‘See the two-headed killer creature!’
The Manster is a 1959 sci-fi horror film about an American journalist in Japan who is given a mysterious injection by a mad scientist, turning him into a murderous, two-headed monster.
The movie was directed by producer George P. Breakston and Kenneth G. Crane (The Monster from Green Hell) from a screenplay by Walter J. Sheldon, based on Breakston’s story. Also known as Doktor Satan (in Greece), The Split and The Two-Headed Monster.
The co-production stars Peter Dyneley, Jane Hylton, Tetsu Nakamura, Terri Zimmern, Norman Van Hawley, Jerry Ito, Toyoko Takechi, Kenzo Kuroki, Alan Tarlton and Shinpei Takagi.
Plot:
American foreign news correspondent Larry Stanford (Peter Dyneley) has been working out of Japan for the last few years to the detriment of his marriage. His last assignment before returning to his wife in the United States is an interview with the renowned but reclusive scientist Doctor Robert Suzuki (Tetsu Nakamura), who lives atop a volcanic mountain.
During the brief interview, Doctor Suzuki amiably discusses his work on evolution caused by sporadic cosmic rays in the atmosphere and professes that he has discovered a method for producing evolutionary change chemically.
Suzuki serves Larry a drugged libation, causing him to fall into a deep sleep. Announcing to Tara (Terri Zimmern), his voluptuous assistant, that Larry is the perfect candidate for his latest evolutionary experiments, he injects an unknown substance into Larry’s shoulder.
Upon waking, Larry is oblivious to the true situation and accepts Suzuki’s invitation to spend the next week vacationing with him around Japan. Over the next few days, Suzuki uses Tara as a beguiling distraction while conditioning Larry with mineral baths and copious amounts of alcohol, exacerbating the pain in Larry’s shoulder.
Meanwhile, Larry’s estranged wife (played by Dyneley’s actual spouse Jane Hylton) has travelled to Japan to bring him back home with her. But when confronted, Larry refuses to leave his new life of women and carousing.
After a few drinks that night Larry examines his painful shoulder to discover that a large eyeball has grown at the spot of Doctor Suzuki’s injection…
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“…it’s not very classy, but it’s certainly exciting, gory, racy, extreme, at times ironically funny, at times shocking and frightening […] The action is steady and body count high. A good score featuring a theremin accentuates the most freakish moments.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers book
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“A very unusual film which is loaded with weird Freudian images and unnerving atmosphere, and found its influence on a generation of horror films, including War of the Gargantuas, Army of Darkness, and How to Get Ahead in Advertising.” Videohound’s Complete Guide to Cult Flicks and Trash Pics book
On August 29, 2017, The Manster was released on Blu-ray by Scream Factory.
Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
Choice dialogue:
Doctor Robert Suzuki: “You’re an experiment that didn’t work out. I’m sorry Kenji.”
Cast and characters:
Peter Dyneley … Larry Stanford; Jane Hylton … Linda Stanford; Tetsu Nakamura … Doctor Robert Suzuki; Terri Zimmern … Tara; Norman Van Hawley … Ian Matthews; Jerry Ito … Police Supt. Aida
Toyoko Takechi … Emiko Suzuki; Kenzo Kuroki … Genji Suzuki; Alan Tarlton … Doctor H.B. Jennsen; Shinpei Takagi … Temple Priest; George Wyman … Monster
Filming locations:
Japan
Technical specs:
1 hour 13 minutes
Black and white
Aspect ratio: 1.66: 1
Some images via The Telltale Mind
Buy an A3 poster from Amazon.co.uk
Trailers:
Free to watch online on YouTube:
Clip:
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