Told you we were gonna talk about Daimajin sooner or later!
Nevermind it tooks at least 4 years, but we’re at least giving sense to the old announcement wish i did about reviewing Arrow Video releases, because they did release the entire Daimajin trilogy in a cool boxset some years ago, and i highly recommend it, but for time constraints and to make space for other entries this Giant Monster March, today we’re just gonna look at the original 1966 film, simply called Daimajin, which translates to “Great Demon God”.
Back before they went bankrupt and death-farted themselves out of business with the final Gamera film, Daiei Films did compete with Toho in the “big frigging monsters” market and were pretty aggressive/active, as they pretty much commissioned and filmed all three Daimajin films back to back and released them in the span of mere months in 1966, which is impressive.
But also probably why they did eventually go bankrupt, to some extent, since they were pumping out tokusatsu features and Gamera films like there was no tomorrow… which eventually got them there, but hindsight makes everyone sounds wiser, so whatever, but the Daimajin did start out as the first foe to battle Gamera, inspired by 1936 Le Golem, but obviously that idea didn’t pan out.
While the crew was the same for all 3 films, the directors were not, and also due to this insane schedule, it’s not surprising they have similar plots involving the titular kaiju, the Daimajin, this kabuto clad stone golem demon god, to whom people come praying he saves their village by some invading warlords or something along these lines.
In this first film, earthquakes that might hint at some coming calamity makes a village cower, as they believe the tremors are escape attempts of the spirit of the Daimaijin trapped within the mountain. Lord Hinabasa is observing the situation, waiting for a chance to take over the village, but he’s betrayed and his family slaughtered by his chamberlain, Samanosuke, with only Hanabasa’s son and daughter surviving and escaping to safety in forbidden territory.
Samanosuke then forbids gatherings at the shrine, proceeds to take over and enslave the village, and when the lord’s son, Tadafumi, becomes 18yo, he tries many times to vanquish Samanosuke and his men, until the daughter, Kozaka, prays the Daimajin to save her brother, making the kaiju come alive and unleash its wrath on Samanosuke and its fortress, then turning to destroy anything else in sight, until Kozaka’s tears stop its rampage…
Sounds familiar? It sure does.
Honestly i’m quite positive Pulgasari/Bulgasari was inspired by this more than anything else, the plot it’s strikingly similar in so many ways it’s definitely not a coincidence.
That aside, it’s quite good, the plot it’s fairly typical, so is the historical setting, it’s fairly predictable, the characters just ok, but it’s done well, well acted, might as well, since as tradition dictates, the monster/creature shows up/does something only in the final act, the human drama is decent enough to strung you along (even more since it’s under 90 minutes, so it doesn’t drag) until the big setpieces with the Daimaijin fuckin up the models and stomping the evil lord’s lackeys under his mighty foot, when he doesn’t just show off by blowing away the puny humans with his aura.
After all, it’s what you’ve wanted to see all along, and it does look quite good, the design its simple but effective, basically a stone giant warrior, and while the effect for revealing the Daimajin real angry face is dated, the face it’s quite good even though it can’t really move, but again, the creature comunicates a lot more via body language, even more so since it’s a lot more humanoid and notably a lot smaller than most giant monsters, to the point it’s argued it’s not even a “kaiju” per sé.
More of a “honorary kaiju” size, if you will, but on the upside, you see it interact a lot more directly with the actors, and honestly the effects are excellent, especially for 1966, i was surprised by how seamless a lot of the transitions are, the models are great, i’ve seen plenty of older kaiju films where it’s a lot more obvious how it cuts to and from dioramas/models with plastic toys of the victimized animals or people, and the Daimajin suit is top notch, good stuff.
The only “cheap” workaround is that the Daijmajin itself can travel/move as en evil spirit “sphere/orb effect” on the film and just materialize where it needs to be so the actor can get in the suit, and sadly the Daimajin never gets to use the sword he carries around its waist (doesn’t really need to anway) but i’m really being a pedantic ass , it’s must have been a great spectacle for the era and the fact it’s nowhere cheesy and dated in hindsight speaks volumes of how good the effects are.
Maybe a bit too good for Daiei itself, as i’m sure it was incredibly expensive, they produced 2 more of these at the same time, and – as we already discussed – while eventually Daiei did go under and the planned fourth film of the series was never made, Daimajin was featured into the other kaiju series/trilogy Daiei Films had back, then, Yokai Monsters.
the Arrow Video release is quite good as expected, the video quality is pretty much inpeccable, audio is in mono but still crisp, though i don’t know exactly how it fares against the previous releases of the movie, as it got localized at the time, mostly for TV broadcast, often as Majin: The Monster Of Terror, according to some of the TV trailer adverting the film, in one instance alongside Gamera VS Barugon, as indeed this was released as a double bill with the other popular Daiei monster series. All the expected extra stuff is in there, quite bountiful as usual.
Plus the collection (since the movies are sold as a collection box that’s terrific to display as well) has also a 100 pages booklet with essays on the film, and alongside the various new and fantastic artwork commissioned for the Arrow release, there is the original Japanese poster.
Kadokawa Films eventually resurrected the IP as a TV series, Daimaijin Kanon, back in 2010, but aside from that it’s the only old IP from the Daiei catalog to not have seen a new film, despite many attempts by many directors and producers, including Ishiro Honda and Takashi Miike whom also directed the Great Yokai Wars films, but nothing doing, apparently because the titular creature-monster isn’t quite kaiju sized so it required bigger models, bigger props and overall more taxing budgets since its smaller than even Ultraman, and it does directly interact with humans.
Which makes sense, but i then remembered seeing that indie short film, The Resurrection/Rebirth Of Daimajin by Masahiro Katto, or more accurately some clips of that flying around online, so if a random person could actually pull that off with basically no budget (feeling like a Gamera 4 situation all over again) in 1988, the previous spiel by Miike kinda sounds like an excuse to not resurrect an old tokusatsu IP, despite the Daimajin being a pretty well known figure, as it was spoofed in GeGeGe No Kitaro, and clearly was known enough to be used in many commercials.
Then again, overseas it’s a niche kaiju/kaiju adjacent franchise, so i wouldn’t hold my breath for a Daimajin cameo in the next Monsterverse entry, for example.
Maybe, in time, the Great Demon God will rise once more…
Wise Cafe (International) 