Mothra

Title: Mothra
Director: Ishiro Honda
Released: 1961
Staring: Frankie Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyoko Kagawa, Ken Uehara, Emi Ito, Yumi Ito, Jerry Ito

Rating: 4 / 5

Plot: A group of shipwrecked survivors are found on Infant Island, which had previously been used for nuclear testing. Believing that they were protected from the radiation by a juice given to them by the local natives, it sparks a return expedition to the island, were upon the expedition leader Nelson (Jerry Ito) finds a pair of foot high twins, which he then kidnaps with plans of putting them into a vaudeville show, unaware that their singing is actually a cry for help to Mothra, a gigantic moth worshiped by the natives.

Review: Okay I might aswell start with pointing out that I have never really liked Mothra, who I’ve always considered one of the weaker members of the Toho monster back catalogue, especially seeing how threatening can a giant moth really be?
Still it hasn’t stopped her from becoming one of the best loved characters in the Godzilla series, especially by Japanese women, which also explains why she has clocked up to date more appearances in the series than any other monster in the series, while also spawning her own series of films. Still it was this film which first introduced the world to the horror of well….um a giant moth.

Honda who is once again on directing duties here for this first appearance, which is unsurprising especially when you consider that he was responsible for bringing to the screen so many of the memorable Toho creations on their debut outing including Rodan, King Ghidorah and Mantango. Honestly I was relived to see this, especially seeing how Honda knows how to properly introduce new monsters and here it is no different, even to the point were he makes even a long time Mothra hater like myself reconsider my standpoint, though perhaps this is because this time Mothra is not getting caught up in a monster rumble, but instead appearing as a creature of terror and destruction, something else that Honda really knows how to do, especially when you consider he was the one calling the shots, the first time Godzilla stomped through Tokyo in 1954. Mothra’s debut is also helped by a script written by Shinichi Sekizawa who would later go on to write further scripts for Godzilla as well as the Ultraman series, bringing an element of fun to his scripts, which is present here as well, largely coming from Sakai’s performance as the Journalist Senichiro, whose comedy timing is flawless here and never reaches a point of being irritating thankfully.

For anyone who has seen more than a couple of kaiju films will know exactly were the plot is heading, quite early on into this film, especially from the moment we see Nelson kidnapping the twins, from Infant island which it would seem shares that same trait as the island seen in “Gamera Vs. Barugon” (1966) in that it is an island once again populated by blacked up Japanese actors, who also provide their own soundtrack whenever they appear, by banging together the rocks they constantly carry with them. Still for myself the plot brought back memories especially of the British Godzilla “Gorgo” (1961) which coincidently was also released the same year.

Mothra is not normally one of the monsters that is associated with large scale destruction, usually because she is the monster of peace. Yet in this film she certainly gives even the heavy hitters of the Toyko wrecking crew like Godzilla a run for their money, as cars and trucks are tossed around like leaves in a gale. Still at it’s heart this is not a film about the horror of a giant creature attacking Tokyo, especially seeing how the damage being caused to the city is purely a by product of her search for the Shobijin, whose song draws her to them.
Still it is not just random destruction seen in this film, especially seeing how some of her city trashing moments, standout even more just because of the context they have been shot in, such as her cocoon, which she forms against the Tokyo tower, as part of her change from Larval Mothra to adult Mothra, who is her more recognisable giant moth form.

I’m still undecided whether this film was so more effective than other Mothra appearances, because of the fact that Mothra is the sole monster in the film and hence avoiding any clumsy looking fight sequences, which she tends to get involved in the Godzilla series, especially seeing how unlike so many of the other monsters, her powers of attack have never been anything spectacular, much like her fellow flying monster Rodan (that confused looking eagle creation). These powers usually appearing on screen like she is either spraying them with silly string or showering them with pixie dust, depending on which form she is in at the time, all of which is thankfully absent here, with Mothra being given a clear objective of rescuing the Shobijin from Nelson, while the majority of the storyline is filled in by the human cast, which certainly makes her a much more imposing creation to watch, even if I’m not fully convinced that a giant moth is the scariest creation, but at the same time proves to be quite the double edged sword, as you still want a creature that you could justify travelling hundreds of miles to rescue the Shobijin, which some monstrous looking creation won’t exactly work.

Although I might not exactly enjoy Mothra’s appearances in the Godzilla series, she proves more than capable of providing enough entertainment value, to justify getting her own movie. The plotting makes for a change than the usual by the numbers city trashing, giving Mothra more of a purpose than an unjustifiable thirst for vengeance, against a major city, while the human involvement in the plot, provides more than filler between the scenes of destruction and chaos.
In all she might still not be my favourite monster in the Toho catalogue, but Mothra still manages to pull off an enjoyable first entry in her own series, even for the non fans like myself.

