a.k.a. Buru Kurisumasu – Blood Type Blue
company: Toho Co. Ltd
year: 1978
runtime: 133′
country: Japan
director: Kihachi Okamoto
cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Hiroshi Katsuno,
Eiji Okada, Keiko Takeshita
not on home video in the USA
UFO sightings are on the rise – a number of incidents around the globe are leading to military mobilizations and governments world-wide are on edge. In the midst of all these sightings a single connecting after-affect begins to emerge – the blood of those who have seen the UFOs is inexplicably turned from the typical red to a deep blue. Another side effect begins to emerge as well – those who have the blue blood also seem to have been graced with milder dispositions and almost an inability to become angry.
Amidst these strange events, prominent Japanese scientist Dr. Hyodo (the inimitable Eiji Okada) has vanished into thin air after being abducted by a number of un-named Americans from a hotel. Meanwhile, Minami (Tatsuya Nakadai) couldn’t be more pleased that his agency’s record sales are off the charts – a band called The Humanoids have released a pop song titled Blue Christmas that is taking the whole of the world by storm.
At a close friend’s request, Minami – a reporter by trade – begins an investigation into the blue blood phenomenon, a phenomenon that the governments of Earth more than willingly kept a secret. Initially skeptical, disturbing reports of blue blooded people being hidden away and even killed by world superpowers convince him that there’s something to his friend’s request after all. His investigation leads him, in a round-a-bout fashion to Dr. Hyodo, who was working with two subjects in specific before his disappearance – UFO research and studies on the blue blood of cephalopods like the octopus and squid.
