Varan the Unbelievable

Varan the Unbelievable (1962) blends Horror and Science Fiction elements. Top cast includes Myron Healey, Tsuruko Kobayashi, and Clifford Kawada. It draws from real-world events while keeping the focus on character stakes.

Actor: Myron Healey • Genre: Sci-Fi movies • Provider: Prime Video

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.