I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Disturbing yet enthralling

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Best movie of this year hands down!

This is a tale of two movies... Back in the days, before they decided to redub foreign movies they did this. Strip the original movie, in this case, Ju Jin Yuki Otoko, down to its basic storyline and better scenes (and in this case remove the sound too), then add segue segments where a narrator tells the story. So here you have John Carradine playing Dr John Rayburn, an anthropologist, who is relating his latest adventure in the Orient to two of his esteemed colleagues. A story about a group of friends holidaying when they come across "The Snowman".The major drawback is the commentary given by Carradine. Unfortunately, it's very badly written and flatly delivered. So even when we meet the hulking creature we are neither in awe or in fear since we've been lulled into boredom by the dialogue.To be honest, even the direction and acting given in the American sections of this film are below par. Whereas the opening sequence of the skiers on the mountainside is breathtaking and thought-provoking, even though it's in black and white and not been remastered that well. In fact, all of the original movie scenes are far superior to the added American sets. Not only in filming, which has some really nice shots, both iconic and scenic, but also in the acting. Even though they've diluted the sound the expressions on the actors and actresses faces say's it all.And for those reasons, I would recommend trying to find a dubbed or subbed version of the original instead of watching this as it looks more entertaining... and so much better.

Certainly, the original Japanese filming is masterful, and the conversations between the three Americans could have been less stilted, but the cut-up is fine and the more the story unfolds the more you realize that the narration actually works very well. To enjoy this movie, just try not to be offended on behalf of legendary filmmakers and enjoy a good, atmospheric story told in an interesting way.

"Half Human" was one of a handful of 50's monster horror flicks made about the Abominable Snowman. Although it's a marginal improvement over the abysmal "Snow Creature," it's alas still no great shakes as a movie. Once more an expedition into the treacherous snowy mountains stumbles across the yeti and its offspring. They also discover a primitive society who worship the yeti ala the backwoods Bigfoot cult in the infamous sanguinary Sasquatch splatter hoot "Night of the Demon." Unfortunately, the hack American distributors who released this film in the States produced a severely truncated and oversimplified version of this Japanese-made item (it was done by Toho Studios, the same outfit responsible for "Godzilla," which coincidentally was also drastically recut for American release). They chopped out 30 minutes and replaced 'em with cheap-looking, frustratingly needless and useless insert filler sequences starring the ever-desperate John Carradine (in his first and probably least humiliating of three Sasquatch cinema gigs) along with fellow washed-up has-been character actor Morris Ankrum. The sequences with Carradine and Ankrum are acted and directed with all the skill and flair of a first grade elementary school play, thus draining all the punch and tension out of a picture which could have been reasonably effective and interesting on its own. Further damage is wrought by Carradine's asinine narrative commentary ("Even in death his face still carried an expression of fear, shock and unadulterated terror"). In a shameless cost-cutting move Carradine's nonstop blathering drowns out all of the film's original dialogue, therefor eliminating the necessity of any dubbing.It's a testament to director Inoshiro ("Rodan," "Mothra") Honda's talent that a modicum of spooky atmosphere and a dash of poignant tragedy somehow manage to shine through this chintzy ragbag melange of dreary talk and eye-filling travelogue footage. Moreover, the yeti himself is quite impressive: brawny, limber, and toweringly gigantic, he's a genuinely redoubtable beastman. If there only had been less dull chitchat and more cool creature, this could have been a pretty enjoyable and enthralling romp. But there isn't, so it ain't.

Toho got drunk with stupidity and Inoshiro Honda suffered for it. Toho got a worldwide hit when 20 minutes of inserts featuring Raymond Burr were added to "Gojira" and retitled as "Godzilla, King of the Monsters." Unfortunately, studio execs overlooked the fact that it was Burr's superior acting and stark narration that got the attention. They added inserts of American actor Myron Healey to Honda's "Varan, the Unbelievable" and it tanked. They did the same to "Half Human," giving rights to an American producer who added boring clips of John Carradine and Forrest Tucker ("F-Troop"). The library music-style score for the American insert clashed horribly with the original score and Carradine's narration seems out of place since he appears in absolutely no scenes in Japan.Sadly, after the utter disaster of this flick, Toho took the negatives of the original and locked them away. Even though "Gojira" and "Varan" have made it to American television, albeit only once, in their original forms, this film is still not available to the public.