''Venus Flytrap'' (also known as ''Body of the Prey'' (working title)) is a 1970 American-Japanese

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

horror film shot partly in Japan. It was distributed by the

Toei Company () (also styled TOEI) is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution and video game developer and publishing company. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan (all but two of them operated by ...

of Japan. The film was released in Japan as ''Akuma no Niwa'' (''The Devil's Garden''). The plot features a mad scientist who uses lightning to turn carnivorous plants into sentient man-eating creatures. The film was later released on U.S. video as ''The Revenge of Dr. X'' and ''Venus Flytrap''. Based on an unproduced 1950s screenplay written by an uncredited

Ed Wood Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and pulp novel author. In the 1950s, Wood directed several low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult cla ...

, the film was directed and produced by

pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...

writer Norman Earl Thomson. (Thomson rewrote Wood's screenplay considerably.) Credit is often incorrectly given to the editor Kenneth G. Crane, who directed the 1959 American-Japanese horror film '' The Manster''. The American video release print additionally erroneously featured the credits for a 1969 Philippines production called ''The Mad Doctor of Blood Island''.

Plot

Dr. Bragan ( James Craig) is a workaholic rocket scientist at NASA working on a mission to outer space. The stress of the mission causes him to have a mental breakdown, so his assistant, Dr. Paul Nakamura (Yagi), suggests he takes a vacation in Japan at his abandoned luxury resort to recuperate. Dr. Bragan accepts his offer and flies to Japan. In Japan, Dr. Bragan stays at the defunct hotel of Nakamura with Dr. Noriko Hanamura (Kami), the lovely cousin of his coworker who takes on the role of his assistant. Bragan begins a bizarre experiment in botany in the hotel's secluded greenhouse to prove his theory that humans evolved from plants. With a potted

Venus flytrap The Venus flytrap (''Dionaea muscipula'') is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a trapping ...

he brought from America, the scientist grafts it to a Japanese carnivorous oceanic plant to create a hybrid creature that becomes humanoid and requires the blood of mammals to flourish. But Bragan is just as obsessive and moody as he was in America, and his behavior causes Noroko to suspect he is going mad, especially when he secretly takes a victim's "heart blood" to feed it. When his creation, "Sectovorus" uproots and begins moving around on its own, it becomes dangerous and it's not long before the creature begins seeking human victims from a nearby village. The villagers riot and Dr. Bragan must decide between protecting his creation or killing it in order to save mankind. He opts to lure it into a nearby volcano.

Cast

* James Craig as Dr. Bragan *Tota Kondo as Customs officer *Lawrence O'Neill as American at airport *Al Ricketts as Gas station owner *Atsuko Rome as Noriko Hanamura (billed as Ako Kami) *Edward M. Shannon as Dr. Shannon *John Stanley as Dr. Stanley *James Yagi as Dr. Paul Nakamura

Angelique Pettyjohn Angelique Pettyjohn (born Dorothy Lee Perrins; March 11, 1943 – February 14, 1992) was an American actress and burlesque queen. She appeared as the drill thrall Shahna in the ''Star Trek: The Original Series'' episode "The Gamesters of Triskeli ...

is credited in the opening credits as one of four cast members, but does not appear in the film.

Reception

Kim Newman Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's ''Dracula'' at ...

found the movie weird and amateurish, but noted it had enough bizarre elements to keep your attention. It is further noted that despite one of the titles, there is no Dr. X. in the film. Creature Feature gave the movie one star.

Legacy

The syndicated series ''

Cinema Insomnia ''Cinema Insomnia'' is a nationally syndicated American television series presented by horror host Mr. Lobo. Format Typically, Mr. Lobo opens each episode by promising to screen a well-known horror or science fiction classic (such as ''Creatu ...

'' mocked the film on Halloween 2011. In 2012

RiffTrax RiffTrax is an American company that produces scripted humorous commentary tracks which are synced to mostly public domain feature films, education shorts, and television episodes. With the talents of former ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''M ...

released a comedic commentary on the film featuring the voices of

Michael J. Nelson Michael John Nelson (born October 11, 1964) is an American comedian and writer, most known for his work on the television series '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). Nelson was the head writer of the series for most of the show's origi ...

, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. The film is available for streaming for free on many sites, including, as of October 2011, by

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Production

Atsuko Rome had never acted before, instead having been a model and ballet dancer. She praised director Thomson for making the process smooth. The shoot took about a month. The movie was reportedly discovered years later in a warehouse with no opening credits, and credits from another movie (''The Mad Doctor of Blood Island'') were sloppily spliced onto the print. This has caused the confusion of the identities of the cast and crew.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Venus Flytrap 1970 films American horror films 1970 horror films 1970s science fiction horror films Films set in Japan Films shot in Japan Mad scientist films Films with screenplays by Ed Wood Japan in non-Japanese culture 1970s English-language films 1970s American films