Masked Rider The First
Director: Takao Nagaishi
The background: Kamen Riders - Japan's answer to US superheroes such as Batman and Spider-man - are masked crusaders who have the special powers of insects like crickets and grasshoppers.
The first Kamen Rider was created by the late Shotaro Ishinomori for a 1971 TV show. The popular show spawned many sequels featuring Kamen Riders with different powers and different outfits, but they all followed the same basic formula: a secret society kidnaps a young man and transforms him into a Kamen Rider, after which he sets out to take on the bad guys.
The story: The film reveals the origins of Hongo and Ichimonji who were the first two Kamen Riders.
The former (played by Masaya Kikawada) is kidnapped by Shocker, an evil organisation that brainwashes humans and performs experiments on them, but he manages to regain his sense of self and escape.