. The fire looks like it's out of control, but an official proclaims victory.
The H-Man is one of the better Japanese sci-fi movies, and it's notable for a couple of reasons. The crime element actually helps the plot; not only is it believable, it naturally gets the attention of the police, which, once the sci-fi stuff gradually enters the picture, leads to a logical escalation to higher authorities, all the way up to the army.
This is obviously meant as a serious venture, not burdened with the oddball characters (either silly adults, friendly monsters, or all-knowing kids) like several Japanese sci-fi films of the era. Also, while creeping blobs have been done (most famously in the previous year's The Blob), this changes it up from the prehistoric giant beast deal that's the acknowledged Japanese forte. And it's not just blobby jello here; the ghastly chartreuse manifestations look spooky, a very welcome extra treat.
The acting is pretty good too. The characters are types, which is fine: the scientists look and act like we'd expect, as do the police, the gangsters, and 'the girl.' In fact, Chicako has a lot to do, successfully playing a doubly-threatened victim (of the gangsters and the creature).
This only has a few low-spots (i.e., the car chase), but it's unique and definitely entertaining. 7/10.
But the next guy that the police talk to is a scientist, Professor Maki, He contacts Chikako about Misaki. Maki goes on about recent H-bomb testing, and how it might've caused Misaki's disappearance. The gangsters, frustrated at what they feel must've been Misaki's double-cross in their narcotics deal, threaten Chikako; someone else gets killed. All she can tell police is that she saw "a green shadow" fleeing the scene. Another man is reported missing--dissolved.
Maki's brought back into the picture, along with a colleague, Dr. Masada. Maki leads the group to a hospital--a traumatized seaman relates his tale of a ghost ship encounter. This guy's fairly creepy flashback reveals that when his guys board the drifting ship it's crew has vanished--there's just their clothes lying about--without bodies in them...sounds suspicious!
There's some weird slime that engulfs one of the seamen, dissolving him on the spot. That guy's reincarnated as a ghostly green figure, flickering into the sort of shadowy state that Chikako described. More guys are slimed, the remaining guys retreat back to their ship. The last thing we see is the slime growing and oozing all over the 'ghost ship.'
By this point, the authorities take the scientists more seriously, as now there's evidence that nearby H-bomb tests (i.e., radiation) may have caused these strange happenings. In the lab, Maki demonstrates the process on a frog (I guess there's a sample-packet of H-bomb stuff handy).
The police are impressed, but don't quite believe the scientists' assumption that the wayward ship, drifting inexorably toward Japan, will suddenly download a rapidly-expanding green slimy monster to threaten Tokyo. But as soon as more people show up dead (rather, they don't show up at all), even the skeptics believe in the slime monster/ creature/man.
Meanwhile, another cool nightclub scene, as more gangsters get nabbed by the police. Sure enough, the slime creeps ashore, right into Chikako's dressing-room. It reveals its ghostly form, dissolving people here and there at the club. The victims bubble away like so many fizzies, horrifically; sort of the opposite of how the pod people grow in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with similar silky, cocoon-like coatings.
"What can we do our stop the creature?" asks an official at the ensuing big-shot meeting. They're going to try fire and electricity (why not?). Obviously, shooting a blob doesn't help any. Not to be forgotten, Uchida kidnaps Chikako. There's a very slow, lame chase scene, and he gets away with her.
Uchida's plan is to recover the heroin that's craftily hidden in the sewer wall. "With a guy like me you'd really be living!" He brags to her (he's talking about 50,000,000 yen of drug money). The army follows the creature into another part of the sewer system. Uchida makes Chikako take some stuff off, so when her clothes float out the sewer, it looks like she's been absorbed by the creature. But he's careless enough not to see it close in on him: he's done.
As the creature advances on Chikako from one direction, the army sets the sewer water ablaze from the other end. She's saved in the nick of time. More flame-throwing soldiers light up the remainder of the creature, but not before it manifests itself as two ghostly green figures. The fire looks like it's out of control, but an official proclaims victory.
