In the midst of a drug heist, criminal Misaki somehow disappears; his girlfriend, the nightclub singer Chikako, is thought to know something of his whereabouts and so she is pursued by both police and gangsters (the latter having owned the drugs Misaki stole). But what if Misaki really *had* disappeared, had, as it were, *dissolved* leaving only his clothes behind? Scientist Dr. Masada has a theory about the cause of such a horror: the effects of radiation from H-bombs have created a liquid monster, the terrible H-Man, and now that monster is coming to Tokyo…. Director Ishiro Honda is best known in the West as the director of the first "Godzilla" movie, but he has a lengthy and varied body of work that is soon to get its due in the form of a biography co- written by Steve Rylfe and Ed Godziszewski; the latter presented a screening of "The H-Man" at Montreal's FantAsia Festival 2017 and preceded it with a talk about the man, his life, recurring themes in his films and more. Really interesting information, and it made this film, similar in ways to many such radiation cautionary tales of the 1950s, resonate that much more deeply. I look forward to discovering more of Mr. Honda's films!

This Japanese variant on THE BLOB sees atomic bomb testing (what else?) responsible for a gloopy ball of slime (nicknamed the 'H-man') going around dissolving people and leaving just their clothes behind. It sounds a lot of fun and it is, even though the majority of this film's plot is actually a crime drama, following a squad of policeman on the track of various criminal gangs. There are the requisite shoot-outs, car chases, and lengthy nightclub scenes involving scantily-clad singers, but it's the sci-fi trappings that make this movie so enjoyable. The first half hour is a little slow – other than a couple of people who disappear, we don't know what's going on – but once we get a flashback about the origin of the creature, the pacing picks up a great deal.The highlight of the film is the aforementioned flashback, a creepy segment involving some sailors investigating an eerily abandoned ship (a cliché, but designed perfectly here). Before you can say 'Steve McQueen', there's a slimy menace on the loose, dissolving people in some surprisingly gooey, graphic scenes that must have caused an uproar when this was first released. Although director Ishiro Honda is more used to shooting gigantic monsters, he's more than able to hand a smaller-scale menace on this occasion, delivering a suitably fiery climax in the sewers and another decent set-piece in which the titular menace invades a relaxed nightclub.The film doesn't offer up much that we haven't seen before, and it's fair to say that the cops-and-robbers element is fairly ordinary. None of the criminals stand out as really dastardly, and none of the cops are very interesting, either. Yet other characters are better – Yumi Shirakawa as a fragile mobster's girlfriend plays a pivotal role (the literal English title translates as Beauty and the Liquidman) and Kenji Sahara's dedicated scientist, forever performing experiments on unfortunate frogs, is entertaining. The special effects are fairly dated but always amusing, with glowing green figures, dissolving heads and a moving blob that looks like nothing more than washing up liquid squirted up the wall. A masterpiece this isn't – but it is a solid B-movie of the kind they made so well in the '50s.

This is one of the legendary Toho sci-fi films that is remembered more then actually seen. A number of friends fondly recall this film as one of the best that Honda directed even with the less than stellar English dubbing.The film is very well done but with some weak points that detract from the overall effect of the production. One aspect that is very good is the excellent special effect work by Eji Tsuburaya. The scenes of liquid humans going up walls works and the scenes where the victims are liquefied are still effective. Towards the end we are treated to some great miniatures of the Tokyo waterfront and sewer system that are almost indistinguishable from the life-size sets. The film is filled with shadows and creepy sets. The story moves along quite well until the times we get to the nightclub were everything stops for dance numbers with bikini clad women and two songs (one in English!). The film would be a good fifteen minutes shorter without them and they contribute nothing to the story. Of course you might enjoy these for their own qualities.The ending is a little screwy and there seems to be some budgetary constraints as a promised H-Man destruction event never occurs.Overall, a very good horror film that stands up to anything that came out of the US or Britain at the same time.

Like many other posters, I saw this film as a young boy and it gave me nightmares for weeks (maybe even months)! Luckily, my older brother finally convinced me that the "liquid creature" would not survive a swim from Japan to the United States and I was able to sleep again.I suspect that the modern age's Freddies, Jasons and Leatherfaces would not hold a candle to the effect that this film had on an impressionable youth back then. Perhaps the very fact that the monster had no tangible qualities and could theoretically be any puddle of water you came across was what gave it its fright value.It would certainly be interesting to see how a remake of this would play today.