Kaiju movies

[ThirteeTooBeets]

KAIJU CINEMA​

"Humans are drawn to what repels them, because they share the same origin. And they fear they're heading toward the same end".
-Vrahno in "Godzilla (Badly) Explains His Origin".

Good evening everyone! Welcome! You know what I like? Monsters. And what do I like more? Giant monsters, movies with them to be more precise.

The "genre" of Kaiju movies has been going on for many years, arguably as long as cinema has existed, the idea of a giant monster that might or might not represent something even bigger than themselves is a tale as old as time, we fear and love them.
I personally love them because they tend to look cool, act cool, sound cool, and are often allegories for cool stuff, plus many are prone to practical effects so that's a bonus, even if they look cheap there's genuine soul in them for that.

I plan to use this thread as a hub to discuss movies and the giant monsters in them, and not only limited to Japan as this thread will rightfully expect a lot of Godzilla, but I think a lot of his other coworkers deserve a bit of spotlight too.

To start, I would like to recommend some movies that I consider beginner friendly:

GOJIRA (Godzilla 1954)​

The first appearance of the king himself on the big screen. The original Godzilla not only catapulted Japanese cinema to the rest of the world, it also pioneered a new style of acting in "suitmaking", the art of someone acting inside a giant and heavy rubber suit was born.
A film made with extreme financial and time limitations, Godzilla is a heart wrenching sci-fi story with some touches of horror. Focusing on the still very present fear at the time of the Atomic Bombings of Japan, a giant deformed beast emerges from the depths of the ocean after the atomic blasts wakes him up and gives him great size and power, how will the scarred Japanese population cope and survive? Can they risk the potential casualties a full blown counterattack with new technology could produce?

KING KONG​

Before Godzilla there was another King.
King Kong is important not only in the history of cinema, but also for the genre it might have started. Movies with giant monsters existed before, but King Kong was the first one that posed the idea that maybe these weren't mindless monsters, what if the scary animal with seemingly uncontrollable strength had a personality? Had feelings? What if it could love?
Making King Kong an actual character and not just an obstacle the hero had to overcome changed everything.

GORGO​

We're traveling to Europe for a personal favorite. Gorgo might've not been the highest acclaimed movie of its time, and true the low budget is a bit obvious in many scenes, but what is apparent all the way through is the heart this movie has. Taking a surprising "pro animals" rights stance, Gorgo tells the story of a giant monster that terrorizes the coasts of Ireland. He's captured and brought to the heart of London as a circus exhibition, with only a small orphan child taking notice of the harm they're doing to him.
It is then that it is discovered that Gorgo is nothing but a scared baby, and something much bigger is coming to his rescue...

I love kaiju movies and I hope we can talk more about them!

 

[Turbo Kid]

Hard to think about kaijus without thinking about giant mechs

 

[X y b e r - S k u ll]

Love Kaiju movies as well. Started with Godzilla like I imagine most of us did as kids, but then branched out into other franchises like Gamera and Ultra Man. I'd say for me personally; Godzilla's gotta still be on top in my eyes, I still get so much enjoyment from those movies, even from the weird, surreal and childish movies of his from the late Showa era. Speaking of, I actually used to be a bit of a Showa era purist when I was younger, wasn't a big fan of the Heisei stuff (With the exception of Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah which has always been one of my favorites), but now I actually prefer the Heisei era movies over the Showa ones.

Quite excited for what Toho has got planned for the big G since they're making them again, and especially after that absolute masterpiece that was Minus One, which I think might be a contender for best Godzilla movie, even surpassing the original arguably.

 

[ThirteeTooBeets]

Love Kaiju movies as well. Started with Godzilla like I imagine most of us did as kids, but then branched out into other franchises like Gamera and Ultra Man. I'd say for me personally; Godzilla's gotta still be on top in my eyes, I still get so much enjoyment from those movies, even from the weird, surreal and childish movies of his from the late Showa era. Speaking of, I actually used to be a bit of a Showa era purist when I was younger, wasn't a big fan of the Heisei stuff (With the exception of Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah which has always been one of my favorites), but now I actually prefer the Heisei era movies over the Showa ones.

Quite excited for what Toho has got planned for the big G since they're making them again, and especially after that absolute masterpiece that was Minus One, which I think might be a contender for best Godzilla movie, even surpassing the original arguably.

Minus One didn't resonate that much with me for some reason, It's stil an excellent movie that deserved the Oscar but idk if I'd put it that high on the list, still I might need to do a rewatch...
I'm also a big Heisei era fan, mostly because the suits at that time were so good looking.