Elwood's Essentials #1: Destroy All Monsters

Welcome to the first entry in a new feature here on the blog, were I will be looking at the movies, which I consider to be essential. True I could have just done a list of my favourite movies, but rather than face being lumped with a list of movies, which would shadow me forever along with the fact, I could see it getting real depressing kind of quick, committing to a series of posts gushing over my favourite movies, in much the same way that you tend to get bummed out super quick, when you try to make a mixtape of just pop songs.
So what with us currently being the midst of "Kaiju season" here on the blog, what better place to begin this new feature, than with what I believe is one of the best entries in the Godzilla series. Still choosing just one of the 28 movies is no easy choice, especially when so many films in the series could easily (and still could) have been included on my list of essential films, but if forced to choose just one it would have to be “Destroy all Monsters” (1968) which I would deem to be the most essential one to watch.

“Destroy all Monsters” or “Attack of the Marching Monsters” as it was known in Japan, is the ninth entry in the Godzilla series, which at this point had truely established it’s format of giving audiences monster sized smack downs, with antihero Godzilla reigning supreme as the earths best defence against the various monsters which were eager to destroy human life or more specifically Tokyo. However the series was struggling upon the release of this title, which was originally intended to wrap up the series, with the studio bosses at Toho seeing it as a good way to send the series off with a bang, only to produce one of the most popular films of the Showa series and in turn helping to keep the series going for a further nineteen movies.

Plot wise the film sticks to the popular craze of space travel and alien invasion, which would prove to be popular themes throughout the Showa series and here it is no different, especially with the hero of this particular film being Captain Yamabe (Akira Kubo) and the crew of his spaceship Moonlight SY-3, which despite being a spaceship, is still more than capable of flying around normally in the Earths atmosphere.
Set in 1999 all the Earth’s monsters have been rounded up (though we are never explained how) and placed on an island which has been funnily enough re-named “Monsterland” however the island is covered in a mysterious fog, causing the monsters and the staff of “Monster Island” to disappear, only to reappear under the control of a race of mind controlling aliens called the Kilaaks, who are intent on destroying all human life using the giant monster they now have under their control.

One of the main selling points of this particular entry in the series, especially when I first saw, is the sheer amount of monsters which have been crammed into this single film, with Godzilla being joined by Mothra, Rodan, Angilas (my personal favourite), Kumonga, aswell as Minilla who still looks like he is made out of grey lumpy mash.
Still several of the monster who make appearances here, were never actually part of the Godzilla series and drafted in to make up the numbers, such as Baragon (Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965), Gorosaurus (King Kong Escapes (1967), Manda (Atragon (1963) and Varan (Varan the Unbelievable (1958) which despite this, still don’t seem out of place though it was a relief not to see that horrible King Kong costume from “King Kong Vs. Godzilla” (1962). This was feat certainly not seen again until the final film in the series “Godzilla: Final Wars” (2004) which also brought out monsters from the Toho back catalogue. The true highlight of this film though has to be the final monster rumble which sees the collected monsters teaming up to fight King Ghidorah, in a fight which has over years proven to be a sore point for some fans, especially seeing how overwhelmed Ghidorah becomes, but it is still a stand out Kaiju moment and makes for a fantastic climax to the film.

The miniature work is great here, with the military hardware and crumbling cities never looking better, especially with some great blue screen work only further helping to bring them to life further, much like the attention to detail which shows footage of people running to underground bunkers during the monsters attack on Tokyo, which kind of emphasises how used to giant monsters destroying the city the people of Tokyo are.

Despite the success of this film, it would sadly be the last film to be made with all four of the Godzilla fathers producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, Director Ishirô Honda, Special effects genius Eiji Tsuburaya and Akira Ifukube providing the rousing classical score, including the trademark “Godzilla March” which even now is still just as thrilling to hear, even after numerous viewings. Still it would prove a fitting end note for their career together, even though they would each work on further entries in the series, this would be the last time they worked together, with this film providing a suitable endnote for their collaboration in the series.

“Destroy all monsters” might look a little dated with its use of miniatures and lack of CGI, while for the Kaiju fans it might just be their cinematic wet dream, especially with the sheer amount of monsters on screen, with a storyline which isn’t just an excuse to have a bunch of monsters stomping on Tokyo, which several of the earlier films may have felt like, but out of those early movies, this film is a definite high point, if not for the series as a whole.

