Growing up my childhood was filled with vivid images of Giant monsters stopping through Tokyo and brawling for supremacy with their fellow monsters. It would be a lie if I said that it wasn't a genre which helped shaped my random film tastes and one which would lead onto a life long obsession with Asian cinema, which still continues today much like my love for those same giant monsters.
Taking that into account, it makes it all the more ironic that I actually haven't reviewed any of these films, since I started writing this blog. So allow me to correct that now, as we enter into a whole season of Kaiju films, which also as good an excuse as any to revisit some of my favourites while hunting out some of the more obscure monsters which make up this genre.
The term "Kaiju" is a Japanese word that means "Strange Beast" and is often translated as monster. Traditionally this word is used for films which are either Asian in origin, or inspired by those same movies (Cloverfield). Still I will be branching out slightly and looking at some other creations which I feel still fall into the genre such as "King Kong" (1933) who would be accepted into the genre by Toho studios (The home of Godzilla) in 1962 when he faced off against the most recognisable face in the Kaiju genre "Godzilla" in "King Kong Vs. Godzilla" which would not only make Kong five times bigger, but prove successful enough to spawn it's own sequel "King Kong Escapes" (1967) which saw Kong face his mechanical clone "Mechani-Kong".
As before when I ran "Ozploitation Month" I am also excepting submission from anyone who wants to contribute their thoughts on the genre. To take part simply send me a link to your article and I will link to your blog. All I ask in return is a small link back to this blog.
If anyone wants to also recommend any films that they feel I should look out through out this season, then please let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment