Kaiju

[Crenners]

We've had several other scattered discussions about giant monster movies but this is a genre I particularly enjoy and I want to hopefully prompt some chat. I find these films comforting and intermittently exciting and also occasionally brilliant. While they're often unevenly paced, I've come to enjoy the meandering, often poorly-acted lulls as I follow the seams to the next sequence of a man in a rubber suit stomping on a model village.

I might as well start with the archetype, the one and only Godzilla (1954). I've just rewatched it and found it even better than the first time.

The H-bomb allegory is of course fundamental both to the creation and the dominating themes of the film but it's more subtle and humanistic than that. Some of the most impactful scenes for me are in the more mundane moments, the dancing on board the ship, the courtroom debate on how to announce it to the public, the reserved ethical frustration of the zoologist. There's never been a kaiju film with better human characters or more engaging worldly dilemmas. I also enjoy the pacing of the build up and the initial reveal before it descends into total bedlam.

As well as the ineffable nihilistic destruction, it's the human drama which gives the film such a gloomy despair. Humans seem completely ill-equipped to respond to the problem and they seem wholly insignificant in the face of Godzilla's rampage. Yet they also provide the only kernel of hope and possibility. Science is the catalyst but it's also the only possible resolution. It's messy and real and you never convincingly know what's best.

The effects are still thrilling to me. I love the rubber suits and flimsy skyscrapers of the later Showa era films but this has a real attention to deal, artfulness and an appetite for gloomy carnage. However much Godzilla was influenced by the magnificent effects in King Kong, this remains something different and exciting, a labour of ingenious love.

The soundtrack and effects by Akira Ifukube are also quite magnificent, really strident and iconic themes which were reused again and again throughout the series but the Godzilla roar is a particular stroke of genius. It's such an unearthly, awesome, unnerving sound, elements of cosmic horror for me.

Generally, my favourite kaiju films are the darker, heavier entries and this is the ne plus ultra. Nearly seventy years on, it's still very entertaining and rather powerful.

Would be interested in your thoughts on Godzilla 1954 or whatever else.

[Crenners]

Ultra Q (1966)



Not a film but a fantastic mixture of The Twilight Zone, sci-fi and rubber kaiju action by Tsubaraya Productions, produced by Eiji Tsubaraya, a legend of Japanese special effects, who worked on the original Godzilla (1954) and many more. It's a 28-episode TV series, a kind of adjacent precursor to Ultraman, and it's all on YT.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT7obiC2E-oAvEjGlvtoL6rABcfY3mDkm

Aside from the expected charms of a B&W 60s sci-fi mystery series, I really enjoy how pacy and varied it is. While I do love kaiju movies, only the very best have much appeal outside the monster scenes. At their lower ebbs, you can be sitting through an hour of children or rookie photographers outwitting nuclear physicists, military leaders and heads of state; it's even worse when the comic relief turns up. Gimme Godzilla! Ultra Q addresses that by revealing the monster after about two minutes build up and (usually) wrapping things up neatly in less than half an hour.

Where it differs from your average 'monster of the week' tokusatsu is the tone. There's a real mysterious streak running through the series which has drawn comparisons to The Twilight Zone. That may be slightly overstated but there's something more here than rubber suits and models getting stomped; the supernatural and 'horror' elements are a great fit for the format. Check out the 'Baron Spider' ep for some skin-crawling melancholic claustrophobia. Dare I say that it also reminds me of Patrick Troughton era Doctor Who? (the only Who I ever really loved)

As he continued to work for Toho, Tsubaraya was able to borrow props and sound effects for Ultra Q, which allowed for higher production values than expected for a TV show. In the first episode, 'Defeat Gomess!', you can see the 1964 Godzilla body as well as some Rodan torso. For those familiar with the Showa-era Goji films, it's a lot of fun to spot the 'cut and shut' effects work.

In summary then, Ultra Q is the best sci-fi fantasy horror kaiju mystery TV series ever made. Well worth your time if you like any 60s Japanese tokusatsu, Ishiro Honda, Eiji Tsubaraya or even the British and American shows which influenced it. One of my favourite discoveries of the year.

[bgmnts]

They say he's got to go, go go Godzilla!

You always cheer for Godzilla don't you? You want him to fuck up as many buildings and japanese people as possible. Unsure why this is.

I would love a kung-fu kaiju film. Just put Jackie chan and donnie yen in godzilla and gidorah outfits and have them fight for 90 minutes.

[Crenners]

Godzilla vs Megalon (1973)

I'm in the mood for something mindless and this is as mindless as they come. It's the most memeable Godzilla film, with both the flying kick and Jet Jaguar (every frame) being legendary by this point. It's a children's film through and through, full of one-note characters and broad fight sequences.

