Hanuman and the Five Riders

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Hanuman and the Five Riders (หนุมาน พบ 5 ไอ้มดแดง - Hanuman pob Har Aimoddaeng - literally "Hanuman and the Five Ant Men") is a tokusatsu superhero film produced in 1974 by Chaiyo Productions of Thailand. Chaiyo's own Kamen Rider film, half of it uses footage from the Kamen Rider X film Five Riders Vs. King Dark.

Although it has never been released in Japan, Kamen Rider fans in Japan refer to it unofficially as Hanuman and the 5 Riders (ハヌーマンと５人ライダー - Hanûman to Gonin Raidâ).

The film teams five Kamen Riders (1, 2, V3, Riderman and X) with the Hindu god Hanuman (fresh from his appearance in The 6 Ultra Brothers Vs. the Monster Army) 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 a scientist and his girlfriend, and threatens to drain her of her blood lest he use his technology to create an army of mutant animal men to confront the five Riders.

[edit] Trivia

Unlike Chaiyo's two official co-productions with Tsuburaya Productions in 1974 (namely The 6 Ultra Brothers Vs. the Monster Army and Jumborg Ace & Giant), this production was unauthorized by Toei Company, Ltd., which produced the Kamen Rider shows. Chaiyo had initially approached Toei, which turned down their offer of producing their own Kamen Rider movie.