The H-Man

Ishiro Honda
1958

This is a largely disappointing Sci-fi effort from Toho's monster movie dream team of Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya. Gangsters, cops, and a sultry night-club singer clash over a hood's mysterious disappearance. Nuclear radiation, that most hallowed boogeyman of 50's fright fare, seems to be the culprit again, liquifying it's victims and turning them into an unstoppable assimilating menace. The picture is slightly reminiscent of "The Blob" (1958), but has little of it's impact as the blue gooey H-man doesn't grow in size with each new victim, instead tending to take it's meals one at a time. Also, "The H-Man" suffers from a painful amount of filler with it's snoozefest gangster angle. The effects, with a few choice examples late in the film, are largely lackluster except for a few extreme "liquefaction" shots. There's a nice nautical scene about midway through that introduces the creature with a great deal of suspense and atmosphere. It's a shame the picture couldn't keep things running at that level throughout.