Director: George P. Breakston, Kenneth G. Crane
Cast: Peter Dyneley, Jane Hylton, Tetsu Nakamura, Terri Zimmern, Norman Van Hawley, Toyoko Takechi, Jerry Ito
Screenplay: William J. Sheldon
73 mins. Not Rated.

He’s part Man. He’s part Monster. He is Manster. The movie practically writes itself.

Larry Stanford (Peter Dyneley, The Day of the Triffids) is an American news correspondent working in Tokyo but yearns to be back home with his family. He’s been given one final project before his return can be approved: interview Dr. Robert Suzuki (Tetsu Nakamura, Mothra). Dr. Suzuki has been experimenting with altering human evolutions, and he’s decided that Larry will be his next subject. After being drugged and injected without his knowledge, Larry begins noticing changes to his body and mind. He begins an affair with Suzuki’s assistant Tara (Terri Zimmern) and begins drinking. As his body begins to mutate, how much of Larry is still in control?

The Manster was an American production, but it was filmed in Japan with a largely Japanese crew, and it was released in America as the bottom half of a double-bill with the film Eyes Without a Face as top billed, and let me tell you: the first half of that double-bill is great. The Manster? Not so much. It’s an aimless horror film that spends most of its run time making its main character an asshole without really making him sympathetic. Larry becomes an asshole because of the formula he’s been given, but we never really get the sense that he’s trying to fight the changes, and we never feel as though he’s even aware of how he’s affecting others around him. Maybe that was intentional, but either way, it doesn’t make for a very interesting character. I was far more interested in the character of Dr. Suzuki and his dynamic with his assistant. The writing still isn’t there, but at least Nakamura is giving it his best to make Suzuki a treacherous villain.

This screenplay should have allowed Larry to begin his physical transformation earlier because, once that begins, the movie does kick into gear a bit. Everything in the back 10 minutes or so at least makes for some interesting monster storytelling, it’s just too-little, too-late by that time. There are more memorable moments in that finale than the hour that preceded it.

The Manster is a big disappointment, even coming from a film with such low regard. It’s biggest contribution is likely due to inspiring a certain sequence from Army of Darkness, an infinitely superior movie in every way. While it has an admirable and somewhat exciting finale, it’s a very sluggish 73 minutes in entirety.

2/5
-Kyle A. Goethe