Russian Mockbusters are Awesome!

Apart from its legendary doorstoppers, most of Russia’s beloved literary classics are pretty goddamn old, as they predated home video by a few decades or more. 

Many of these literary legends initially were translative MockBusters, but became their own things as they have spawned adaptions and sequels. 

Doctor Aybolit originally was one to Doctor Doolittle, but it became its own thing. So was Buratino, the spiritual antithesis of Pinocchio, and Emerald City, itself inspired by the Land of Oz. There’s also a Winnie the Pooh variant called Vinni Pukh, who is primarily known (at least outside of his homeland) for appearing in a book based trilogy of short Soyuzmultfilm movies. 

There is a good case when what was at first a Russian Mockbuster became more internationally popular than the original, itself also quite popular in Russia during its modest heyday, even though the latter hasn’t been reprinted in its native France for a long while until recently. Said novel turns out to be The Amphibian Man, a literary legend which itself has inspired things as diverse as The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Monster From Piedras Blancas, The Shape Of Water, and most infamously, the titular character of Go Nagai’s DevilMan. Funnily enough, its protagonist is himself inspired by Hictaner from The Man Who Can Live In Water, a story by Count Jean De La Hire. 

Following The Amphibian Man is Ariel The Flying Man, a story loosely inspired by Jean De La Hire’s Nyctalope series, which is otherwise better known in the former Eastern Bloc than elsewhere.