War of the Insects, Nuclear Genocide and Moral Insects

After World War 2 ended much animus festered between Americans and Japanese. They bombed Pearl Harbor and started a war, and we nuked them twice killing only innocents. They were inhuman monsters, and we grabbed innocent Japanese Americans from their homes, confiscated all their property and sent them to internment camps (...we dare not call them concentration camps). Then the Japanese made monster movies. Perhaps it was an attempt at healing. Godzilla films showed a conciliatory tone toward America while still preaching against the horror of nuclear weapons. Americans loved these films and perhaps in some small way, these monster epics helped bring two great peoples back together. Not all of the Japanese monster films were as magnanimous and peace seeking...hence 1968's "War of the Insects" (aka "Genocide").

Annabelle (Kathy Horan) is an angry and sultry bikini babe/mad scientist. She exists to seduce and destroy mankind. She hates mankind...full of war and hate. She has invented a new breed of insects that communicate with each other and attack to kill...they even bring down airplanes. No man can resist her and we'll see this. Enter Yukari (Emi Shindo), a pretty barmaid...every man in this film tries to rape her. She is married to the dolt George (Yusuke Kawazu), who after being seduced by Annabelle, helps her collect insects for her experiments. Meanwhile, Annabelle' bees bring down an American B-52, and most of the crew is killed by insects. The H-bomb on the aircraft is lost and a lone airman survives.

As the very pretty Yukari is continually molested by everyone, her husband is arrested by idiotic American military peeps for the murder of the crew members. The handsome and grouchy bug scientist Dr. Nagumo (Keisuko Sonoi) arrives to figure out what is going on with the island's bugs. He'll team up with the sultry Dr. Komuro (Reiko Hitomi) who looks great in a tight skirt and is only molested once in this film. Together they try to prove Yukari's husband's innocence and get to the secret of swarms of mysterious insects that are popping up all over the world. Annabelle then tortures the surviving crewman in hopes of finding the missing H-bomb as Soviet spies have joined her.

Will Annabelle end up in a cat-fight with the fair Yukari over George...or with the radiant Dr. Komuro? Will Annabelle's bees and the missing H-bomb spell doom for the planet? Just what is Annabelle's backstory which caused her to go mad-scientist instead of Sports Illustrated swimsuit model? Here's the warning...however ridiculous this film may appear for the first 70 minutes, what follows is a bleak, ominous, taboo, and horrific last 15 minutes. This won't be the feel good film of the post war era, and will not foster warm and fuzzy feelings between the aforementioned peoples. Nevertheless, the worst horrors of WW2 are exploited here which may show continued hostility toward the Japanese and Americans which no doubt existed in the late 1960s. For some very dark horror, enjoy "War of the Insects."