The Kaiju Thread (Giant monsters attack!)

Godzilla was terrifying when I first saw the original American cut. I do enjoy a few of the films if only for a laugh or two. I got GOJIRA when it came out last year and I find it infinitely better than the American version.

A co-worker recommended Daimajin to us. It's roughly the same thing as Godzilla, but instead of a lizard, its this big statue with multiple faces.

Also, The Calamari Wrestler. Hilarious movie.

I used to love watching these films Saturday afternoons on TV, but recent viewings haven't proven quite as satisfying. For me it wasn't as much about Godzilla or the other monsters as it was the military's latest high tech weaponry. I was always disappointed when it inevitably failed to carry the day. Will the laser tanks ever get their due?

If you like the Godzilla films, then you need to see GMK: All Out Monster Attack! I think it came out a few years ago. Godzilla puts the beat down on Mothra and King Gidora.

You can also watch Godzilla:Final Wars, as that was supposed to be the capper for his career. It's OK, but I think that it could've been better. Not enough kaiju action, but when Big-G shows, he puts the hurting on those other fuckers.

The run of films they did in the 90s were solid spectacle -- hardly any plot to mention, but just some great imaginative monster fights. The Godzilla vs. Mothra they did then -- the one with the "dark Mothra" called Battra -- stands out.

What I always admired was, even in the 90s, how they embraced the model work and stayed away from CGI. I don't think a CGI Godzilla stomping on CGI buildings would have anywhere near the same charm. Hell, Devlin and Emmerich proved that.

I've seen every Godzilla movie in the Netflix inventory (Hey, I have kids!), and, for my money, GMK is second only to the original Gojira. Enjoy exploring that world, and don't forget Gamera!

As publicity for GINO (Godzilla in name only) , Sony released some of the 90's Godzilla films. So now that it is available, you may find Godzilla vs Destroyer a very enjoyable film. It may not be a fight, but watching the death scene in Godzilla vs Destroyer will bring tears to your eyes. The imagery and the haunting score are beautiful.

There's a hopeful note at the end.

Destroyah? Is Godzilla rap battling now?

Well, that would be more or less the Japanese pronunciation. I wish Godzilla would battle that horrible Gamera song.

I absolutetly loved the Godzilla films though the newer ones don't hold the same appeal to me as the older ones I watched as a kid. I loved the simplicity of the set-up, the cheesy music, and the silly dubbing. I found "Godzilla: Final Wars" to be a real let-down.

The second series started with "Godzilla 1985" and ending with "Destroyah" was actually fairly good as well but I can never go wrong with the original ones. Even the absolutely awful entries like "Megalon" are still enjoyable.

I caught the older "Gamera" films after not seeing them for over a decade and they didn't do as well. The only one I still have a soft spot for is the Sandy Frank dub of "Gamera Vs. Barugon". I taped it off TV as a kid and watched it religiously for many months then never saw it again. When I finally tracked down a DVD when I was older, it was the inferior AIP version. I searched for the Sandy Frank one but could never find it until one day I wondered it into a grocery store and picked it up for $3.00 as part of a three-pack of double features that included Destroy All Planets, Creature From The Haunted Sea, and a few others. 9 movies for $3 was quite a deal, especially when one of them was impossible to find.

I'm not up to date on my Kaiju, or even my giant monster movies in general, but I do have Godzilla Vs. MechaGodzilla on VHS and I'll be damned if that wasn't the first movie I ever "MST3K'ed" before I even knew there was an MST3K. Space Titanium indeed.

The Godzilla films from the 60s and 70s definitely fall under that nostalgia thing Devin was talking about. There's no universe where they can be categorized as great films. The scenes without monsters are tedious if not embarrassingly bad (although I've always wondered if seeing the original subtitled Japanese versions would make a difference), and seemed to become more frequent as time went on. But hell, there's giant monsters fighting, I can ignore the human scenes.

I don't care what anyone says, Destroy All Monsters is a bonafide classic. I remember waiting up til 3 in the morning to watch the old skool Godzilla flicks when they used to come on TV. Channel 4 would play the original, subbed, version of the film and I used to love them all (aside from the ones with the robots, I never liked the huge robots). Even watching them now there's a certain campy charm to the films which comes from their willingness to do every conceivable thing with these monsters.

Godzilla monkey-stomping on one of Ghidorah's necks in Destroy All Monsters still gets me and my friends cheering every time we watch it.

Speaking of which, there's an MST3K of Godzilla vs. Megalon that is absolutely fantastic.