Pulgasari

Title: Pulgasari
Director: Chong Gon Jo, Sang-ok Shin
Released: 1985

Staring: Chang Son Hui, Ham Gi Sop, Jong-uk Ri, Gwon Ri, Hye-chol Ro, Yong-hok Pak, Kenpachiro Satsuma

Rating: 4 / 5

Plot: An evil king (Yong-Hok Pak) aware of the peasant rebellion being planned, steals all the iron in the country, to make weapons for his own personal army. After discovering bandits in the local village he imprisons them along with their leaders grandfather (Gwon Ri), who staves himself to death, while creating a tiny figurine of the mythical creature Pulgasari, which comes to life when combined with the blood of his daughter.Growing bigger with the more Iron it consumes it also helps the peasants to fight back against their corrupt king.

Review: Pulgasari is a film most commonly known for the tales behind it’s making, rather than the film itself, seeing how its creation was the result of the North Korean dictator and film fanatic Jong-il Kim being a fan of South Korean director Sang-ok Shin and apparently not being content with perhaps an autograph, instead had Shin kidnapped, forcing him to direct seven films for him, which Jong-il Kim acted as executive producer for, before Shin eventually managed to escape back to the South. Out of those film, this is one is the most well known, no doubt a result of its ties to the Kaiju genre, which is no doubt the reason it hasn't been forgotten entirely.

From the outset it might look like the Korean version of Godzilla of whom the creators, Toho studios are also on hand here to provide the creature effects with Satsuma donning the Pulgasari costume, whom is best known for having worn the Godzilla costume during the Hensi series, which does make it all the more surprising that his performance as Pulgasari is actually pretty ropey, with most of his screen time seeing Pulgasari stomping around with none of the grandeur of his Japanese cousin, spending more time staggering around like a drunk bear. Still the iron eating monster still makes another great edition to the Toho monster catalogue and is still a hundred times better than their seriously ropey looking King Kong, seen in “King Kong Vs. Godzilla” (1962)

The idea of creating a creature out of rice and mud, which for some bizarre reason turns into steel really bringing into question what kind of rice they have in Korea is an idea, really reminisant of “The Golem” (1920) especially seeing how the creature protects the persecuted peasants, acting like their protector in much the same way that the Golem was created to protect the Jews of Prague. Still due to the political connections that the film has, it has also picked up numerous comments from various critics, who have stated that it is in fact a propaganda piece about the dangers of unchecked capitalism and power of the collective, which does depend on how much you are reading into the film and considering the circumstances which it was made.

The feudal Korean setting makes for a refreshing change, than the more traditional modern setting, much like the idea of having the monster uniting the peasant masses to battle, rather than being a creature of fear and destruction and in a way I would have liked to have seen more from the series, which unfortunately was not to be, thanks largely no doubt to the circumstances under which it was made. This fresh setting is truly made the most of, with the King resorting to more traditional traps including burying Pulgasari in a giant pit aswell as traping him in a cage and setting fire to it, before finally resorting to the use of a giant cannon, which results in Pulgasari using a rather unique version of spit-balling. Ironically these primitive methods seem awhole lot more effective than anything which the modern military can conjure up, which we have seen them attempt to use against Pulgasari’s Kaiju brethren, which usually tend to cause more damage to the surrounding area than the creature was causing in the first place.

The downside of the film I found not to be in the creature design, which is largely good, apart from a few select moments, when Pulgasari seems more rubber than steel, but instead my main qualm came from the score, which starts off with an orchestral score, but this is for some reason turns into a synthesized one with no reason why and in a way removed me from getting into the film more, seeing how it gives the film a feel of a low budget bollywood feature. I suppose the main gripe kind of comes from the lack of theme music which Pulgasari has, with nothing coming even remotely close to that of Godzilla’s theme “Godzilla March” which added such drama to the scenes, he appeared on screen, were as Pulgasari has instead got to rely on general background music and perhaps this is just another reason why Pulgasari makes for such a less imposing presence on the screen.

In all Pulgasari is a fun movie and while it might not be quite the Godzilla beater, which I’m sure it was intended to be, it at least comes off as one of the better imitators, especially seeing how it bothers to at least provide a slightly unique setting, rather than just being about another monster stomping through a major city, alone making it a title worth tracking down, while any political attachments are no doubt dependant on how much you want to read into it.

The Giant Claw

Title: The Giant Claw
Director: Fred F. Sears
Released: 1957
Staring: Jeff Morrow, Mara Corday, Morris Ankrum, Louis Merrill, Edgar Barrier, Robert Shayne

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Plot: While testing new radar systems, test pilot Mitch (Morrow) spots an UFO, which turns out to be a gigantic bird, intent on bringing doom to the inhabitants of Earth.




