Latitude Zero is a 1969 Tokusatsu film directed by Ishirō Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya (sadly, being his last science-fiction film). The story was written by Ted Sherdeman, writer on the 1954 science-fiction film, Them! (and based on a 1941 radio serial written by Sherdeman entitled Latitude Zero).
Latitude Zero is an interesting case of a movie with an all-star cast as well as Toho's dream team. Plus, it's also an interesting non-kaiju film in which Haruo Nakajima plays monsters only nearly human-sized instead of a 50 foot monster.
This film shows the examples of:
- Bat People: One of the types of mutated beasts created by the Mad Scientist, Malic, are the Bat Men, giant humanoid bats which act as guard dogs in his secret base.
- Cool Ship: As expected by Toho, the Alpha-Gou and the Black Shark. However, the Alpha-Gou can fly.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: Well, Perry Lawton tried once he reached into the surface, but no one believes him. How are they gonna notice Ken Tashiro and Jules Masson are missing?
- Face of a Thug: Koubo looks like a thug, doesn't he? He helps the main characters to stop Malic from destroying Latitude Zero.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Malic really pissed off Kuroi once he puts her brain as an experiment.
- Immune to Bullets: The whole purpose of the green bath the main characters took so they won't be harmed by bullets.
- No Immortal Inertia: Shown on screen when Malic accidentally kills Lucretia.
- Really 700 Years Old: The Citizens of Latitude Zero, Malic, his wife, and his crew members are actually 200 years old.
- Rent-a-Zilla: The Griffon, a massive winged lion with the brain of a human. She eventually turns on the Mad Scientist who made her and kills herself in the process.
- Yandere: Kuroi subverts this trope later on as she's obsessed with Malic, even trying to kill Mackenzie for him. When she becomes the Black Moth, she decides to crash into Malic's submarine.
