WAR OF THE INSECTS (1968)

WAR OF THE INSECTS (1968)

Tagline: Nope

(Sci-Fi, Horror, Rare Insects) [PG]

Note: This movie did not get an MPAA rating. I think it would have landed a PG if it came out these days just because of some of the concepts and gnarly-looking bug bites. The movie was also released under the title GENOCIDE, so if you look for it on a streaming service, it may be under that name. 

Charlie seemed to need me so much…I don’t understand at all, I don’t understand anything.

After an attack that caused a plane crash, a man named George is blamed for the deaths of the crew because he happened to be in the area, (he also happens to be sleeping around with this mysterious woman named Annabelle). With the help of the plane's only survivor “Charlie”, it is soon discovered that the area is suffering from insect swarm attacks and the end goal is deadly. No one knows why it started or what’s behind it, but the entire world is at risk from the WAR OF THE INSECTS! 

One crazy thing about this movie is that it basically starts with a dude who is trying to hit on or rape this girl Yukari every chance he gets. It seems like a very strange thing to add to the subplot. There is also a lot about operation “Broken Arrow” in this thing because of a missing hydrogen bomb. None of this seems to really relate to anything going on in the main plot unless they are trying to say the radiation is causing all of the problems, but another loosely related reason is given for all of that. 

If you like insects on a level that is pretty intense, this is the movie for you. There are several insect attacks and a lot of insect footage. If you pay attention, the film does keep things interesting, but it’s “just interesting” not necessarily in a “let’s watch this film for fun” kind of way. The U.S. Air Force in this movie are all pretty much full-blown a-holes, but still end up making the Air Force in SUPER 8, look a hundred times worse. In one scene one of the U.S. officials smacks Charlie around even though he is being completely cooperative and trying to give them the information they need but just doesn’t know what the heck they are talking about. 

Admittedly I went into this movie knowing almost nothing about it and was expecting giant insects to be taking over the world. Instead, it’s just regular ones. This movie also fails to deliver a “global” scale. They mention the extermination of man, but the threat is never shown outside of the island it takes place on. The plot ends up being really nuts and involves poisonous insects, but I just feel like the execution is lacking. So in this case we have an interesting movie that just never quite delivers on what it could have because of all the wonky side-tracking storylines. The other thing I wasn’t a fan of was the multiple shots of an insect biting skin. It’s like if you are going to have someone get bit, shove it in the movie for effect that’s fine, but why show the same sequence over and over. We get it, insects will bite you. I thought the cinematography was pretty rough, but the pacing is fine and all of the lead actresses were very good as well as Yûsuke Kawazu as Jozi.   

Overall this film comes across as a mystery crime thriller with bugs thrown in as an afterthought. However, even with all that works against this thing, it is still a pretty interesting movie with some intriguing sequences, one that includes a dude purposely poisoning himself with an insect just to try and understand what the diabolical scheme is all about. Also like a lot of the era’s films, it has an anti-nuclear message, so that’s always good.

It took me two viewings of this movie to determine what the heck was really going on and how some of the pieces fit and some didn’t as much as they tried to make them. This probably explains why so many reviews of this movie are just a bit off when they give the synopsis. This gets a 3 out of 7 because the ending is beyond stupid.  

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