 

[X y b e r - S k u ll]

Minus One didn't resonate that much with me for some reason, It's stil an excellent movie that deserved the Oscar but idk if I'd put it that high on the list, still I might need to do a rewatch...
I'm also a big Heisei era fan, mostly because the suits at that time were so good looking.

Yeah, that's kind of what brought me over to the Heisei side, just the designs of the monsters were so amazing when I really started paying attention to them (I'll be honest though, still not a fan of MechaGodzilla 2's design. The original and Kiryu are just miles better to me). I think a lot of them are genuinely well directed as well, especially Godzilla Vs. Biollante. Holy shit, when I re-watched that a few years ago, I couldn't believe how well shot that was and how genuinely atmospheric a lot of points in the film are. Not to mention how Biollante herself might be the absolute peak of Toho's practical effects and costume designs. Just looking at behind the scenes photos and footage of what went in to making her a reality is awe inspiring.

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

Mostly a Godzilla fan, but particularly of the older films.

I've missed pretty much everything Toho did since Final Wars tho. I think I saw the American modern movie at some point but in the end it didn't leave much of an impression.

I still go back and re-watch the classic (and not-so-classic) Gozilla films from time-to-time, but other than a few classics like King Kong, it's not promoted me to branch out to other Kaiju franchises all that much.

 

[Not_Red]

I often wonder how capable would the Power Rangers Megazords be if they were to face against Kaijus, they already kind of do but they are usually just regular enemies that become giant and their strength doesn't really scale compared to the big monsters.

 

[Dyne]

Holy shit, Gorgo! I haven't seen that movie in decades!
My grandma had Gorgo on VHS when I was a kid. She loves old monster movies and we used to watch a bunch of old black & white monster movies together.

 

[KONG]

KING KONG started it all
Actually the original creator of Godzilla was so in love with Kong that he needed to create his own monster Godzilla - That is why Kong win in King Kong vs. Godzilla - the creator of Godzilla could not let his love in Kong be defeated by his own monster Godzilla - Truth !
It's in his book !

 

[X y b e r - S k u ll]

KING KONG started it all
Actually the original creator of Godzilla was so in love with Kong that he needed to create his own monster Godzilla - That is why Kong win in King Kong vs. Godzilla - the creator of Godzilla could not let his love in Kong be defeated by his own monster Godzilla - Truth !
It's in his book !

I know Eiji Tsuburaya (The man who did all the effects work for the first few Godzilla movies and later went on to create Ultra Man) has also cited King Kong as being the reason he even wanted to get into effects work in the first place. That film inspired a lot more people than we all realize!

I'd also love to see that spider pit scene that was cut from the original film. Will probably never resurface, but man it sounded amazing from what I've read.

 

[Ezri_Muldoon]

KING KONG started it all

The lost world (1925) spawned the whole genre ;)

Ohh I get to geek out

The Gamera Heisei trilogy is where the genre peaked.

Guardian of the Universe in on par with the best Heisei/Millennium Godzilla has to offer. For a reboot of what was widely consider a knock off brand to come out swinging with the same technical competence as Toho at its PEAK can not be understated.
The turtle being on par with Big G was a cinematic upheaval.

Attack of Legion is a technical marvel of suitmation, and visually it depicts a small scale Aliens inspired interaction between creatures and humans far more convincingly than Vs Destroyah did.
It's the peak of the genre's technical prowess before CGI integration fully took hold.
Behold, two men in suits:

Revenge of Iris has the strongest, multilayered narrative of any Tokusatsu film period and its CGI integration is flawless. It still beats most modern J-Cinema & Current Disney CG slop.

You want to know why Shin Godzilla is considered the best film in the genre?
It goes beyond Anno's outstanding writing & direction. Look at who he collaborated with. Shinji Higuchi THE VFX Lead for the Gamera Trilogy and it shines throughout in Shin.

Heck the entire Shin quadrilogy (Since Eva is a part of it) brilliant as it may be is so revered because of it's similarities to the Gamera trillogy in terms of technical competence and masterful writing.
And even then, Godzilla, Kamen Rider & Ultraman have the reputational clout that commands confidence from the audience.
They were guaranteed to be good films. People weren't expecting them to be excellent films.
Gamera had no such guarantee before the 90's trilogy and its sadly never recaptured this high bar of quality. No "vs" Kaiju film has.
Not even the Millennium era of Godzilla managed to catch up to the dizzying heights set by Gamera and it not only had superior resources, Tohu straight up hired Shusuke Kaneko- the Trilogy's director for 2001's Giant monsters all out attack and still pumped out an inferior product.

Lighting captured in a bottle THREE TIMES and never again. Perfection.

 

[snoonch]

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid