a.k.a. KONCHU DAISENSO / GREAT INSECT WAR
Shochiku Co., Ltd. [1968] 84′
country: Japan
director: KAZUI NIHONMATSU
cast: KEISUKE SONOI, YUSUKE KAWAZU, EMI SHINDO
cast: REIKO HITOMI, ERIKO SONO, KATHY HORAN
Accurate information about this utterly obscure [at least to Western audiences] Shochiku science fiction / horror production is difficult to come by, to say the least. Shochiku’s own website offers little – only a few credits, a brief synopsis, and two photos – while the more comprehensive listing at the IMDB is full of inaccuracies [something I've attempted, as of recently, to correct]. The film purportedly received a limited release in America under its international English title of GENOCIDE in 1969, though I can find no corroborating evidence of this [copies of this English language edition are floating around, indicating that a print of it was available in America at some point]. There is no doubt, however, that GENOCIDE received theatrical release in Germany [as GENOCIDE-THE KILLER BEES TAKE HOLD*] or Italy [THE HALLUCINITORY END OF MAN*], as ad materials survive from both of these runs and, in at least one case, the repsective theatrical version of the film has been made available on home video [on VHS and twice on DVD in Germany**].
But unlike THE X FROM OUTER SPACE or GOKE BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL, which have been growing in popularity in the Western world thanks to home video releases, television airings, and rumors of forthcoming DVD editions from high-end production houses like Criterion, GENOCIDE has remained largely unheard of, even in cult film circles, outside of Japan since its initial run in 1968. Filmed in Shochiku grand-scope and color with decent special effects and one of the more bizarre narratives ever to grace a 60′s production [scientists, military men, lost H-bombs, communist spies, insane people, dirty old men, and killer bugs all have their own important spot in the proceedings], one has to wonder why! The answer almost undoubtedly lies in the unwavering nihilism of said narrative, penned by Susumu Takaku [THE GOLDEN BAT, GOKE].
