Japan Synopsis
“From a world below, it came to terrorize – to destroy – to revenge!”
In an effort to find an economic means of purifying salt water, a joint U.S.-Japanese military command is set up on an isolated Japanese island where an unusual salt water lake is situated. However, their purifying experiments arouse the prehistoric monster Obaki from hibernation at the lake's bottom, and it proceeds to attack Japan. Although made by a U.S. independent film company, this film was based on a Japanese Toho monster film of 1958, "Daikaiju Varan", from which all of the monster effects scenes and a few incidental dramatic shots were edited into it.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Varan the Unbelievable. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Horror + Science Fiction in Japan
93 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Horror and Science Fiction genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Varan the Unbelievable itself).
The 1961–1963 Japan Window
In the crowded 1961-1963 Japan release window, Varan the Unbelievable sits at #44 of 44. The leaderboard below contextualises its neighbours.
The 1960s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1960s in Japan, 202 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Varan the Unbelievable premiered alongside 18 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 18 other Japan films in 1962.
The 169th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
22 audience reviews — more than 39% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 43th percentile among Japan films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Varan the Unbelievable, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- daikaiju · 2
- giant · 9
- monster movie · 6
- monster · 91
- kaiju · 77
- giant monster · 64
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #4,536 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (1st percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -2.6 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Horror productions specifically: #373 of 391 (top 95%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | Japan, United States of America |
| Original Language | En |
| Spoken Languages | English, Japanese |
| Production Companies | Cory Film Corporation, Dallas Production Inc., Crown International Pictures |
| Runtime | 1h 10m |
| Release Date | December 7, 1962 |
| IMDb | tt0056648 |