The
Weird, Unsettling Mix of Psychedelic, Killer Insects,
Concentration Torture Camps and Doomsday Grimness...
original
Japanese title: KONCHU DAI SENSO [The Great Insect War]
also known as WAR OF THE INSECTS and H-BOMB and GENOCIDE
director:
Yoshimizu Nihonmatsu (as Norman Cooper for International prints)
starring: Keisuke Sonoi · Yusuke Kawazu · Emi Shindo ·
Cathy Holman · Reiko Hotomi · Rolf Jesser
Back
in 1968, Shochiku Studios was losing money at the boxoffice. It was especially
disheartening because their competition - namely Toei and Toho - was very
healthy, mostly due the runaway success of their kaiju eiga [monster
movies]. Shochiku had become a major name in television production but
film revenues were suffering due to their conservative reputation. They
dumped a pile of money into this production and embraced the quirky plot
with hopes that the market would respond accordingly. The result terrified
audiences... and not in a good way. The weird mix of psychedelica, killer
insects, concentration camps and doomsday grimness was not what horror
fans wanted in 1968.
Regarding
the GREAT INSECT
WAR title: The only insects are bees. And the war consists of a
bee attack on an in-flight US airplane which happens to be carrying a
couple H-Bombs. The plane goes down on an island off the coast. Not only
are the bombs missing but somehow they've been detonated. The US military,
the Japanese police and Russian spies are searching. In addition to this
catastrophic situation, there's Annabelle, a Jewish blonde lady who is
- essentially - the slut of the island community. One of her numerous
affairs is with a scientist Joji. He has been arrested due to circumstantial
evidence that links him the the downed airplane. His boss flies from Tokyo
to help clear Joji and becomes smitten with Joji's wife Yukari. Meanwhile,
it turns out that Annabelle - although she doesn't appear to be old enough
- had been a prisoner in a German concentration camp and was tortured
the entire length of WW2. She's got the tattoo on her breast to prove
it [see pic below right]. Now, Annabelle lives for revenge. She has groomed
killer bees in her basement with hopes of using them in a massive genocide
attack against Germany. But her plan went haywire when she's assaulted
by a snooping Japanese agent. During a scrimmage she accidentally shoots
a hole in the bee cage resulting in the attack on the military plane and
the loss of detonated H-Bombs.
A Japanese
film in English language; widescreen format 16:9, fully uncut version
(84 min.), DVD encoded for ALL REGION NTSC WORLD FORMAT, playable on any
American machine. Extras include trailers
Nudity/Sexual
Brutality/Violence
Intended for Mature Audiences
![Genocide [Great Insect War] (1968) Killer Insects & Torture Camp](Images/vd4281_1.jpg "Genocide [Great Insect War] (1968) Killer Insects & Torture Camp")
