Not the second, but actually the THIRD movie in the series. This is an exciting and tense study of courage and self-sacrifice as four little boys embark on a long and forbidding voyage over Majin's Mountain to find the missing men from their village and rescue them from an evil and brutal samurai overlord with dreams of conquest. There's no way in heaven or earth that this movie would have been made the same if it was done by Hollywood - it's much too brutal and realistic in showing the fates of various sympathetic characters. Of course, you still get to see Majin awaken from his slumber and bring death and destruction to those who desecrate his mountain or persecute his people. Another beautiful print, with the same excellent cinematography, acting and miniatures as the other two Majin movies with the bonus of yet another Akira Ifukube score. Just pop that corn, plop down on the couch, and have fun watching Majin stomp evildoers.
9 Reviews
Weakest in the Daimajin Trilogy.
OllieSuave-00716 January 2022
Daiei Studios' Wrath of Daimajin is the second and final sequel to the movie featuring the giant stone god. In this plot, a Lord Arakawa kidnaps the men of villages in a mountainous region to use as labor to produce gunpowder. As a result, a group of young boys journeys through the mountains, including through the valley of Daimajin, to rescue their fathers.
The plot, I thought, was not as suspenseful and solid as the original movie, as it concentrated too much on the boys' adventures in the mountains, alternating between that and the fathers' mistreatment at the labor camp. But there is the satisfying fun of seeing Daimjain awaken to wreak havoc on those nasty doers.
The acting was pretty good, cinematography was brilliant, and special effects were neat. And once again, you are treated with another great Akira Ifukube score; however, some of the music soundtrack is reused or reworked from past film scores.
Overall, it's not too bad of a sci-flick, but is the weakest of the Daimajin Trilogy.
Grade C-
The plot, I thought, was not as suspenseful and solid as the original movie, as it concentrated too much on the boys' adventures in the mountains, alternating between that and the fathers' mistreatment at the labor camp. But there is the satisfying fun of seeing Daimjain awaken to wreak havoc on those nasty doers.
The acting was pretty good, cinematography was brilliant, and special effects were neat. And once again, you are treated with another great Akira Ifukube score; however, some of the music soundtrack is reused or reworked from past film scores.
Overall, it's not too bad of a sci-flick, but is the weakest of the Daimajin Trilogy.
Grade C-
Childs play - no they save (well try to)
kosmasp20 June 2022
No pun intended - of course this is not a horror movie nor has it anything to do with Chucky. I reckon it would have more in common with Hulk (someone I mentioned in my review of the first movie of the trilogy) than a horror movie or its main character.
That being said, the movies do not have really much in common apart from the god and the (revenge) plot, if that is what you want to call it. Crazier things have been seen - and the kids on a mission stuff oddly works. Still the movie is - or rather feels too long. Even though it technically isn't - but it is the pacing. Also most of the action is compressed in the last half hour, which might make the rest quite the drag to watch. Different times and all that - although as someone has pointed out, it had to do with cinema viewers keeping the last things they saw in mind. So it makes sense to put all the goodies at the end. Would have been nice to have more in between though.
Anyway, the snow and everything that seems to seperate this from the other movies kind of works.
That being said, the movies do not have really much in common apart from the god and the (revenge) plot, if that is what you want to call it. Crazier things have been seen - and the kids on a mission stuff oddly works. Still the movie is - or rather feels too long. Even though it technically isn't - but it is the pacing. Also most of the action is compressed in the last half hour, which might make the rest quite the drag to watch. Different times and all that - although as someone has pointed out, it had to do with cinema viewers keeping the last things they saw in mind. So it makes sense to put all the goodies at the end. Would have been nice to have more in between though.
Anyway, the snow and everything that seems to seperate this from the other movies kind of works.
