THE MOVIES OF MY LIFE PROJECT PHASE ONE: The Green Slime (1968)

This is a strange one.  Even though it is presented to us as a science fiction film, what this Japanese/American production (shot in Japan with an all-American cast--oh, and a token hot Italian redhead to add eye candy and provide a conflict between the two leads) is is a Monsta Movie.

A Monsta Movie is not a Monster Movie.  The Monsta Movie apes the Monster Movie, but isn’t really scary, is much more action-based, usually features a creature that is both ridiculous and easily imitated by kids, and is relatively short.  It’s the kind of movie Monster Movie Kids like me used to watch on an afternoon after cartoons or homework (Indeed, this film was a perennial on WABC’s 4:30 Movie; why I never caught it when I was younger, I do not know).  Taken in that context, it’s okay.

What fascinates me about this film--what fascinates me about a lot of science fiction films before the candification of the genre by Star Wars and its ilk--is what it says about personal attitudes in 1968.  For a film by Kinji Fukasaku shot in Toei’s movie studio with Japanese special effects artists, the world of this film is Uniformly White.  There’s only one female character of note played by Luciana Paluzzi, who’s ostensibly the head medical doctor but is there only to wear miniskirts and be something the two male leads can fight over.  Speaking of women, the only women we see are nurses, and everything else is Man’s Work.  The Man Of Science who had tried to harvest the Baby Green Slime to study it for, I dunno, science dies Horribly for his hubris.  The most assertive and manly of these Men of Action, played by Richard Jaeckel, ends up with the Hot Italian Redhead while her fiancee, who uses discretion and caution when dealing with the problem of Mutant One-Eyed Electrified Green Slime Monstas infesting his space station dies heroically.  The sexual and personal politics of this movie did not age well, and it becomes unintentionally hilarious.

Of course, if you saw this as a kid, you were here for the Monstas, and those are...pretty goofy.  They’re big globby things with one blinking red eye and two lengthy electric tentacles that wear what appear to be grass skirts and shriek like back-up singers for Jacques Brel.  Like most Monstas, they’re hard to take seriously as a threat, but are entertaining to watch.

I wouldn’t necessarily call The Green Slime a good film, but it’s only 90 minutes, and it does what it says on the tin.  It’s a painless watch that I imagine would have entertained Young Tom if he had seen it, and mildly entertained Adult Tom for maybe the wrong reasons.  So use your discretion.

It also has a Kick-Ass Theme Song.  Honest.  Here's your proof.