The H-Man is one of the better Japanese sci-fi movies, and it's notable for a couple of reasons. The crime element actually helps the plot; not only is it believable, it naturally gets the attention of the police, which, once the sci-fi stuff gradually enters the picture, leads to a logical escalation to higher authorities, all the way up to the army.
This is obviously meant as a serious venture, not burdened with the oddball characters (either silly adults, friendly monsters, or all-knowing kids) like several Japanese sci-fi films of the era. Also, while creeping blobs have been done (most famously in the previous year's The Blob), this changes it up from the prehistoric giant beast deal that's the acknowledged Japanese forte. And it's not just blobby jello here; the ghastly chartreuse manifestations look spooky, a very welcome extra treat.
The acting is pretty good too. The characters are types, which is fine: the scientists look and act like we'd expect, as do the police, the gangsters, and 'the girl.' In fact, Chicako has a lot to do, successfully playing a doubly-threatened victim (of the gangsters and the creature).
This only has a few low-spots (i.e., the car chase), but it's unique and definitely entertaining. 7/10.
Almost as boring as Ad Astra
implaxis26 June 2020
This review is about the original unedited Japanese version. There is an edited dubbed English version which is not discussed here.
This movie comes in right behind Ad Astra in the list of The Most Boring Movies I Ever Saw. Endless scenes of police procedure, looking for a gangster who was killed by the blob in the first scene. Also we get two very long night club songs. Long, long stretches which have nothing to do with being scary.
There are a very few actually creepy scenes but it's not worth sitting through the rest to get to those. And the ending is spectacularly anti-climactic.
This movie comes in right behind Ad Astra in the list of The Most Boring Movies I Ever Saw. Endless scenes of police procedure, looking for a gangster who was killed by the blob in the first scene. Also we get two very long night club songs. Long, long stretches which have nothing to do with being scary.
There are a very few actually creepy scenes but it's not worth sitting through the rest to get to those. And the ending is spectacularly anti-climactic.
This is an entertaining project from Ishirô Honda that isn't his best work but is worth a viewing
kevin_robbins31 December 2021
The H Man (1958) is a movie I recently streamed off The Daily Motion. The storyline follows a recent murder the police and the victim's family are investigating in a hopping local establishment. Little do they know a slime like creature has emerged from the ocean where everything it touches turns into a creature just like it...
This movie is directed by Ishirô Honda (Godzilla, 1954) and stars Kenji Sahara (Godzilla, 1954), Akihiko Hirata (Godzilla, 1954), Eitarô Ozawa (The Master Spearman), Makoto Satô (The Hidden Fortress), Yoshifumi Tajima (Hidden Fortress) and Hisaya Itô (Destroy All Monsters).
This movie has a good set-up and various circumstances. The segments discussing the science elements in a Ishirô Honda film are always far out there and fun. The special effects of the slime and green fog are excellent as are the decomposing animals and humans. There's some good humor in here also. The sequence the guy is hitting on the girl while walking in the sewers looking for The H Man was hilarious.
Overall this is an entertaining project from Ishirô Honda that isn't his best work but is worth a viewing. I'd score this a 6-6.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.
This movie is directed by Ishirô Honda (Godzilla, 1954) and stars Kenji Sahara (Godzilla, 1954), Akihiko Hirata (Godzilla, 1954), Eitarô Ozawa (The Master Spearman), Makoto Satô (The Hidden Fortress), Yoshifumi Tajima (Hidden Fortress) and Hisaya Itô (Destroy All Monsters).
This movie has a good set-up and various circumstances. The segments discussing the science elements in a Ishirô Honda film are always far out there and fun. The special effects of the slime and green fog are excellent as are the decomposing animals and humans. There's some good humor in here also. The sequence the guy is hitting on the girl while walking in the sewers looking for The H Man was hilarious.