Daimajin of the lake saves the day.
junguur30 August 1999
The sleeping Daimajin has moved to an island home and the people under his protection live happily at lakeside. When evil warlords decide its time to subjugate these peaceful neighboring domains they go right for their leaders with some sneaky assassins and a surprise attack. As a demoralizing move they blow up the stone god in his island home. What a bad move that turns out to be. Not the best of the three Daimajins. It's much less beautifully filmed and the story isn't so great. I liked "Return of Daimajin" best because the kids are cute and the cinematographer had the eye of a naturalist.
Return of Daimajin
rstef116 April 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This is my least favorite of the three Daimajin movies due to the inclusion of four plucky children on whom the movie wastes far too much time. While the other two movies in the trilogy maintain a serious tone throughout, this episode goes in for the cutesy, almost fairy tale adventures of the children as they travel across the Majin's mountain to rescue their father and brother who, along with several other woodsmen, have been taken prisoner by an evil lord and his clan. Just how the kids intend to save their family members once they find them is never made too clear. Instead we endure several long scenes of the children eluding the bad samurai on the mountain in almost "Home Alone" ways that did not fit in with the overall tone of the picture. Positive points in the movie are the beautiful cinematography, outstanding special effects, fine miniature work and inclusion of a nasty, bubbling sulfur pit where both a hero and villain meet their fates. This movie also adds another weapon to the Majin's arsenal in the form of a hawk who acts as the god's emissary and lookout.
Junguur's synopsis on this page, excepting the mention of the children, is actually for the movie Return of Daimajin.
Junguur's synopsis on this page, excepting the mention of the children, is actually for the movie Return of Daimajin.
Daimajin fights in the snow
ebiros228 April 2011
This is the third and the final installment of Daimajin trilogy. The three stories are not connected in their plots.
Daimajin is a 50ft tall stone talisman with a spirit of deity residing within. It turns mobile when the innocent people are oppressed to battle evil.
Four kids embark on a journey to rescue their father who is enslaved by an evil warlord in a place called Hell's Valley. On their way they pass the mountain where Daimajin resides. Daimajin sends a hawk to accompany the kids and to protect them, but when things goes badly for the kids, Daimajin turns his fierce face to the evil warlord.
The four kids are unusually resourceful, and gets around where even adults would find it a challenging situation, surviving in mountainous wilderness, and in a snow storm.
Daimajin awakes this time in a snow storm, and rest is a bad day for the evil warlord and his soldiers.
The production isn't as good as the previous Daimajin movie as the movie relies heavily on the acting ability of the four very young actors. They put in a surprisingly good performance, but they're no Jody Foster in "Taxi Driver". The caliber of other actors aren't as high as well. Special effects are just as good, and it's one of the best '60s suitmation movie. It's better in my opinion than the Gamera series done by the same studio around the same time. Not a masterpiece in any way, but a movie that still holds its own after nearly half a century.
Recent TV mini-series "Daimajin Kanon" is a direct homage to this series with Daimajin being done in CG instead of suitmation.
Daimajin is a 50ft tall stone talisman with a spirit of deity residing within. It turns mobile when the innocent people are oppressed to battle evil.
Four kids embark on a journey to rescue their father who is enslaved by an evil warlord in a place called Hell's Valley. On their way they pass the mountain where Daimajin resides. Daimajin sends a hawk to accompany the kids and to protect them, but when things goes badly for the kids, Daimajin turns his fierce face to the evil warlord.
The four kids are unusually resourceful, and gets around where even adults would find it a challenging situation, surviving in mountainous wilderness, and in a snow storm.
Daimajin awakes this time in a snow storm, and rest is a bad day for the evil warlord and his soldiers.
The production isn't as good as the previous Daimajin movie as the movie relies heavily on the acting ability of the four very young actors. They put in a surprisingly good performance, but they're no Jody Foster in "Taxi Driver". The caliber of other actors aren't as high as well. Special effects are just as good, and it's one of the best '60s suitmation movie. It's better in my opinion than the Gamera series done by the same studio around the same time. Not a masterpiece in any way, but a movie that still holds its own after nearly half a century.
Recent TV mini-series "Daimajin Kanon" is a direct homage to this series with Daimajin being done in CG instead of suitmation.
