In late Edo Japan, a wicked chamberlain betrays his lord, enslaves the local villagers, and desecrates their god, an enormous statue of a warrior, which ultimately comes to life as 'Daimajin' (roughly: 'giant demon'). As Japanese monster movies go, this one is pretty subtle and the titular monster doesn't show up until the final reel, but the sometimes grim 'samurai' story leading up to the tokusatsu climax is actually quite good. The film is very well made (I watched a reasonably well-done subtitled version) with an excellent score by Akira Ifukube (reminiscent of his iconic Godzilla and Mothra themes). Worth tracking down for fans of the fanciful (I found it on YouTube). As a cautionary tale about the dangers of iconoclasm, I only wish something similar had happened when the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan.
Review of Daimajin
