Goke: Body Snatcher from Hell (1968) d. Sato, Hajime (Japan)
In the 1960s, Japan turned out some of the wildest, weirdest genre offerings fans could encounter. Case in point: This futuristic Flight of the Phoenix, where, after passing through blood red cloudbanks and encountering a glowing UFO, a commercial airliner crashes in the desert, stranding its disparate band of survivors.
An evil space amoeba subsequently takes possession of a would-be hijacker (a showstopping, head-splitting, glob-oozing sequence) who begins drinking the other passengers’ blood. Before long, the “Gokemidoro” alien has drained or killed everyone except the captain and stewardess who make a break for civilization, only to confront more sinister surprises in a downbeat, politically-charged twist ending.
Released last year as part of Criterion's "When Horror Came to Shochiku" box-set, this is a long-hidden horror worth discovering.