Back in the 1970s, the local theater where I lived used to run these special summer matinée series where you got into some older, kid-oriented movie for about a buck. Some weeks, I’d scan the newspaper and be disappointed that it was wussy garbage like Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion or Zebra in the Kitchen (though I do kind of wonder what that zebra was doing in that kitchen). Other weeks were marked by the arrival of films that promised to be well worth an eight year old’s dollar. Obviously, I’m referring to movies like Godzilla vs. Gigan and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. Continue reading “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)”
Category: Japanese Cinema
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
Here’s a movie that was so bad, once Toho got a gander at it, they put director Yoshimitsu Banno on suspension amidst concerns that he had irrevocably damaged the entire franchise. Thankfully, things got back on track with the next entry, Godzilla vs. Gigan, thus ensuring faithful viewers that all Godzilla features for the foreseeable future would be horrid for all the regular reasons and not go that extra mile by being trying to be socially relevant. Continue reading “Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)”
Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
This movie, the twelfth of Godzilla’s career, finds him battling monsters from outer space in an effort to thwart some man-sized cockroach aliens’ plans to take over Earth. I guess one thing the big green G can say is that his job is never boring. Unfortunately, job-shadowing Godzilla in the early 1970s is a different matter. Continue reading “Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)”
Son of Godzilla (1967)
The first seven times were strictly professional! Now, the eighth time is personal! And for his family! And his island home! And it doesn’t matter if he has to battle through a blizzard or just a brat who won’t let a fella get some well-deserved shuteye! There’s no way on God’s green Earth Godzilla is going to let a couple of bugs run him out of his house and eat his only child! Continue reading “Son of Godzilla (1967)”
Godzilla’s Revenge (1969)
In an age of wussy concepts perpetuated on our nation’s youth by government schools such as conflict resolution and mediation, were it made today, Godzilla’s Revenge would certainly be slapped with a warning, if not outright banned by the Surgeon General! Continue reading “Godzilla’s Revenge (1969)”
Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
This is the very first sequel to Godzilla and easily takes its place in the Godzilla pantheon as a classic since it’s the first time that Anguirus gets completely humiliated by another monster. Little did we know that this film was merely the beginning of a long and vastly undistinguished career for the spiky sphincter. Continue reading “Godzilla Raids Again (1955)”
Evil Dead Trap (1988)
Nami is the host a late night talk show and one of the segments they do is to feature home videos that their fans send in. And while we here in America have proven for decades our healthy obsession with funny home videos about pets doing weird things, people catching on fire at weddings and guys getting whacked in the balls, Nami’s viewers take this family friendly past time in a decidedly much more twisted direction!
One of the viewer submitted tapes shows someone going through the city and ending up at an abandoned factory where a woman is tortured and killed. To establish that this is one of those “over the top” movies we get a nice long, loving shot of a knife going into her eyeball. Nami is horrified and does what any of us would do. She gets four members of her crew together and they follow the landmarks that were on the video tape and go to the abandoned factory. Continue reading “Evil Dead Trap (1988)”