Overall this is an entertaining project from Ishirô Honda that isn't his best work but is worth a viewing. I'd score this a 6-6.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.
One of the few times where I wished that the Japanese had not been dubbed.
mark.waltz11 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Utilizing the most offensive dubbing of Japanese I've ever heard (even in Godzilla movies), this actually seemed to have been a pretty good movie until Eng-rish speaking dubbing took over to turn this into a real cheesy mess. The science fiction element of the plot is actually very interesting with nuclear reactions to dumping at sea causes some people to become walking water fountains, covered in a green slimy mess that when it encounters human flesh causes that victim to melt like the wicked witch of the west. The moments of these innocent victims being attacked is very frightening, and there is also a scary looking scene where several of these green globs gather together on what appears to be some sort of ghost ship. In its original language, it would probably rank in a rating a bit higher (being technically much better than many of the Godzilla and other various monster films), but putting in these silly voices to bring it to English speaking audiences just makes it outrageously bad, both with the dubbing and its outrageously laughable (if still one dimensional) stereotyping of how Japanese people speak the English language.
More Terrifying than Alien for Some of Us
gdgold3338 June 2006
Alien is suppose to now be the most terrifying Sci-Fi/Horror put out, but for those of us who saw The H-Man as young baby-boomers this one should get first prize.
The comments by others who were in elementary school at the time, pretty much says it all about being almost terrorized for weeks by nightmares and parents trying to sooth you before you could fall asleep at night. I still have an occasional dream about being tracked by one of these "liquid creatures". I would hope to see the movie again sometime to "embrace my fear" as an adult. Somethings in the psyche of a young child can hang around for decades, and for movies... this is one of them.
If Sony decides to buy up the rights on this one from Toho Productions for a Region 1 DVD release, they would do well to bundle it with the other early and under-rated classics like Rodan and The Mysterians. Unfortunately, as classic as Godzilla releases have been (more than my mind can count), it is time for something more unique and rare which has been passed over. I hope it happens.
The comments by others who were in elementary school at the time, pretty much says it all about being almost terrorized for weeks by nightmares and parents trying to sooth you before you could fall asleep at night. I still have an occasional dream about being tracked by one of these "liquid creatures". I would hope to see the movie again sometime to "embrace my fear" as an adult. Somethings in the psyche of a young child can hang around for decades, and for movies... this is one of them.
If Sony decides to buy up the rights on this one from Toho Productions for a Region 1 DVD release, they would do well to bundle it with the other early and under-rated classics like Rodan and The Mysterians. Unfortunately, as classic as Godzilla releases have been (more than my mind can count), it is time for something more unique and rare which has been passed over. I hope it happens.
Actually Pretty Good
gavin69426 May 2014
When a narcotics deal goes sour and a suspect disappears, leaving only his clothes, police question his wife and stake out the nightclub where she works. His disappearance stumps the police until a young scientist appears who claims that H-Bomb tests in the Pacific have created "H-Men" who ooze like slime and dissolve anyone they touch.
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."
Of course, this is a much-lighter look at nuclear radiation than the Japanese version of "Godzilla" is. The music, melting people and generally lighter tone make it quite a different approach. And within only a few years of the other film, showing there was more than one way to approach the subject in 1950s Japan.
This film is probably not well known, but probably should be: its excellent use of color, the cool and creepy melting effects... in some ways it parallels "The Blob" (which came out the same year), and is easily on par with some of the American International films of the next decade.
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."
Of course, this is a much-lighter look at nuclear radiation than the Japanese version of "Godzilla" is. The music, melting people and generally lighter tone make it quite a different approach. And within only a few years of the other film, showing there was more than one way to approach the subject in 1950s Japan.
This film is probably not well known, but probably should be: its excellent use of color, the cool and creepy melting effects... in some ways it parallels "The Blob" (which came out the same year), and is easily on par with some of the American International films of the next decade.
The Good the Bad and the Liquefied!
sol12188 July 2011
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILES*** One of the strangest and bizarre of all the monsters coming out of the Japanese Toho Studios in 1950's the H-Man unlike Toho monsters Godzilla and Rodan is totally indescribable in it changing it's shape like a "Silly Puddy" every few seconds when it's on the screen. The H-Man dubbed because it was the results of a US Military H-Bomb test is the South Pacific comes across like the Blob and a giant serving of lime Jello in it's attacking anyone in it's way and turning them into a greenish color liquid when it gets through with them.
It's Dr. Masada , Kenji Sahara, who discovers just what this H-Man is and what he's up too but his conclusions are so off the wall that no one in the Tokyo Police Department believes him. We had added into the movie a plot involving Japanese mobsters pushing drugs who unwittingly get involved with the H-Man in their attempt to get pretty night club singer Chikako Arai, Yumi Shirakawa, to tell them where her gangster boyfriend Misaki, Hisaya Ito, is whom they suspect took off with their monthly heroin supply. After a number of people around the Tokyo end up being liquefied by the H-Man Tokyo Police Inspector Tominaga, Akihiko Hirata, is finally convinced in what Dr. Masada has been telling him about this radioactive blob of green and blue goo and call out the Japanese Army to put an end to it's reign of terror once and for all. Things get a bit complicated when gangster Uchida, Makato Sato, makes believe by taking off his clothes and leaving them in public that the H-Man did him in by getting Uchida liquefied. It's then that Uchida kidnaps Chikako and takes her into the Tokyo sewer system in order to both get his hands on the missing heroin that her liquefied boyfriend Miski hid there as well as hold her as insurance, or hostage, in getting out of the country before the police get a bead,by realizing that he's in fact alive, on him.
***SPOILERS*** With the Japanese military setting the Tokyo sewer system on fire Dr. Masada risks his life to save Chikako as her kidnapper Uchida ends up getting liquefied, this time for real, by the H-Man as he tries to make his escape from the police. Spectacular final with all of Tokyo, or it's sewer system, on fire with the H-Men, there are now two of them, evaporating in the flames and Dr. Masada saving Chikako's life before the flames and heat get to both of them.
It's Dr. Masada , Kenji Sahara, who discovers just what this H-Man is and what he's up too but his conclusions are so off the wall that no one in the Tokyo Police Department believes him. We had added into the movie a plot involving Japanese mobsters pushing drugs who unwittingly get involved with the H-Man in their attempt to get pretty night club singer Chikako Arai, Yumi Shirakawa, to tell them where her gangster boyfriend Misaki, Hisaya Ito, is whom they suspect took off with their monthly heroin supply. After a number of people around the Tokyo end up being liquefied by the H-Man Tokyo Police Inspector Tominaga, Akihiko Hirata, is finally convinced in what Dr. Masada has been telling him about this radioactive blob of green and blue goo and call out the Japanese Army to put an end to it's reign of terror once and for all. Things get a bit complicated when gangster Uchida, Makato Sato, makes believe by taking off his clothes and leaving them in public that the H-Man did him in by getting Uchida liquefied. It's then that Uchida kidnaps Chikako and takes her into the Tokyo sewer system in order to both get his hands on the missing heroin that her liquefied boyfriend Miski hid there as well as hold her as insurance, or hostage, in getting out of the country before the police get a bead,by realizing that he's in fact alive, on him.
***SPOILERS*** With the Japanese military setting the Tokyo sewer system on fire Dr. Masada risks his life to save Chikako as her kidnapper Uchida ends up getting liquefied, this time for real, by the H-Man as he tries to make his escape from the police. Spectacular final with all of Tokyo, or it's sewer system, on fire with the H-Men, there are now two of them, evaporating in the flames and Dr. Masada saving Chikako's life before the flames and heat get to both of them.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
