Like many other posters, I saw this film as a young boy and it gave me nightmares for weeks (maybe even months)! Luckily, my older brother finally convinced me that the "liquid creature" would not survive a swim from Japan to the United States and I was able to sleep again.

I suspect that the modern age's Freddies, Jasons and Leatherfaces would not hold a candle to the effect that this film had on an impressionable youth back then. Perhaps the very fact that the monster had no tangible qualities and could theoretically be any puddle of water you came across was what gave it its fright value.

It would certainly be interesting to see how a remake of this would play today.

This Japanese variant on THE BLOB sees atomic bomb testing (what else?) responsible for a gloopy ball of slime (nicknamed the 'H-man') going around dissolving people and leaving just their clothes behind. It sounds a lot of fun and it is, even though the majority of this film's plot is actually a crime drama, following a squad of policeman on the track of various criminal gangs. There are the requisite shoot-outs, car chases, and lengthy nightclub scenes involving scantily-clad singers, but it's the sci-fi trappings that make this movie so enjoyable. The first half hour is a little slow – other than a couple of people who disappear, we don't know what's going on – but once we get a flashback about the origin of the creature, the pacing picks up a great deal.

The highlight of the film is the aforementioned flashback, a creepy segment involving some sailors investigating an eerily abandoned ship (a cliché, but designed perfectly here). Before you can say 'Steve McQueen', there's a slimy menace on the loose, dissolving people in some surprisingly gooey, graphic scenes that must have caused an uproar when this was first released. Although director Ishiro Honda is more used to shooting gigantic monsters, he's more than able to hand a smaller-scale menace on this occasion, delivering a suitably fiery climax in the sewers and another decent set-piece in which the titular menace invades a relaxed nightclub.

The film doesn't offer up much that we haven't seen before, and it's fair to say that the cops-and-robbers element is fairly ordinary. None of the criminals stand out as really dastardly, and none of the cops are very interesting, either. Yet other characters are better – Yumi Shirakawa as a fragile mobster's girlfriend plays a pivotal role (the literal English title translates as Beauty and the Liquidman) and Kenji Sahara's dedicated scientist, forever performing experiments on unfortunate frogs, is entertaining. The special effects are fairly dated but always amusing, with glowing green figures, dissolving heads and a moving blob that looks like nothing more than washing up liquid squirted up the wall. A masterpiece this isn't – but it is a solid B-movie of the kind they made so well in the '50s.

While I am a huge fan of Japanese films, I don't care for giant monster films. While Godzilla and the like have huge followings, seeing a guy running around in a rubber monster suit does nothing for me. Because of this AND the fact that the film was made by Toho Studios (home of 'Zilla) AND the director of many of these films (Ishirô Honda), my expectations were very low. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded and H-MAN turned out to be a decent film--with an interesting plot and decent dubbing (though I would have preferred it to be subtitled).

The film begins with some drug dealers stealing some drugs. However, unexpectedly, one of the men suddenly vanishes and all that is left of him is his clothes!! What happened and where he went was a mystery and so far the film reminded me of THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, where in the town the people were missing and all that was left were their clothes and some powder. However, the similarities to this Michael Crichton film/novel seem to end there and it really seems more like a variation on the film THE BLOB (also 1958).

The police go on the assumption that the criminal is alive (and naked) somewhere and refuse to consider anything else. So, when a young scientist insists that he knows what happens, they naturally ignore him completely (even though they have no leads). He insists that nuclear testing (THE 1950s cause of all evil in horror films) created a monster that could dissolve people almost instantly but is forced to work on his own. Along the way, he falls for the missing gangster's lady friend and together they both set out to prove it.

Eventually, after several folks are dissolved by this evil slime, the cops FINALLY admit that the scientist might just be right! And, in a very radical departure from what they'd been doing, they order the sewers of Tokyo to be flooded with gasoline and ignited to kill the beasts (which, apparently, isn't all that hard to kill--unlike most nuclear mutants). But, the girl is kidnapped and carried into the sewers, so it's up to the studly scientist to come to her rescue and save the city--at the same time (what a guy!!).

While a lot of the film is the standard "nuclear slime dissolves the masses" film, it manages to do a good job thanks to better than normal dubbing, a decent story and a monster that isn't nearly as laughable as Godzilla, Rodan or Mothra!! Good old 50s horror entertainment for all.