Terror Beneath the Sea

Terror Beneath the Sea (Japanese: 海底大戦争, Hepburn: Kaitei Daisensō, lit. 'The Great Undersea War')[lower-alpha 1] is a 1966 science fiction horror film directed by Hajime Sato.[2] An international co-production of Japan and the United States,[3][4] it stars Sonny Chiba, Peggy Neal, Franz Gruber, Andrew Hughes, Tadashi Suganuma, and Hideo Murota.

Terror Beneath the Sea
Theatrical release poster
Japanese name
Kanji海底大戦争
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnKaitei Daisensō
Directed byHajime Sato
Screenplay byKōichi Ōtsu
Produced byKoji Kameda
Seiichi Yoshino
Masafumi Soga
Starring
CinematographyKazuo Shimomura
Edited byTomio Soda
Music byShunsuke Kikuchi
Production
companies
Toei Company
Ram Films
Distributed byToei
Release date
  • July 1, 1966 (1966-07-01) (Japan)
Running time
84 minutes (Japan)
79 minutes (United States)
CountriesJapan
United States
LanguagesJapanese
English (dubbed)

Plot

The story follows reporter Ken Abe and photographer Jenny Gleason as they attend a missile test and stumble upon a mysterious swimming creature with a human silhouette. Their investigation leads them to a cave inhabited by individuals clad in absurd silver fish-man suits. These suits may be one of the film's most entertaining aspects, as they are elaborate but don't fit very well, leading to comedic situations.

The pair is eventually taken to the underwater base of the enigmatic Professor Moore, who has created these fish-men or "water cyborgs." Moore's plan is shrouded in mystery, but it appears to involve transforming people into fish-people and launching a global war.

The film introduces the underwater Illuminati, who seem to have a plan even if it's unclear what that plan is, aside from world domination. They have successfully built an underwater base and created the mindlessly obedient fish-people. The process of transforming ordinary humans into these creatures is shown in detail, with moments that are effectively gross, if not entirely convincing.[5]

Cast

Release

Terror Beneath the Sea was released in Japan on July 1, 1966.[6] The film did not receive a theatrical release in the United States, instead being released directly to television by Teleworld.

Reception

International response

Critical response outside of Japan has been mixed to negative. Jon Condit of Dread Central rated it two out of five stars, writing "Terror Beneath The Sea is the epitome of a disposable movie. It's utter nonsense from beginning to end and never takes the time to develop any characters or allow for the story to build naturally".[8]

Notes
  1. also known as Water Cyborg,[1] Agent X-2: Operation Underwater, and Battle Beneath the Sea

References
  1. "海底大戦争｜一般社団法人日本映画製作者連盟".
  2. Dr. Ishii (1997). 日本特撮・幻想映画全集. Tokyo: Keibunsha. p. 172. ISBN 4766927060.
  3. Desjardins, Chris (2005). Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film. I.B.Tauris. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-84511-090-1.
  4. "映画 海底大戦争 (1966)について 映画データベース". Allcinema. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  5. mst3kproject (2017-09-14). "Terror Beneath the Sea". Tumblr. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
  6. "海底大戦争 : 作品情報". Eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  7. Barsanti 2014, p. 377.
  8. Condit, Jon (October 5, 2005). "Terror Beneath the Sea (1966)". Dread Central. Retrieved June 25, 2023.

Bibliography


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