Despite that, it's quite an interesting product of its time with a groovy rock soundtrack featuring some psychedelic flute solos and lots of contemporary fashion and bold colouring. As always, there's a really annoying kid, even more so in the English dub, sounds like a real tosser, and it's wearing the shortest shorts feasible. I really don't understand why they always have the shortest shorts in these films, it's mental.

Aside from the meme moments, the fights are ridiculous enough although there are lots of cuts to hide the impact of the violence. I guess to keep it kid-friendly but the sequences do lose a bit of heft and fluidity for the cuts. I've no idea what the story was, the first half hour was quite boring but from about 40 minutes in, the second half (short film) lifted off.

I understand that this is regarded as both least favourite and most favourite among the fandom. I personally much prefer the Heisei stuff to this but as a change of pace on a late Sunday afternoon, it's pretty much perfect.

[Crenners]

Godzilla vs Destoroyah (1995)

The final film of the Heisei era and one of the saddest, bleakest Godzilla films ever made, second only to the original. First of all, Destoroyah is a bastard of an opponent, evidently stronger and more damaging than the big fella. Seeing the impact of the mini Destoroyah creatures in the first part of the film heightens the terror when they amalgamate into the massive mother fucker.

Beyond that, from the first appearance of Godzilla, something is wrong. We learn quickly, he's hurt, he's burning up and he's not got long. That escalates the tension throughout because while you're usually excited whenever Big G appears, here, you feel tense, sad, fearful.

I won't spoil where this goes but it's a film that gets better and better, like many kaiju flicks, but here it also gets heavier and heavier. Yeah, I'm going through a difficult period at the moment and it's not getting much better but this is the first time I've ever shed a tear at a Godzilla film. Genuinely, a powerful, emotional monster movie. I love the Heisei era for its atmosphere and effects and for the more serious tone. This isn't my absolute favourite, that's probably vs King Ghidorah or vs Biollante. Godzilla 84 may even be better because of the pacing and soundtrack but Destoroyah is unique and well worth your time.

[Smeraldina Rima]

I saw Godzilla 54 earlier in the year but can't really add to your review. What would be best to see next? I loved the 'gloomy carnage' of it, so could be up for more of that without the same human drama, but am also interested to see different sides of the genre or just follow a path of Crenners' favourite Kaiju. Any downside with jumping straight to the films reviewed here?

[Crenners]

I saw Godzilla 54 earlier in the year but can't really add to your review. What would be best to see next? I loved the 'gloomy carnage' of it, so could be up for more of that without the same human drama, but am also interested to see different sides of the genre or just follow a path of Crenners' favourite Kaiju. Any downside with jumping straight to the films reviewed here?

Sorry, I didn't see this sooner, I turned off all notifications.

Sincerely, there's not really anything quite like the original in terms of (relative) depth. There are a few films which ignore all of the sequels and follow on from 54 which are good, such as Godzilla 1984 aka 1985 aka Return of Godzilla. That's the first in the Heisei era films, which is probably my favourite Godzilla period for the darker tone, impressive but still absurd/daft practical effects, unusual ideas and continuity. The run from 1984 to Destoroyah is only about eight films original something and they're almost all good to very good.

Godzilla vs Biollante and Godzilla vs King Ghidorah are both very good, very 90s, classic rubber suit stuff but on quite a grand scale, some entertaining effects and fights. They're also both faintly depressing and exhilarating, not sure why but it really hits the spot for me. The most outright entertaining and maybe best-paced Godzilla film ever is also Heisei era - Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II. Utterly ridiculous entertainment delivered entirely straight - because it isn't meant to be funny or ironic, it's meant to be exhilarating. It's one thing I love about these films in fact and exemplifies what I finds distasteful in so many Western blockbuster movies, there's no acknowledgement of the audience at all.

Beyond that, probably my number one recommendation would be Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. It's from the later Millennium era, released in 2001 and really has that turn of the millennium vibe and aesthetic which I have now find very appealing. The human characters are as engaging as it gets in Godzilla films (beyond the original) and while it takes twenty minutes or so to start moving through the gears, it's pure entertainment when it gets there. It's also one that directly references the original, with a bleak twist. Gone is the cuddly Godzilla of the Showa era, in comes massive destruction and malice. Also, monster synth soundtrack. If you don't get anything out of this one, then I might suggest there's not much merit in struggling through anything else.

I also have to give a very warm recommendation for the Heisei Gamera trilogy. Maybe my favourite kaiju films if I had to pick only three for desert island  discs. Gamera is a very loveable absurd kaiju in his earlier Showa incarnation but it's pure kids stuff. I enjoy it but wouldn't recommend to anyone except daft kaiju fans like myself. The Heisei trilogy is completely different, darker, more violent, brutal at times, lovely 90s Japanese drab melancholy and an enjoyable continuity between the films, which also get better each time. Gamera is also just a great giant monster.

