Equal parts samurai drama and
Godzilla, Daiei Studio's fondly-remembered
Daimajin series transports the metropolitan mayhem of the daikaiju eiga ("giant monster movie") to sixteenth-century Japan. At a time when Toho's flagship
Godzilla series had begun to slide into high camp, 1966's
Daimajin sought to recapture the B-movie thrills of the genre's early days. Director Yasuda Kimiyoshi takes a no-nonsense approach to the proceedings, and while the action does culminate in a fifty-foot-tall stone statue coming to life and stomping on a feudal Japanese village, the film always takes itself seriously. Yasuda would bring the same style to Daiei's other samurai monster movie series,
Yokai Monsters, but
Daimajin stands as his most memorable contribution to the genre.
During Japan's Warring States period, the kindly Lord Hanabusa is overthrown by the wicked Samanosuke, a tyrant who enslaves his subjects to build an immense fortress from which he will conquer the neighboring domains. A faithful samurai and a Shinto priestess hide Hanabusa's children Tadafumi and Kozasa in a mountain shrine to Majin, a giant stone statue worshipped by the local peasants as a god. Once the children come of age, Tadafumi and his friends plot to depose Samanosuke. As the struggle for control of the Hanabusa lands comes to a head, Samanosuke's evil ways anger Majin. The stone giant stirs to life, and only Kozasa has the power to check its rampage of destruction.
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