from Gojira
(Japan-1954; dir. Ishirô Honda)
and 27 other Toho films
I can’t believe that Godzilla was the only surviving member of its species… But if we continue conducting nuclear tests… it’s possible that another Godzilla might appear somewhere in the world again.
The true “King Of The Monsters”, and one of the most unique in cinematic history: a gigantic, indestructible, atomic-powered mutant dinosaur who breathes nuclear fire and displays a variety of trademark features. These include very distinctive dorsal fins that glow when he is about to let loose with his fire-breath, a one-of-a-kind roar and, in several of his incarnations, ears! On first consideration you may feel that including a famous giant lizard on this list of the weird and unusual isn’t warranted; after all, huge reptiles are the most common form of giant monster. But Godzilla’s blend of attributes was, and still is, rather special. His extreme size (which gets even more extreme in the 1990s), his invulnerability (despite his death in the first movie) and his strong metaphorical complexities all mark him as vastly different from what had come before and even what was to come. It’s in the derivation of his name: “Gojira” is a compound of two Japanese words, one meaning “whale” and the other “ape”; “whale” for size and “ape” for the inspiration gained from King Kong and for the fact that, unlike his direct reptilian ancestor — the Rhedosaur from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms — Godzilla is bipedal. Godzilla has been re-designed many times over the years, but remains recognisably the King. And what other reptile monster do you know that was, like Godzilla (in one of his incarnations certainly) modelled on the designer’s cat?
This statue of Godzilla was erected in the Ginza district of Tokyo to commemorate the King’s “passing” in the 1995 film Godzilla vs Destroyer:
This is one of Rob’s favourite pictures of Godzilla, “Godzilla Rising” by Bob Eggleton:
The Thai film industry seems to be going great guns. They have a history of giant crocs and snakes, of course, but this one seems to mix in assorted horror tropes and supernatural elements to potentially interesting effect:
A young police officer, a local guide and his daughter follows the trail of a prison escapee, Nasor, into a mysterious forest with many hidden secrets, one of which directly relates to the death of Nasor’s father at the hands of the father of the officer. As the group ventures deeper into the forest, the eerie realm unleashes its spirits unto the intruders, killing them one by one. Still intent on bringing Nasor to justice, the officer relentlessly pursues the criminal in a race against time and the unseen forces of the ancient forest. (IMDB)
The forces of the forest include a giant snake, killer wasps, a vampiric demon and other beasties.
We keep talking about the new Guilala film, but this is just the sort of thing that gets the giant-monster nerd in me all excited (and he’s a pretty big critter)! Now a website for Girara-no Gyakushuu Touyaku Samitto Kiki Ippatsu [lit. Guilala’s Counter Attack: the Touyaku Summit One-Shot Crisis] (Japan–2008; dir. Minoru Kawasaki) has appeared, with the above poster and some production shots.
Some have been posted elsewhere:
But I haven’t seen this image of the “Beat” Takeshi kaiju character, Takemajin, before.
These show a kaiju that is much less “suited-up” than the earlier conceptual sketch suggested… and Takeshi’s likeness comes over clear as a bell!
from DeepStar Six
(US-1989; dir. Sean S. Cunningham)
Well, at least Snyder will get his name in the Guinness Book of Records. I mean, causing two nuclear explosions in one afternoon has to be some sort of record.
Here’s one of cinema’s most insane-looking scene stealers. It only appears on screen a couple of times and for only a few moments, but the undersea fiend is truly a one-of-a-kind creation — some mutant crab/crustacean hybrid. Its origins are obscure, but the film was one of the rash of “aliens of the deep” movies that appeared around the time of The Abyss — this one from Sean “Friday the 13th” Cunningham.
Ryuganji.net reports that Kitano Takeshi, the iconic actor/director/media personality, will be playing a costumed kaiju role in the now-in-production Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit [aka Girara no Gyakushu: Towako Samitto Kiki Ippatsu]. In fact, he will look like this:
This is Takemajin — a giant statue that comes to life in order to take on the politically insensitive Guilala (who is attacking the G8 Summit). As the name indicates, the character is a take on the classic Daimajin statuesque kaiju-hero of the late 1960s. Takeshi’s comedic characters seem to have adopted a self-referential quality of late, continued here with that addition of “Take” to the “majin” name.
Director Kawasaki Minoru commented on Beat’s presence thus:
“In the past we’ve seen Takeshi-san do his costumed schtick as ‘Takechan-man’, ‘Red and White Mask’ and for the ‘Trans America Ultra Quiz’, and he’s a guy who has an unsurpassed fondness for Japan’s traditional art of costumery. Right now, at a time when Japan’s distinctive man-in-a-suit monster films are in danger of disappearing, he’s the only guy who can save this genre. I can say without a doubt that thanks to Takeshi-san, this’ll be a film that’ll make people say “Now this is a monster film that Japan can be proud of!”
Others have spotted some good-natured sour grapes in the role, as Takeshi’s Glory to the Film Maker was soundly beaten at the box-office by a film about a battling giant hero, Dai Nipponjin [aka Big Man Japan], made by one of Takeshi’s chief comedy rivals.
from Gwoemul [literally, Monster; aka The Host]
(South Korea-2006; dir. Joon-ho Bong)
The Han River is very broad, Mr. Kim. Let’s try to be broad-minded about this. Anyway, that’s an order. So, start pouring.
Pollution in the Han river in Korea causes mutation. Before too long (like in the first five minutes of the movie) a monstrous freak rears its ugly head. The creature appears to be a giant mutant tadpole crossed with a coelocanth. It quickly discovers a new favourite food source in the human population. Unlike many of the entries on this list, The Host (a title which offers an ironic comment on certain of the film’s themes) is generally considered one of the best giant monster movies to appear for many decades. It won 18 or so cinema awards and broke all box-office records in its home country. A sequel is in production.
I found this rather nice painting as well, though I was unable to determine who painted it as the link was broken. (If anyone knows, please contact me so that I can credit it.)
And finally, here is the trailer:
And here’s a longish sequence from the film, showing the monster’s first appearance:
Actually, this superhero spin from Will Smith and director Peter Berg (who is set to direct yet another version of Frank Herbert’s classic SF novel, Dune, for 2010) looks like it might (a) work, and (b) be pretty funny….
…. though I do detect a whiff of undue sentimentality.
Soon to go into production — and starring Nemo (aka “Mister White”) — is Fantom Feline Against the Dragon.
Peter Jackson was set to direct, but when Nemo (who wrote the script) refused to change the title to The Hobbit, Jackson got narky and went back to New Zealand.
Negotiations are underway with Guillermo del Toro, who said that, when it comes to furry feet, he prefers cats to hobbits anyway.
After a bunch of entries that mostly hark back to the 1950s, here’s one that’s so new none of us have seen the monster in action yet. It’s included in the Top 20 for different reasons than those that made us include Rectuma. From production designs, the Moorwen is not “weird” as in “outrageously silly” or “ridiculous”, but as designed by Patrick Tatopoulos it does seem inventive and offers a lot of promise for what is to come. That and the film’s Vikings vs alien monster storyline is what is creating a lot of enthusiasm among the monster fan community.