Finally, the Showa Era Godzilla films are iconic, genre-defining and sometimes very entertaining but they are also often very silly and kiddy. Good when I want to disconnect my brain but also somewhat boring. I tend to put one on when I'm knackered and want to slowly seep into some audio-visual mulch but I often turn them off after half an hour because I'm still waiting for them to get going.

How did I forget Shin Godzilla? In various ways, one of the very best even if the sociopolitical commentary is a little overdone. The crescendo, both how it moves through the gears and how briskly, is peak Godzilla.

[Smeraldina Rima]

Very helpful. I would ususally want to watch chronologically but based on what you've said the original Godzilla dark mood sounds like a one-off in the Showa era and I might get more out of the gloomier Heisei era Godzilla and Gamera films and then checking out the rest of these recommendations.

[Gob Shine Algorithm]

Grrrrr8 thread. I love Kaiju films, but I aint no scholar.

I've come to enjoy the meandering, often poorly-acted lulls as I follow the seams to the next sequence of a man in a rubber suit stomping on a model village.

Really? I always thought (especially in the modern films) that was a massive flaw in the genre. Think on what would happen if there was a kaiju in the real world. It would be so astonishing, the news channels would point a camera at it, and then that camera would stay there permanently -- you might get pundits and experts giving a voice-over, but that camera would never leave the monster. So why should it be any different for a drama? Hollywood and Japan have such huge budgets now, they could easily fill two hours just with non-stop kaiju action.

Even when the human characters have a strong involvement with what the kaiju are doing (like in the recent Hollywood version of King of the Monsters - which I thought was OK), the ratio still needs to be at least 75-25 screentime in favour of the monsters (IMHO). Admittedly, I did love Shin Godzilla for the way it was mostly about politics -- but you're not going to get something that clever again.

It's weird that the Pacific Rim films have all the ingredients of amazing films, but I'll probably never watch them again.

Technically not kaiju (because they're robots), but my formative experience of hundred-ft monsters 'bothering' humans was the 80's BBC series The Tripods, which ran for two seasons (but the third was cancelled - sons of bitches). It was all bluescreen and models, but INCREDIBLY ambitious. 

[Herbert Ashe]

Watched Shin Godzilla in December and then compulsion took hold, had to watch all the Japanese Godzillas, never seen any (except Destroy All Monsters because it was on C4 or BBC2 when I was I kid), finished them now.

I periodically think about this part of Jorge Luis Borges' review of King Kong:

His only virtue - his height - seems not to have greatly impressed the photographer, who persists in not shooting him from below but above, a plainly mistaken angle that invalidates and annuls his tallness... To ensure that there is nothing extraordinary about him, they make him fight monsters far stranger than he and find him lodgings in fake caverns the size of a cathedral, where his hard-won stature is lost.

Very few airborne shots in the Godzillas: the few there are tend to be motivated as POV-ish shots from aircraft, helicopters, or flying monsters. The second point strikes me as my least favourite Godzilla plot is aliens. Heart sunk whenever it was an alien invasion plot. Conceptually I think it's cleaner when the Kaiju are part of the Earth ecosystem, but I guess in terms of story mechanics there wasn't much else to do when G had shifted into being a bit cuddlier.

Anyway, lots of fun films! Some are average, obviously some of the human subplots are boring but they're 90 minute films, doesn't matter. The only ones I think are particularly subpar are Godzilla Raids Again (1955), the first sequel which has big rushed cash-in vibes, and All Monsters Attack (1969), just because of all the recycled footage. Maybe in isolation it'd be ok, it's very much one-for-the-kids. I enjoyed the way Godzilla's Son refers his dad as "Godzilla".

Good lines:



And from War of the Gargantuas which has no G and isn't much cop, but has Russ Tamblyn as a lead and also:



One thing the 80s onwards ones seem to have that the original run lacks is some acknowledgement of the Japanese rearmament complication, or at least there is a bit more sense of ambiguity in terms of the rest of the world. A weird exception is Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000), where

Spoiler alert

Japan develops a orbiting satellite WMD, totally ignoring the non-Godzilla implications.

[close]

Also compared to the Hollywood-military-industrial complex, much more palatable restraint in military jingoism as you might expect.

Two other things from the latter series stick in my mind:

Spoiler alert

A Bit frustrating, because it's a great image but which probably would only work to full potential if you could go in cold and not be watching a film with Godzilla in the title, but one of the early 80s ones has a moment where a class of psychic children (!) reveal their independently drawn crayon pictures of Godzilla.

Also Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), as yer man said upthread, which I think is quite something that, ~20 films and ~40 years into a series, can still come up with something fresh and horrific with Godzilla in meltdown.

[close]

[Smeraldina Rima]

I periodically think about this part of Jorge Luis Borges' review of King Kong:

His only virtue - his height - seems not to have greatly impressed the photographer, who persists in not shooting him from below but above, a plainly mistaken angle that invalidates and annuls his tallness... To ensure that there is nothing extraordinary about him, they make him fight monsters far stranger than he and find him lodgings in fake caverns the size of a cathedral, where his hard-won stature is lost.

Gamera's size is introduced nicely in the first Gamera with the confusion of pet growth storyline (and another child's picture):



which goes into this scene:



It also has an existential running around the cliff scene that reminded me of Antoine Doinel in The 400 Blows:

Very few airborne shots in the Godzillas: the few there are tend to be motivated as POV-ish shots from aircraft, helicopters, or flying monsters.

In the 1995 Gamera Guardian of the Universe, I liked the POV of the Super Gyaos swooping down with different coloured and blurry vision of the street and dog about 15 minutes in (which might be a standard effect).

[Roxy Robinson]

Really glad to hear you watched them and would love to read your thoughts if/when the opportunity/inspiration/energy is there. I know they're quite daft and little to analyse thematically or narratively but I do find them very entertaining and heartwarming.

[Herbert Ashe]

Gamera's size is introduced nicely in the first Gamera with the confusion of pet growth storyline (and another child's picture):

Yes, that was really neat. Like, we all know what's coming, so a bit of misdirection on the way is welcome.

Watched all the 90s Gameras now. Echoing how great they are, as good as the very best of the Godzillas. I wonder how they benefit from being fairly unencumbered from past history. The Post-Showa Godzillas - which to various degrees I do like - nevertheless often felt trapped trying to find a narrow space in which to establish themselves in comparison with their predecessors, or else by having to adhere to being part of a 'franchise' and intellectual property and all that guff. This Gamera reboot, in comparison, feels unburdened, so it can riff off a few things from the originals in interesting ways, and just find some new space in the genre in a way maybe it's hard to do when you've got the burden of having to have Godzilla do a load of curb-stomping (no matter how much we love that).

[Smeraldina Rima]

Really glad to hear you watched them and would love to read your thoughts if/when the opportunity/inspiration/energy is there. I know they're quite daft and little to analyse thematically or narratively but I do find them very entertaining and heartwarming.

I've only seen the two Gamera films I screengrabbed so far. Have been finding it easier to watch Ultra Q episodes with chocolate teapot. Overall I prefer the feeling of the black and white version but the colourised version has the more convenient subtitles and sometimes the colour brings out something better, like the lemons as opposed to being more distracting from the milk on Goro:




The black and white usually looks more believable and serious.

Gorgos:


The giant mole:



But:



There's another giant mole in Kafka's story "The Village Schoolmaster / The Giant Mole"

Those, and I am one of them, who find even a small ordinary-sized mole disgusting, would probably have died of disgust if they had seen the giant mole that a few years back was observed in the neighborhood of one of our villages, which achieved a certain transitory celebrity on account of the incident. Today it has long since sunk back into oblivion again, and in that only shares the obscurity of the whole incident, which has remained quite inexplicable, but which people, it must be confessed, have also taken no great pains to explain; and as a result of an incomprehensible apathy in those very circles that should have concerned themselves with it, and who in fact have shown enthusiastic interest in far more trifling matters, the affair has been forgotten without ever being adequately investigated. In any case, the fact that the village could not be reached by the railroad was no excuse.

Ultra Q often makes me think of Kafka. There's one episode simply called "Metamorphosis" and "Kanegon's Cocoon" is very like that story when the parents react with disgust to their son's transformation:



Namegon's eye beams look like they fire musical notes of cum:



Dramatic plane and helicopter views:



I like the short philosophical introductions about the theme of the coming half hour, but these are sometimes disappointingly repeated introductions about the eyes leaving the body instead of addressing the theme of the animal, vegetable or mineral monster in the particular episode.

Grow Up! Little Turtle is quite similar to the first Gamera film until the uncharacteristic surrealism. Peguila looks beautiful but I don't remember much of that episode. Mammoth Flower, S.O.S. Mount Fuji, and Terror of the Sweet Honey have been my favourite episodes so far.




The Eiji Tsuburaya : master of monsters book looks good but it's hard to find. I'll have to see if my local library would be able to loan it in from one of the few libraries that has it. Anyway ('anyway'), thanks for highlighting this excellent series.

[Spiteface]

Godzilla Minus One teaser:

So Toho is rebooting Godzilla once more (Legendary are also doing a new Godzilla/Kong film as well), this time a period piece set in post-war Japan.

Here's a better look at the design for Godzilla in this one:



Very Heisei in design, which I'm liking a lot.