"He's got a tree! That's not the Godzilla we know!"

Sho' you right!

Has anybody been picking up these new releases of the Godzilla movies on DVD? They're the releases I've always dreamed of, as they have both the Japanese subtitled version and the American dubbed version. Everybody wins!

Ghidorah and Invasion of the Astro Monster come out today. They seem to have skipped King Kong vs Godzilla, presumably due to rights issues, so I guess I'll have to pick that up separately. But odds are, I'm going to buy every damn one of these things, though I will feel shame over some of them (I'm looking at you, Godzilla's Revenge).

I hope they're going to go through the 90's stuff as well.

"Rex Dart, Eskimo Spy" is one of my favorite in-between bits they've ever done. We can probably forget about that one ever coming out on DVD. I doubt Toho would go for it.

Actually, it WAS released in the vol. 10 boxset, but that has since been discontinued.

And I'm still kicking myself for not buying that when I had the chance.

D'oh. I guess I still have my downloaded version to keep me warm.

edit:
Criminy, it's going for over a hundred bucks on eBay. I hate it when stuff goes out of print.

I just saw All Out Monster Attack over the Memorial Day weekend. I tried to explain Godzilla's appeal to my wife with absolutely no success. She merely gave me a funny look and then stuck her nose back into the chick lit she was reading. Girls. When will they ever understand the appeal of giant rubber monsters stomping the hell out of Japan?

I love Godzilla vs. Hedorah. So fucking bizarre. The music, the strange little animated interludes, the people melting as Hedorah flies over... love it.

Yeah, my wife thinks it's odd too. I've been put in the position of trying to explain why I like these movies, and I literally can't come up with anything. Childhood nostalgia doesn't cover it, and it's not one of those things where I'm laughing at bad filmmaking. I unironically enjoy these movies, and I don't know why.

It's giant monsters.

And they stomp on Tokyo.

And they beat the hell out of each other.

And stuff blows up.

And, occassionally, an Asian hottie appears.

Frankly, I'm more confused about why someone wouldn't like this.

Top notch releases... http://www.godzillaondvd.com/

Click on the Community link for answers to all your questions. The 2 that come out tomorrow haven't been released before, so count me in as excited (I have adequate bootlegs of dub version only). Looks like they're only planning on releasing 2 more this year and then Rodan and War of the Gargantuas. Rights and previous availability on dvd play into what they have/are releasing. Since the Japanese language versions of the titles they are putting out haven't legitimately seen our US shores, that's what they've been focusing on. Rights to all the other titles sit with Sony and a few other various companies. All Godzilla flicks (with the exceptions of 1985 & Biollante) have been released over here already, but I wish that Classic Media could/would give the terrific treatment (both versions and great special features) to the entire G-Man catalog.

Next to come from them: Terror of Mecha-Godzilla and All Monsters Attack (which I believe is Godzilla's Revenge and NOT Destroy All Monsters, which is out under ADV already= imdb lists the same alias for both flicks).


According to this site found on a CHUD ad: Son of Godzilla and VS Smog Monster are public domain. We could do our own MST3K commentaries and sell/distribute them.

I'm a huge kaiju fan (saw Godzilla 2000 in the theater and wept at the American remake) and even after I stopped buying comics regularly, I would still stop by the comic shop to pick up the new seasonal copy of G-Fan.

AND there's a contest on the main page to win 'em both.

Beat me to it (can't edit post fast enough). You're absolutely right, RD.

F**kin' A!

EDIT: I can't wait to find out more about the Parker/Stone (South Park, Team America) Kaiju movie...

Anyone see the new flick Gamera the Brave yet? I hear it's an origin story. Some preview info here: http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2...became-gamera/ I really dug the newer Gamera trilogy that came out.

Also thought I'd list some "non-G & G" (Godzilla or Gamera) from my collection to stimuate some conversation:
Ultraman
Atragon
Mysterians
Magic Serpent
Dogora
Yog: The Space Amoeba
Varan the Unbelievable
Warning from Space
The X from Outer Space
Gappa, the Triphibian Monster
Negadon
Yongarry (and the terrible CGI remake, Reptilan)= Korean
Garuda= Thailand
Gorgo= UK

More rubber-suits battling it out:
Super Inframan
The Guyver
Calamari Wrestler

Anyone see these cheesy (and non-Asian) flicks: Kraa! The Sea Monster and Zarkorr! The Invader (from the director/s of Carnosaur and Charles Band production company), Reptilicus, or the Made for TV: Gargantuan (cashing in one the US GINO hype) ? I can't really reccommend them (maybe Reptilicus) in good conscience, but I'm a completist.

