Director

Kazui Nihonmatsu

2: briefs
13:00: average
26 min: in total

On film.briefs2

Genocide

Kazui Nihonmatsu · 1968

Genocide (1968), directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu for Shochiku, is a science fiction horror film set on a fictional Japanese archipelago where weaponised insects emerge in the wake of a crashed H-bomb. Blending Cold War paranoia, post-nuclear trauma, and ecological unease, it follows biologist Dr. Nagumo, islander Yukari, and American soldiers as they confront biological invasion, espionage, and the looming threat of nuclear cover-up. Shot by Shizuo Hirase with a sparse score by Shunsuke Kikuchi, it is austere in execution and ambitious in theme — Shochiku’s final horror release, and a singularly uneasy artefact of its time.

13:00

The X from Outer Space

Kazui Nihonmatsu · 1967

The X from Outer Space (1967) is a Japanese kaiju film directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu, produced under governmental tax incentives to promote Japanese genre cinema abroad. It follows a Martian spore that mutates into Guilala — a jet-headed, feathered monster — which rampages through Tokyo before being neutralised with a fictional compound and launched into solar orbit. Made with shared effects resources and minimal narrative scaffolding, it prioritises momentum and tactile spectacle over coherence or character. Released theatrically in Japan and later on US television, it has endured as a touchstone of earnest, low-budget tokusatsu.