Obviously cobbled together from several episodes of a TV series and thus barely coherent, but jetting along at a super swift pace that rarely flags for a minute, this screwball Japanese sci-fi lunacy relates the loopy tale of a monstrous evil brain from outer space (that's carried around in a suitcase!) who leads his grotesque minions on a crusade to conquer the universe. The evil brain unleashes a horde of hideous monsters that include a fanged lizard dude with lethal long nails and a creepy witch lady on Earth. It's up to gallant superhero Starman to save the day. Man, does this honey scrupulously cover all the right wrong bases to qualify as a real choice chunk of pure kitsch: A gloriously inane story that's treated with utmost seriousness, cruddy dubbing, lovably rinky dink (far from) special effects, a ridiculously solemn narrator who works mad overtime to keep the ramshackle narrative reasonably linear and cohesive, a colorful array of goofy aliens (the humanoid starfish beings in particular are an absolute hoot), an overwrought orchestral score, silly villains (my favorite was the nasty one-legged guy who limps along on crutches), and crazy fights that are choreographed like violent ballet set pieces. Sidesplitting stuff.

Just one question....how come there aren't ever any nice disembodied brains even when not from outer space? We watched this one last night on DVD. It might be a re-edited serial or TV show, I'm not sure. I had avoided those Japanese Starman movies over the years. He seemed a lesser version of Superman. Maybe I was wrong to avoid them. This story was obviously geared for children and gave two of them important roles in saving the earth. Yet, a few of the creatures seemed to be a bit too scary for younger kids.The film had silly overly staged fight scenes, hokey costumes and corny dubbed dialog. In other words we really enjoyed it! Actually, to be fair, there were a few strange looking creatures in it that did freak out my wife when they were on screen. Sometimes they would flash on unexpectedly in closeup. Especially the demon like one with the weird ears and long nails. And the one that looked like a witch.This film is worth seeing if you have an open mind.

In 1964, three films were released that actually were all re-edited from a 1958 Japanese series called "Super Giant". I've never seen these in their original form but have seen two of the three films that were created "cleverly" from this series. ATTACK FROM SPACE was pretty bad, though EVIL BRAIN FROM OUTER SPACE was even worse--most of which is because the film's action was so incredibly limp.Just like the other Starman film, the movie begins with an incredibly bizarre set that is supposed to be on another planet. A group of "advanced beings" are supposedly sitting around discussing the fate of the galaxy, but they are so bizarre and silly looking you have to see this scene for yourself! These "things" decide to send Starman to Earth to help us and I assume the third film (which I have yet to see) also has this setup scene.Starman turns out to look almost exactly like a Japanese version of Duck Dodgers of the 25th 1/2 century (you know, the Daffy Duck character). His body suit with an antennae sticking out the top is priceless. Unfortunately, although he's supposed to be practically indestructible and an amazing fighter, he's incredibly lame. He never seems to be able to kill anyone--just beat them up--and even then, he's not exactly "the man of steel". In fact, the fighting looks more like ballet and no one ever seems to be seriously hurt. I assume this is because "Super Giant" is supposed to be a kids' movie and they didn't want the little ones seeing blood and guts and stuff--but it also made for some incredibly limp fighting scenes--which make up about half the movie.As for the bad guys, they too, have bad costumes--much like Starman but (naturally) in black. But my favorite of the bad guys was the monster--with a rubber suit and fangs....and claws of Cobalt(?). He was quite silly and again and again kept escaping--way to go, Starman! The main problem with the film isn't the fighting, though it is pretty bad. The problem is that much of the film you don't actually see. A narrator periodically does an exposition to tell you what is missing from the film! At one point, Starman is in one location, the next he instantly has discovered the baddies hideout and is kicking butt (gently, mind you)--and the narrator goes on a lengthy explanation as to how this happened! Cheap, stupid, a bit dull and shoddy from top to bottom. Why is this film rated as highly as it is??? Any score above 1.2 seems excessively high! Also please remember that my review is specifically for this hacked apart and highly bastardized film--not the original Japanese film, which couldn't help but be better than this mess.UPDATE: I just saw the third film in the trilogy and, surprise, it also was terrible.

A bird! Its a ... Wait a minute! Its a Japanese super hero! Yes, its Starman! The Japanese equivalent of Superman, Starman has gone through various incarnations over the decades. Ken Utusi was the original. Think of this movie this way ... Godzilla meets Buck Rogers. Kind of. This is, if you're the type of person that enjoys the old Godzilla movies and stuff like Gene Autry's Radio Ranch, camp. Given when this movie was made it is good, clean sci-fi fun. And the aliens and their costumes? Hilarious. Special effects? Not found wanting here. There is that old stand by, the one I never could figure out and that always fascinated me as a child ... Words go one way, mouths go another. How did they DO that?