Kids search for a stone god
BandSAboutMovies1 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Daimajin is found at the top of a mountain, above a village where an evil lord has forced men into work camps. This sends their sons to rescue them, which takes them past the statue of Daimajin, which they take the time to pay proper respect to. However, the big bad has decided that he can openly disrespect the statue, which leads to the same thing that happens in all three of these films: Daimajin goes wild and ruins the evil empire.
Written by Tetsurô Yoshida, this movie was directed by Kazuo Mori (Forty-Eight Hours to Kill), this film focuses on four young boys who are trying to save their fathers and discover that they have a psychic link to Daimajin.
This is the only film in the trilogy that wasn't released in the U. S. during the 1960s and it didn't have an English dub until Mill Creek Entertainment released it on blu ray in 2012.
While these films were all shot together to save time and money, they're all interesting in their own ways. This one feels more of a children's story, except that our heroes face incredible danger throughout.
Written by Tetsurô Yoshida, this movie was directed by Kazuo Mori (Forty-Eight Hours to Kill), this film focuses on four young boys who are trying to save their fathers and discover that they have a psychic link to Daimajin.
This is the only film in the trilogy that wasn't released in the U. S. during the 1960s and it didn't have an English dub until Mill Creek Entertainment released it on blu ray in 2012.
While these films were all shot together to save time and money, they're all interesting in their own ways. This one feels more of a children's story, except that our heroes face incredible danger throughout.
Adventurous Conclusion to an Underrated Franchise
kluseba13 October 2022
Wrath of Daimajin is the third, final and best entry in the Japanese franchise about the ancient demon god who protects his disciples from cruel injustices. In this movie, a group of lumbermen have been kidnapped by the henchmen of an evil lord who is trying to build powerful weapons to invade neighbouring communities. One lumberman survived severely injured and made it back to his village. While the adults in the village are too scared to try to save their fellow citizens, four young boys decide to leave secretly to save their kidnapped fathers. However, they don't only have to confront the evil lord's pitiless army but numerous natural obstacles such as dangerous earthquakes, wild rivers and heavy snowfall. The four boys have to go onto Daimajin's sacred mountain to make it to the evil lord's labour camp and the mysterious deity decides once more to intervene.
This third movie has a completely different vibe than the previous entries. First of all, the protagonists of this movie are four courageous children. Daiei Film attempted to aim for a younger target audience with this movie and the company did a surprisingly convincing job. In addition to this, Wrath of Daimajin can certainly be described as an adventure movie as it follows the children's epic journey across the mountains. Another element that might come as a surprise is that this movie might also be the most brutal one in the franchise. If you thought that this movie might be less intense because children are involved, you are gravely mistaken. These little doses of stunning intensity make this film also the most captivating, emotional and profound one in the franchise.
The movie also convinces in the departments that made the previous entries so enjoyable. The locations are absolutely stunning and vary from traditional mountain villages over dense forests, beautiful meadows and sinister screes to desolate labour camps. The balance between beauty and terror in these locations leads to an emotional rollercoaster ride.
The special effects are once again stunning for their time. The way the filmmakers created artificial snow looks particularly realistic. The scenes on an improvised raft on a dangerous river are particularly memorable. The closing twenty minutes show the titular monster in a most diversified way as a mystical saviour and a fair avenger.
The acting performances also deserve critical acclaim. The four child actors are everything but shallow and play their roles with focused dedication and emotional depth. The adults also do wonderful jobs as the fearful peasants evoke strong controversial feelings among viewers while the antagonist is particularly brutal and is even shown torturing one of his prisoners to death.
In conclusion, Wrath of Daimajin is the best entry in the trilogy about the ancient demon god. This movie mixes genre elements of adventure, drama and fantasy in an equally entertaining and profound way. This film should be enjoyed by cineasts of any age and its quality has stood the test of time. It's regrettable that this is the last entry in the franchise since the quality of this trilogy is better than more renowned film series such as Gamera and even Zatoichi. Make sure to purchase the wonderful boxed set by Arrow Films since its elevated price is justified by enjoyable multiple viewings of these three masterpieces.
