Daimajin (1966) - Excellent Mixture of Period Drama and Giant Monster Movie - 8/10 (11/10/22)

Daimajin is a creative mixture of a jidaigeki and a kaiju. The former describes a period drama in the style of samurai movies such as the excellent Zatoichi film series. The latter describes films with giant monsters such as the Gamera film series. Daiei Film attempted to combine both genres and managed to create, promote and release three extraordinary films in the same year that deserve more attention, recognition and respect.

Daimajin is the first entry. It tells the story of a chamberlain who is planning a violent coup d'état. He attempts to murder his lord's entire family but the son and daughter are saved by a courageous samurai. The samurai gets additional help from his aunt who is a priestess of Daimajin. The children grow up in hiding in several caves under the statue of Daimajin. As the chamberlain has established a pitiless tyranny, the oldest son plans to take back what should belong to him. When his plan fails tragically and the chamberlain's men are about to destroy the statue of Daimajin, the demon god comes to life and punishes the wrongdoers.

This movie convinces on many levels. First of all, it has excellent flow, pace and structure in its concise running time of eighty-four minutes and doesn't ever get boring for one single second.

Up next, the film's characters are particularly intriguing. The protagonists are courageous, loyal and perseverant which makes viewers empathize strongly with them. The antagonists on the other side are brutal, immoral and selfish which makes viewers despise them. The movie also includes several memorable side characters with strong emotional motives whose actions are interesting to follow.

The movie's special effects are surprisingly great, especially if compared to the Gamera film series that hasn't aged particularly well. The titular monster looks scary, the historic settings have been constructed with great care and the final fifteen minutes are filled with spectacular actions and events.

As you can read, Daimajin is a movie that should equally please jidaigeki and kaiju fans. This movie has the depth and details of the former and the energy and imagination of the latter. This film has aged surprisingly well and its morals still apply today. Daimajin makes for a wonderful movie for the entire family as children, teenagers and adults should be similarly delighted. Make sure to purchase the wonderful boxed set by Arrow Films that includes all three movie, plenty of bonus material, a detailed book about the film series and a wonderfully colourful cover that should make anyone who doesn't own this gem particularly jealous.