“They don’t call me Kamikaze for nothing.”

ZombieDog’s rating: Four George Lucas’s

ZombieDog’s review: In 1977, George Lucas released his most notable film, Star Wars. In 1978, Japan responded with Message from Space.

Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, a man with incredible talent despite this movie, Message from Space shows us what half the budget of Star Wars (yes half of budget) was able to accomplish in 1970s Japan. I do strongly encourage people to go read this guy’s bio. He’s flat-out amazing and has contributed to the art form in many ways. More than that though, I would say he’s the prime example of the passion we both search for and write about on this website. And, even to a large degree, I would say he embodies the obsession that originally pushed the cult movie genre to the forefront of culture.

The basic storyline here is that there is an evil force in the universe (Darth Vader 2.0) who is going to destroy an indigenous culture and perhaps anyone else he encounters. Said culture uses some kind of tribal magic to send out messages into space to find heroes. Said messages look exactly like walnuts and find unlikely heroes. Meanwhile, possibly modern-day Earth is threatened with attack unless it surrenders.

The team of heroes grows into a small “Rebel Alliance” who then decide to attack the planet-sized base. The only weakness they find is a small exhaust port that they will have to skillfully fly through to find the main engine reactor and blow it up.

Let’s get this out of the way first: Yes, this is absolutely a rip-off of Star Wars… enough that they could get away with. With the $5 million budget, this movie was the most expensive movie ever made in Japan and took Fukasaku one year to film. This is funky when you think it came out the very next year after Star Wars.

But more than being Star Warser: A Newer Hope, Message from Space draws influences from kabuki theater, the Godzilla films, and both Western and Japanese stereotypes. There are times when it goes on location to some wonderful place, while at other times they could only afford a tiny set for no particular reason. I think this movie was a game of telephone 100 people long, starting in America and ending in Japan, where the story that is the last story to be told is what was made into this film.

That being said, you have to realize that Message from Space was made to be enjoyed. It embraces the spirit of those drive-in movies of the ’50s and runs with it. If the actors got any direction at all, it was probably just “Stay in frame while you do what you do.” At times it feels like a total free-for-all fever dream, while at other times it feels like it’s truly innovative and trying its best to come up with something new.

There is absolutely room for criticism here. We know nothing about our heroes other than their surface characteristics. The cinematography is cheap. And it’s not cheap because it’s the 70s, it’s cheap because they used cheap film and cheap cameras. The spaceships are clearly put together from hundreds of model kits (I’m actually okay with this, I think it’s kinda cool).

The one question that I have to ask is, “Where did the money go?” For being the most expensive movie in the country up to that point, how come we don’t see that on screen? It is special effects heavy, but nothing Japan wasn’t fully capable of at the time. Godzilla had been doing the same basic things for 30 years at this point. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a dealbreaker for me, it’s just a pointed question.

Message from Space is one of the rare movies that will be good or bad based on your attitude going into it. If you go in expecting some type of conventional film experience and are critical of a film’s shortcomings, then this film will probably fall flat for you. If you go in and are looking for a cult/drive-in type experience and are willing to sit back with a group of friends, then this movie is going to be awesome.

I normally rewatch the movies for my reviews, unless I’ve watched it recently. I haven’t seen this movie in years so I thought it would be best to methodically go through it so I can write a decent review. While I was watching it my sister came in and started watching it with me. This is uncommon because our tastes aren’t always the same. She was pulled in and instantly mesmerized. There were times when she cheered and even laughed. There’s your answer right there. Watch this movie with this as many family and friends that you can jam into a room. Make a movie night of it. This movie is fun, it’s lacking in things like style, plot, acting, but who cares! This movie is meant to be enjoyed and there’s no other way of describing it.