Japanese genre filmmakers of the late 1950s and '60s could range far ahead of what was permitted in American studio films. Japanese gangster pictures were more brutal, their juvenile delinquency pictures more frank about sex and their dramas more willing to include radical political sentiments.
For science fiction/horror fans, Japan’s Shochiku Company Limited always ran a distant third to Toho and Daiei, producers of the Godzilla and Gamera monster franchises, respectively, despite a long history of film production and distribution dating back to 1920. Over the decades, Shochiku produced hundreds of shomin-geki, arthouse, ghost, and anime films, including many by such respected directors as Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Nagisa Oshima, Akira Kurosawa and Takashi Miike.
In 1967 the Shochiku studio launched a brief commercial foray into fantasy, horror and science fiction, hoping to break new commercial ground. The Eclipse Series 37 DVD set When Horror Came to Shochiku gathers these four eccentric thrillers into one package.
These films feature rather unique monsters and showcase distinctive aesthetic styles. Furthermore, and perhaps due to the influence of Shochiku, these flicks appear to have a unique sense of gravitas combined with somewhat dazzling and psychedelic visuals, an alluring mixture not commonly seen in other Japanese horror films of that period.
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