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Released by: Retromedia
Released on 1/28/2003
Directors: George P. Breakston, Kenneth G. Crane
Cast: Peter Dyneley, Jane Hylton, Tetsu Nakamura, Terri Zimmern, Norman Van Hawley, Jerry Ito, Toyoko Takechi, Alan Tarlton
Year: 1962
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The Movie:
One of the better 'man with two heads' films to emerge out of the golden age of drive-in cinema, The Manster is the story of Larry Stanford (Peter Dyneley best known as the voice of Jeff Tracy in the Thunderbirds TV series), an American reporter who arrives in Japan to interview a mad scientist who has been working on some rather unorthodox creations as of late in his secluded mountain laboratory. He also happens to keep his wife, and unfortunate victim of one of his mistaken experiments, locked up in a basement dungeon.
The scientist, Dr. Robert Suzuki (played by a stalwart of Japanese sci-fi films, Tetsu Nakamura) gets Larry wasted and hooked on Geisha girls one night, and injects him with a secret serum that causes him to cheat on his wife, turn into a jerk, and grow a second evil head out of his shoulder and go on a killing spree.
Best known as a staple of late night horror television, this movie scared the Hell out of me the first time I saw it when I was a kid. Seeing again it for the first time in probably twenty years, the film isn't really scary at all, but that doesn't take away from its entertainment value. A genuinely bizarre piece of movie making, there are some classic moments here, highlighted by the climactic transformation scene where Larry and his evil head split into two separate beings - one a normal Larry, and the second a kind of sasquatch like ape man thing that runs amuck for a few minutes towards the end of the film.
There are also some interesting cast members in the film, most notably Jerry Ito of Mothra and Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon fame as Police Superintendent Aida and Jane Hylton from Circus of Horrors as Linda Stanford, Larry's estranged wife.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Manster is presented in an OK fullframe transfer. There is quite a bit of grain and some minor compression artifacts, but the movie looks quite a bit better than I remember it looking when I saw it on TV and it's very watchable.
The Dolby Digital Mono track is nothing to write home about, but it serves the movie just fine and dialogue and sound effects come through nice and clear with some hiss noticeable here and there, but never enough to really take away from the film.
There's a small still gallery of about half a dozen pictures, some chapter stops, and an animated menu.
The Final Word:
While I didn't find The Manster as creepy as I remember it from my childhood, I still really enjoyed it and this presentation from Retromedia is probably the best the film is going to look and sound short of a full fledged restoration. If Geisha girls and two headed freaks are your thing (I know they're mine!), then check this one out.