Hanuman and the Five Riders is a tokusatsu superhero film produced in 1975 by Chaiyo Productions of Thailand, founded by Sompote Sands.
Following Chaiyo's two official co-productions with Tsuburaya Productions in 1974 (namely The 6 Ultra Brothers Vs. the Monster Army and Jumborg Ace & Giant), Chaiyo approached Toei Company with plans to produce a Thai Kamen Rider movie. Though they were turned down, Chaiyo went ahead and made the movie regardless, making this an unauthorized production.
This film is a loose adaptation of Five Riders Vs King Dark, the Non-Serial Movie of Kamen Rider X which united the first five Kamen Riders, from which half of the footage is derived. The rest of the footage was made by Chaiyo themselves who even re-created the Kamen Rider costumes for some of the scenes in the film, most notably when they interact with Hanuman himself.
The film teams the five Riders (1, 2, V3, Riderman and X) with the Hindu god Hanuman against X's adversary King Dark (who appears in his regular giant moving statue form, and alternately in a human-sized form), who drinks the fresh blood of young women. He captures Dr. Wisut from The 6 Ultra Brothers Vs. the Monster Army and his girlfriend, and threatens to drain her of her blood unless he use his technology to create an army of mutant animal men to confront the five Riders.
Tropes featured in Hanuman and the Five Riders include:
- Behemoth Battle: Hanuman vs. King Dark.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: The end of the movie has three thieves beheaded on-screen.
- Fusion Dance: Exclusive to this movie, the five Riders merge into a single V3.
- History Repeats: The thief meets his second end at the hands of a giant Hanuman exactly the same way he did the first time.
- Make My Monster Grow: Whereas the original King Dark is a Humongous Mecha, this film's King Dark alternates between man-size and giant.
- Mooks: Original to this movie, King Dark has, instead of the G.O.D. Warfare Agents from X, a bunch of costumed foot soldiers who appear not unlike the iconic Shocker mooks but ant-themed.
- No Name Given: Despite being promoted to The Heavy in this film, the revived thief's name is never revealed.
- Averted in the rare Hong Kong English dub however, where the revived thief is given the name "Kaan" (pronounced like "Khan").
- Tickle Torture: The revived thief binds Dr. Wisut to a pillar and tickles his foot to force him to work for King Dark, but it backfires as Wisut suffers Potty Failure and pisses all over the thief's face.
