The Deadly Mantis (1957) directed by Nathan Juran

I kept seeing this film while switching channels for the 2 weeks and I finally decided to just watch it from start to finish. I have seen it before, more than once but it is much better than I remembered. At its heart it is a remake of sorts of "Beast from 20 000 Fathoms". The big bug is released from its Arctic suspended animation because of a volcano, not an atomic bomb, but the plot follows pretty closely to the classic Harryhausen movie. 

Will this movie change your life? No. Is it fun and pretty well done for a low budget 50s creature feature? Yes. The mantis is well done and the puppetry of the model sells it as a giant creature.  They made a 200-foot papier-mâché version and used a real praying mantis in others and they all matched up pretty well.  The praying manits is a very creeping looking bug and makes for a good giant monster. The scene with it in the Manhattan tunnel is a classic image.  

I will say the film drags at the start and takes too long to see the monster, unlike Beast from 20 000 fathoms where we see it right away. It still was a good watch and liked the creature enough to draw a poster for my monsters poster project. (see above)

The Whale God (1962) Directed by Tokuzō Tanaka

Daiei Film, who brought us the Gamera series of films, made this historical drama before the giant turtle made them famous and it's almost sad they didn't stick with this sort of movie. In many ways the story, which centres around a giant whale that returns to a small whaling village every year but escapes being killed and instead kills many of its pursuers, IS a kaiju film even if whales are real creatures. Its ability to best the whale hunters drives many of the villages to want vengeance to an extreme degree, and more and more of them are dragged beneath the sea by the now uncontrollable need to "best" the creature. The lead character  Shaki (Kojiro Hongo) whose father and grandfather were killed by the whale god goes as far as telling anyone who tries to leave the village as traitors. No one can leave until the monster is destroyed. 

I do hope readers will seek this film out, it's on Tubi for free at the moment. It looks fantastic, many if not most of the effects are really well done and are ins ervice of the plot. The whale itself didn't seem bigger than a normal whale, to me anyway, but it's a fearsome creature worthy of it's reputation. he actors are good in thier parts, Hongo is very compelling and grows as a character - but not out of his obsession. 

Keeping mostly spoiler free, there are some very uncomfortable scenes in this, such as a very disturbing rape, woman used as as bargaining chips and property and a population of people that have lost thier reason and sense of humanity. It's a serious film to be sure but also happens in a time and place we have evolved from.... or have we? 

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) directed by Jun Fukuda

Also called Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, this is an odd Godzilla movie in that the human part f the plot isn't so boring or beside the point. Godzilla only appears at the end and Mothra appears after Godzilla. Ebirah is a giant lobster who only shows u now and then, killing anyone who tries to leave the island run by an evil terrorist organization called the Red bamboo.  There is also a giant condor that comes out of nowhere and doesn't last long. The Mpthra worshipping native of a nearby island are slaves fo teh red Bamboo who have them making a yelloe substance that can stop Ebirah from attacking boats so the terroists cane come and go as they please. 

OK the human story is not exactly plausible but the characters are fun and interesting enough to keep you interested. The effects are not gratifying, some of the model work is super but the lack of realism has a certain charm. Some shots of the tiny singers who call Mothra are just dolls and on some of the boat senes, the ment rowing or dolls or even articulate puppets. It's super obvious and, like I said, charming. 

The bad guys are killed by Ebirah while making their escape but they have set an atomic bomb to destroy the island before they fled and our heros become concerned that it will killed Godzilla who saved them. Why? Godzilla is usally living off nuclear energy and jumping into the water wouldn't save him so close to the explosion if it was a danger to him. Don't watch a Godzilla movie, aside form the forst Godzilla minus 1 if you are looking to make sense of it! 

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) directed and co-written by Shusuke Kaneko

Poor Baragon doesn't get a mention in the overly long title! Maybe he had his name removed after seeing the finished film? The film isn't that bad to be honest though Baragon does next to nothing except get killed and Mothra is pretty much in the same boat which leave the real battle between Ghidorah and Godzilla.

Supposedly taking place after the original 1954 film and ignoring everything that came after it, Godzilla has returned and a reporter, her military dad and a bunch of other people including the ghost of some old guy awaken three other monsters as guardians to protect the world. There seems to be a "spiritual" to some of these later Godzilla films, Biolante had the spirit of a girl murdered by terrorists in it and Godzilla has the souls from the war in this film. The spirits of Baragon and Mothra join with the spirit of Ghidorah to fight Godzilla. It's doesn't work in either film if you ask me. 

The effects in this film are a mixed bag. Godzilla is very mean looking with white eyes with no pupils and a lot more puppetry added to the face for more expression. The other monsters have none of that and Ghidorah has an underwhelming toy like design. Mothra is... fine. She starts in a pupil state which last all of 5 minutes before entering her cocoon which looks a sack of balls floating in a lake. There is an attempt to add CGI throughout but it doesn't work for the most part. The model work and destruction effects are the usual high quality, Toho Studios always hire talented model makers. 

Another thing to mention is the lead character, a female reporter who as just as idiotic... I mean heroic as male heroes are. I mean she chases GODZILLA on a bike to film it's rampage while her assistant turned love interest by the end of the film helps her but never takes her role as the hero away.

So dumb as it is the human characters are better than in most giant monster movies and it does move along and kept me entertained. 

War of the Gargantuas (1966) film directed by Ishirō Honda

Ishirō Honda is a legend in kaju films and for good reason. Even though this film is a sort of hot mess in many ways it isn't without merit. A giant hairy apeman attacks a giant octopus that is attacking a boat and he attacks the boat. It's quite the opening scene. The monsters appears again and again causing destruction and literally eating people and spitting their remains out. It's quite horrific for this type of film at this time. 

Some scientists it seems had a ape kid at some point that ran away and was presumed dead in the mountains and the authorities think it is back, now gigantic on a killing spree. The scientists don't think so as their ape pal was kind and gentle. As it turns out, there are two of them one in the mountains and another from the the sea which... grew from cells of the other but in the ocean so it lived underwater and is sensitive to light? 

The two monsters are at odds, the nice one trying to stop to the mean one ending up in a battle that destroys (surpise!) Tokyo. The two take the fight to the ocean and a volcano suddenly appears from under the surface and maybe kills them both. 

This movie is interesting in that it tries stuff not seen in other giant monster films but it has the feeling it twas made up as they filmed. the "hero" Russ Tamblyn as Dr. Paul Stewart is a smarmy jerk in my opinion and his characters does next to nothing to help the situation. Apparently he was a nightmare to work with and it shows. 

While not a great movie, it does entertain and the model work is really good. The creatures are pretty basic and not the prettiest things you'll ever see. 

Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965) directed by Noriaki Yuasa

 

Oddly this is personal film for me. I used to watched Creature Double Feature on UHF TV with my mother and this was her favourite monster.. it wears ridiculous and Gamera was "the friend of the children".As my mother died recently, it seem a homage to her to cover this here. 

Gamera was a direct response to Godzilla. Made by a rival studio it was pretty much a ripoff of the king of the monsters. No one wanted to direct it so they gave it to a failed director who was just happy to get hired again and to everyone's surprise it was a big hit! It led to a long series of films with Gamera some more serious than others but all of them fairly bizarre. Many of the films are pretty violent for children's films and many don't seem to make the slightest attempt to make sense. 

Regardless of your memory of Gamera, the Giant monster, this movie is a lot more random and ridiculous than you remember. The fact that there is a giant turtle the shoots fire from its leg holes when they are retreated into it's body and flies around is just the start of it. Why is he the friend of children? He save a kid in this movie. The kid love turtles but how Gamera would know that is never explained. Gamera must of killed 100s of kids on one of many rampages in the movie as well. The scientists come up with a a plan to get rid of Gamera, a "Z" plan... I guess because it's the last chance and last letter of the alphabet? They lure him in to a trap which consists of using fire to get him to stand on a platform which closes a huge container over him and sends him to Mars... I guess he will be Mars's problem from then on. How this thing was built and implements in what must have been a couple days at best is also not explained. In the end, it doesn't really work as the next movie starts with an asteroid hitting the spaceship, freeing the giant monster and he head immediately back to earth! 

Gamera was along running joke between my mom and I and as dumb as it is it will always have a place in my heart. My spouse watched it with me, he had never seen it and oddly enough found it fun! 

I made my own poster for the film not long ago. If I can get some money together I want to make a t-shirt from it. Miss you mom. 

Varan the Unbelievable (1958) Directed by Ishirō Honda

 

There might be several versions of this film but the one I saw was about 1 hour 7 minutes, making it about 40 minutes too long. The film was meant to be a USA/Toho joint production but that fell apart and the resulting English and Japanese filmed parts never mesh together. The Japanese sections don't even have subtitles. 

Some military guy and his wife are doing some sort experiments on a remote lake that will poison the water. The locals think a monster lives there who will destroy the world if the lake is threatened. Most of this film is the military guy trying to evacuate the residents while being as sexist as possible to his far too subservient wife who wants the villages to be able to stay in their homes. There is a ton and I mean a ton of expositional dialogue that makes the film drag and the clichéd plot doesn't help it much. I expected more with Honda as director. There are many references to Godzilla, including his theme song being snuck in at one point. 

Turns out there is a monster andit goes on a  rampage. Who would have thought? The wife blames herself because she wanted the villagers to stay and her brilliant husband states "this was no one's fault". Ummm... it was HIS fault 100%! He was poisoning the water and displacing an entire village for... reasons? 

The monster itself is a highlight. Not too badly designed and it moves well on all fours. The effects overall are pretty good for a film of this kind, era and budget but they can't save the tedium between shots of the giant creature destroying stuff. 

Gamera the Brave (2006) directed by Ryuta Tasaki

 I admit I have soft spot for Gamera, the giant flying turtle, as it is my mom's favourite kanji. Why my mom has a favourite kanji is another story. Gamera has always been a softer, maybe more kid friendly than some of the Godzilla films and with even smaller budgets. 

This film has some interesting elements. A man who was saved by Gamera as a boy and has a young son with psychological problems after his mother died. He finds a weird egg that hatches into  turtle that exhibits all sorts of intelligence and powers... much like Gamera, who had sacrificed himself when he saved the man. The son and the turtle grow a bond as the animal grows to gigantic size just in time fight the newly emerged monster Zedus. With the help of the young boy and his friends, the new Gamera is given extra power by a magic stone that was found at the same time the boy found the egg.  An epic battlic ensues and the new Gamera wins the day while the children cheer him on. 

This film is fairly fun though pretty dumb in many respects.  It has the problem most Gamera films do, one or more annoying child actors that really get on your nerves. It does have a really cool monster in Zedus, maybe one of the best giant monster designed out there. The effects are better than you might expect but Gamera has the look of kid's plush toy with giant eyes and baby like features that just do not work. It's hard to recommend this as children's film - Zedus is blown to pieces at the end which is gross but before that we see him eating hapless like chicken nuggets people multiple times throughout the film! 

Following the current trend for Japanese monster films to have better effects and more complicated storylines that may or may not work, this movie hits enough marks to be an enjoyable watch as long as you remember that it's a film about a giant flying turtle who is "the friend of the children".