This third movie has a completely different vibe than the previous entries. First of all, the protagonists of this movie are four courageous children. Daiei Film attempted to aim for a younger target audience with this movie and the company did a surprisingly convincing job. In addition to this, Wrath of Daimajin can certainly be described as an adventure movie as it follows the children's epic journey across the mountains. Another element that might come as a surprise is that this movie might also be the most brutal one in the franchise. If you thought that this movie might be less intense because children are involved, you are gravely mistaken. These little doses of stunning intensity make this film also the most captivating, emotional and profound one in the franchise.
The movie also convinces in the departments that made the previous entries so enjoyable. The locations are absolutely stunning and vary from traditional mountain villages over dense forests, beautiful meadows and sinister screes to desolate labour camps. The balance between beauty and terror in these locations leads to an emotional rollercoaster ride.
The special effects are once again stunning for their time. The way the filmmakers created artificial snow looks particularly realistic. The scenes on an improvised raft on a dangerous river are particularly memorable. The closing twenty minutes show the titular monster in a most diversified way as a mystical saviour and a fair avenger.
The acting performances also deserve critical acclaim. The four child actors are everything but shallow and play their roles with focused dedication and emotional depth. The adults also do wonderful jobs as the fearful peasants evoke strong controversial feelings among viewers while the antagonist is particularly brutal and is even shown torturing one of his prisoners to death.
In conclusion, Wrath of Daimajin is the best entry in the trilogy about the ancient demon god. This movie mixes genre elements of adventure, drama and fantasy in an equally entertaining and profound way. This film should be enjoyed by cineasts of any age and its quality has stood the test of time. It's regrettable that this is the last entry in the franchise since the quality of this trilogy is better than more renowned film series such as Gamera and even Zatoichi. Make sure to purchase the wonderful boxed set by Arrow Films since its elevated price is justified by enjoyable multiple viewings of these three masterpieces.
This is a very average addition to the genre that was a huge step down from the first Daimajin film
kevin_robbins8 April 2022
Wrath of Daimajin (1966) is a Japanese samurai monster movie I recently watched on a random streaming service. The storyline follows a group of kids whose family is being used as slaves to work the sulfur mines. They set out on an adventure to find sacred religious grounds where it's rumored a monster resides that if freed can save their families.
This movie is directed by Kazuo Mori (Zatoichi at Large) and stars Junichiro Yamashita (Gamera: The Giant Monster), Tôru Abe (Tokyo Story), Tanie Kitabayashi (Rikyu) and Yûzô Hayakawa (Gamera vs Barugon).
The majority of this film is about the children on an adventure and trying to survive harsh conditions in the wilderness. It's 1 hour and 5 minutes into the movie before you see Daimajin. There are some cool bird attack scenes that are well done and the arrival of Daimajin was cool. His intro music was very much like Godzilla's. The town models were very cool as was the use of snow. Daimajin arriving and attacking the city was pretty fun as were some of the elements they created within the town (like the zip lines).
Overall this is a very average addition to the genre that was a huge step down from the first Daimajin film. I would score this a 5/10 and recommend skipping it.
This movie is directed by Kazuo Mori (Zatoichi at Large) and stars Junichiro Yamashita (Gamera: The Giant Monster), Tôru Abe (Tokyo Story), Tanie Kitabayashi (Rikyu) and Yûzô Hayakawa (Gamera vs Barugon).
The majority of this film is about the children on an adventure and trying to survive harsh conditions in the wilderness. It's 1 hour and 5 minutes into the movie before you see Daimajin. There are some cool bird attack scenes that are well done and the arrival of Daimajin was cool. His intro music was very much like Godzilla's. The town models were very cool as was the use of snow. Daimajin arriving and attacking the city was pretty fun as were some of the elements they created within the town (like the zip lines).
Overall this is a very average addition to the genre that was a huge step down from the first Daimajin film. I would score this a 5/10 and recommend skipping it.
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