And yeah, I get a chuckle out of the low-brow Kaiju Big Battel.

I grew up watching Godzilla movies on Saturday Mornings. I have seen all the Godzilla filmsstarting with Gojira til Godzilla 1985 the first bad American Godzilla film. I watched the Hanna Barbara cartoon as well. Has anyone seen Godzilla Final Wars directed by Ryuhei Kitamura? It is completely insane, has zero plot but is as fun as any of the classic Godzilla films Destroy All Monsters, Vs Megalon, Vs Mecha Godzilla and the ultimate culture clash King Kong vs Godzilla. KK vs Godzilla was released in a two pack set in 2006 where King Kong battles Mecha Kong. Very fun. A real Monster Mash.

I was very disappointed that the current DVD of King Kong vs Godzilla does not include the Japanese version. The American version includes a bunch of ridiculous padding like a news broadcast in which some "expert" discusses the size of Godzilla's brain. Why they felt this crap was necessary, I don't know.

I'd like to see a legitimate release of Godzilla 1985 though I do own all three versions (U.S., Japanese, and International dubbed) on DVD already. I hate the Destroy All Monsters retail DVD as well but thankfully was able to pick up the AIP dub and original Japanese subtitled. I wish these other companies that owned the rights to different Godzilla films put as much effort into their releases as Classic Media.

By the way, anyone know which version of "Terror Of Mechagodzilla" will be released on the DVD? I know there is a different version with a Godzilla intro as well as the fake boobs/suicide stuff that was removed.

The original movie is worth a watch for those of you who have only seen the crappy American re-cut that added Raymond Burr but added nothing to the plot. I still remember crying my eyes out at the end of that movie.
"Sniff... poor Godzilla, what did he ever do to anyone?"

Thanks for the awsome thread, but Hedorah is gonna kick ya' in the nuts for talking smack about him. But I do agree with the Mothra thing, Gayest Godzilla foe ever...

http://www.godzillaondvd.com/
Click on the Community link for answers to this question.

If I remember correctly, it will have the unedited version.

Well, it was the last of the "classic" Godzilla films, as well as the last one directed by Ishiro Honda, who directed several of the more famous Godzilla movies, before he died, so there's a bit of melancholy about it.

But I think it's mainly because it's stultifyingly bad.

No dissing on Mothra. Mothra owns your sorry ass.

Although, depending on how you look at it, Mothra didn't beat Godzilla. Mothra got killed and her wormy spawn beat Godzilla. Of course, that only refers to the original. In the 90's version, Mothra did indeed kick Godzilla's sorry tail all over Japan, as it should be, since that version had magical powers. Magic can beat up science. That's been proven in lab tests.

Even in the solo Mothra films?

That's a poseur Mothra.

I think an all-out weapons optional street fight between scientists and magicians is the only way we can have conclusive proof of either side's superiority.

Godzilla had no stake in that fight, he realized he was fighting children (there is no winning against children) and let them win by rolling into the water, no harm no foul. As far as Mothra, it got smacked down as it should have. Mothra is the girl's choice of monsters.

Even the Godzilla fight games had to come up with made-up powers to make her partially interesting to play.

That's the kind of ignorance I'd expect from a guy who's favorite monster is made of carcinogens. Does Hedorah have two tiny Japanese women whose only job is to sing songs about him? I think not. Point: Mothra.

Those tiny Women are nothing but cock teases they couldn't even give a guy a proper hand job. So what good are they?

Sissy Mothra aside,

I was thinking about the future of the Godzilla franchise, I am going to go out on a limb here and publicly state that I think when (if) they restart, they should drop the man-in-suit stuff and jump almost completely to CGI monsters. I cannot imagine that 10 or so years from now that CGI will be as expensive nor as big a pain in the ass as the miniatures, the suits, and the pyrotechnics they use now. And even if it is more expensive at that time, it would be a great boost to the franchise that could justify the extra expenditure. If you ask me the franchise needs a good kick in the tail, and not just a little time off.

Feel free to blast me now as a heretic!
I need a good flame every now and again, it keeps me regular.

I love kaiju (or at least Godzilla). I'm hoping that, sometime in the future, they release Godzilla 1985 and Godzilla vs. Biollante, so that I can finally see all the Heisei series.