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Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Blistering performances.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Over the years, there haven't been that many movie co-productions between Japan and The United States. "The Manster" gives some clues as to why that may be the case. As I said in my summary line, the movie isn't terrible. The Japan setting does add a little flavor, and occasionally there is some atmospheric direction. But for the most part, the movie comes across as routine. You will recognize elements like the mad scientist and his innocent victim from other movies you've seen before, enough that you'll be able to predict much of what will happen before it actually does. There are additional problems, like the villain disappearing for really long periods of time, a protagonist who isn't very likable, and the fact that very little is done with the idea of a monster with two heads. I will say it again: This is not a terrible movie, but I can only really recommend it for die hard fans of '50s horror movies and/or Japanese cinema.

A lusciously lurid monster movie that takes the "split" personality genre to its logical conclusion. An American/Japanese ultra low budget production that delivers the goods with excessive amounts of sex, violence and atmospheric sets that betray its limits.Young movie goers today will probably find much to giggle about but undoubtedly some of the laughter will be of a defensive nature. Because there is truly some disturbing images and subversive things going on here.The mad lab scenes are impressively expressionistic and effective as are the monstrosities created by the nutty professor. There are many silly films of this nature in that era from quick buck makers. This is not one of them. A surreal treat, overlooked, and under-appreciated.

This bizarre hybrid of film noir, Two-Headed Thing yarn and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has its share of flaws, there's no denying that. Between its obviously limited budget, cheap sets, a cast of no-name American and Japanese actors and some awkward dialog, it's a bit of a wonder that "The Manster" turned out to be such an effective little nightmare.The movie begins with the shocking murders of three Japanese women by a dimly-seen, Yeti-like monster, in a bath house, concluding with the obligatory splash of blood on the shoji, over which the opening credits run. Next we see "eccentric" Dr. Suzuki, played by Tetsu Nakamura -- who in fairness was a pretty well-known actor at the time in Japan -- trudging up a mountain slope to his residence. You have to hand it to Dr. Suzuki for choosing such an inaccessible spot: not only is it likely to discourage Jehovah's Witnesses and suchlike nosy parkers, it's got a great view of the neighboring volcano -- even if it's only a model.Arriving at his hideaway, Dr. Suzuki is warned by his beautiful and mysterious assistant Tara (Terri Zimmern) that Kenji is waiting for him in the lab. (Suzuki has a basement laboratory where he grows giant fungi, keeps his insane and hideously deformed wife Emiko -- Toyoko Takechi -- in a cage, and conducts his horrific experiments.) Turns out Kenji is the monster. He attacks Suzuki and starts wrecking the lab, but the not-so-good doctor manages to dispatch him by shooting him several times and giving him a dose of radioactive(?) steam for good measure. Shortly afterward, dull, strait-laced reporter Larry Stanford (Peter Dyneley) shows up on Dr. Suzuki's doorstep to interview the doctor about his oddball theories on evolution. Larry's not all that interested in the assignment: he's just marking time for a couple of weeks before he gets rotated from his syndicate's Far East bureau back to the States and the arms of his loving wife. So he's easily persuaded to have a drink with the jovial doctor.Bad move: Suzuki drugs Larry's drink, then injects him with the latest version of his experimental enzyme. When Larry wakes up, he chalks the whole thing up to fatigue and bad Japanese liquor, and heads back to Tokyo.The first effect of the enzyme is to turn Larry into a jerk. Instead of going home, he starts partying hearty and taking in the bright lights of Tokyo. Dr. Suzuki -- who wants to observe the effects of his latest experiment at first hand -- turns up again and befriends Larry, promising to show him "the real Japan". He persuades Larry to be his guest at a hot springs and mountain resort where he's introduced to Tara. Larry and Tara begin a whirlwind affair, while his increasingly frantic wife wonders what's happened to delay him.Then the plot switches from "Lost Weekend: Japan Style" into something much darker, as the enzyme triggers more intense mental and physical manifestations. Larry's right hand mutates into a hairy claw, and he takes to prowling the deserted streets and back-alleys of Tokyo at night, compulsively murdering first a Buddhist priest at his prayers, and then a couple of young women. As the changes become more pronounced and grotesque (including one of the most memorable images in the film) Larry leaves a trail of corpses behind him, until the final confrontation back at -- you guessed it -- Dr. Suzuki's volcanic hideaway. While the volcano explodes, naturally.This is one of those rare movies where the tight budget mostly works in its favor. It's shot in black and white, in sparsely furnished interior sets. The exterior shots take place mostly at night, in dark streets and alleys, a temple and a graveyard. The cinematography is pretty good, at times even atmospheric and disturbing. Dyneley does a fairly passable job as a hapless guinea pig for Suzuki's mad science, going from nice guy to abusive alcoholic philanderer to monstrous serial killer with an extra head growing out of his shoulder. Setting the story in Japan only adds to the weirdness and disorientation, as well as nicely emphasizing Larry's isolation.I wouldn't call this a masterpiece of horror cinema, but more like Early Grindhouse. Nonetheless, it's in many ways a profoundly strange little movie, well worth a viewing.

Sometimes you stumble across a movie that surprises you with what it does on a low budget; that's what happened to me when I watched "The Manster". Expecting a forgettable 90 minutes of poor acting and cliché-riddled script, it initially looked like I wasn't going to be disappointed. Here is a 1950s American-Japanese film set in Japan with not a hint of Godzilla, actors I'd never heard of and two directors credited (so often a sign of a walk-out by one and a mess left to be cleaned up by the other), all capped off by a cringe-worthy title. Yet "The Manster" entertained and left me with some memorable moments and characters. Larry's collapse into self-indulgence, apathy and eventually cruelty was quite gripping; and some of Peter Dyneley's acting moments were powerful, such as his horrified scream of despair when he sees the eye growing out of his shoulder for the first time (yes, I know how that sounds but he really did pull it off on screen). Dyneley had good back-up too from Satoshi Nakamura as the deceptively smooth Dr.Suzuki and the stunningly beautiful Terri Zimmern as the doctor's assistant and Larry's temptress Tara (who was this stunning actress? why is there nothing online about her?). Of course the special effects weren't great, Larry's alter ego looked just like what it was, a guy in a shaggy monkey suit, and the ending was somewhat abrupt. But for a movie clearly inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" it managed to leave its own particular imprint without neither taking itself too seriously nor becoming a laughable mess. Recommended.