The Moon Mask Rider is a tokusatsu movie produced by Purumie International/Herald Enterprises and distributed by Nippon Herald Pictures, was released theatrically on March 14, 1981. Considered Japan’s answer to the American box-office fiasco, The Legend of the Lone Ranger (released the same year), this updated version of the Moonlight Mask legend bombed at the Japanese box-office. Daisuke Kuwahara (who, like Klinton Spilsbury , disappeared from doing films) plays George Owara (Moon Mask Rider’s new alter-ego), and the rest of the cast made up of veteran action starlets: Sue Shihomi, Daijiro Harada and Takayuki Godai.
Tag: religious cult
-
Mysterious Two
Two Aliens visit the Earth in an effort to enlist converts to travel the universe with them.
-
Nikita Roy
A woman’s scepticism about the supernatural is challenged when she looks into the mysterious death of her brother and its connection to a religious cult.
-
Manuel and Clemente
Manuel and Clemente, couple in the shower and in various scheming, try to do business with miraculous apparitions. Near the Sevillian town of El Palmar de Troya, in 1968, people begin to say that the Virgin appears and the two friends take advantage of the situation. Soon a network of economic interests and credulity is created that makes it easier for Manuel and Clemente to achieve their goal: a monumental basilica, a religious order of nuns, priests and bishops of their own, and even a pope, Gregory XVII. Satire on the curious origin of the Palmarian Catholic Church and its unique founders.
-
Maniac Killer
A murderous cult kidnaps French prostitutes and tortures them to death to “purify” them of their evil ways. The local pimps, understandably upset, set out after them, as does a man whose girlfriend was kidnapped by the cult and may still be held by them.
-
Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness
Misa Kuroi is an adorable high-school girl who arrives at her new school when it is falling under an evil supernatural force. Trying to figure out who’s behind the supernatural attack, Misa also has to deal with assumptions by her fellow classmates that believe she is the one behind it all. Misa and twelve other students are kept late after school hours one day to retake an exam. Then, after sunset, the entire school is deserted, and the students find themselves trapped inside and their teacher no where to be found. One by one, the thirteen students are picked up and disposed of in horrific and graphic fashion. It is up to Misa to try and gain the trust of her fellow students so that she can protect them and stop the evil before it’s too late.
-
Psycho Diver: Soul Siren
Yuki Kano has it all: fame, wealth, the world at her feet. There’s also something very wrong with her… from time to time, she’s totally unable to sing (which, for a pop star, is not good). Enter Bosujima, a “psycho diver” with the capability to enter people’s heads and straighten out what’s wrong with them. Well, most of the time, anyway.
-
Vares: The Path of the Righteous Men
The body of a young woman whose heart has been ripped out of her chest is found in a remote are in Finland. The finder of the body, a dismissed pastor, hires private investigator Jussi Vares to investigate the crime. Vares uncovers a criminal ring involved in extortion, religious scams, exploitation of minors and stock market speculation.
-
Chaos: The Manson Murders
In August 1969, Charles Manson’s followers killed seven people on his orders. Why? Explore a conspiracy of mind control, CIA experiments, and murder.