Review: It’s funny the things which inspire me to often hunt down a title, often having nothing to do with the plot and more often than not a desire to watch the film based on a single shot, or perhaps the prospect of seeing a certain scene, which is especially true for this film, a clip of which I remembered being featured in the title sequence, for “Monsterpiece Theatre”, which shows the clip of a man parachuting, with a look of terror on his face as we watch him falling in front of the monstrous face of the titular creature, which is without a doubt one of the most comedic looking monster creations I have seen, since I discovered that “The Thing” in “Godzilla Vs. The Thing” (better known as “Godzilla Vs. Mothra” outside of the states) was in fact a giant moth! This also go a long way to explaining why, you don’t actually see the whole creature on any of the posters, though leaving why the film is called “The Giant Claw” when the creature in question clearly has two claws! It is also worth noting that throughout the production none of the cast actually had any idea what the creature was going to look like, with Animatronics maestro Ray Harryhausen originally being considered to create the creature, an idea which would be scrapped due to budgetary restraints, leaving the creature effects to be handled by a small Mexican special effects company, which does prove slightly detrimental to the film, seeing how the effects are not just laughable now, but were considered laughable back when the film was first released, with audiences supposedly bursting in laughter whenever the creature appeared on screen.
Outside of the creature the majority of the effects are a combination of well edited scenes of stock footage, combined with some seriously ropey miniature work, which is amusing to watch as planes bounce around on strings and model trains get thrown through the air. Still Sears being keen to get the most out of his budget, even recycles footage from his earlier film “Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers” (1956), providing some of the better effects here.

Plot wise it’s a standard B-movie affair and rattles along at a quick pace, which goes a long way to explaining why it’s such a fun film to watch, despite suffering from numerous flaws, while at the same time it actually bothers to break several genre conventions seeing how Corday plays Sally a strong female character, rather than the usual damsel in distress which is almost expected in the genre, but here she is seen not only as a romance interest but also as a major part of the team, proving herself not only feisty but also quite handy with a rifle, putting her a whole head and shoulders ahead of the majority of her female b-movie predecessors, still the majority of the cast seem to believe that they are in a film which is more than B-movie fodder, judging by how the actors handle the dialogue combined with their general performances throughout, but then I guess no one really bothered to tell them that they are staring in a movie were the world is under attack from a giant rubber chicken. Still we do get the classic lines “I’ll never call my mother in law and old crow again” aswell as my personal favourite

“Holy Toledo! I've seen some mighty big chicken hawks back on the farm, but man, this baby takes the cake!”

Both lines spoken completely straight faced only further adding to the humour value and questioning if this was ever intended on being a serious movie?

Plot wise the one point which stuck with me which watching this film, is why does everyone keep referring to the creature as being “A giant battleship”? Seriously this one description is shared by nearly every character that comes into contact with the creature, but why call it a battleship? Why not at least describe it as something that flies at the least. I also have to wonder for a creature which is supposedly from space, how it actually travels through space, let alone generates its own force field which is pretty much accepted as fact, almost as if the idea of a giant chicken flying through space makes perfect sense.

I can’t help but feel had the creature effects been better, that this film might be remembered in more positive light, rather than for its unintentional humour value, caused by a seriously random looking creature, caused by the budget restraints the film was put under and certainly which resonates even now, when you consider the amount of half decent films, which are ruined by the inclusion of cheap bargain basement CGI. Still the film remains as it does a fun way to burn away a Sunday afternoon, especially when you can’t be bothered with the complexities of something heavier which after all is what this genre does best.

Gamera Vs. Barugon / War Of The Monsters

Title: Gamera Vs. Barugon / War of the Monsters
Director: Shigeo Tanaka
Released: 1966

Staring: Kojiro Hongo, Kyôko Enami, Yuzo Hayakawa, Takuya Fujioka, Kôji Fujiyama, Akira Natsuki, Yoshiro Kitahara, Ichirô Sugai, Bontarô Miake, Jutaro Hojo

Rating: 3 / 5

Plot: A giant opal turns out to be an egg, which hatches into the monster Barugon who sets about wrecking havoc. Meanwhile Gamera is heading back to earth, having been released from his rocket prison.

Review: Now if you’ve found yourself looking at that great painted poster you might have found yourself thinking, wow this looks like quite an exciting looking movie, I mean right there on the cover we have Barugon being thrown by his tail! Well for those of us familiar with the concept of the painted movie poster (I.e: Don’t expect to see anything on the poster) you will probably not be surprised to know that, this film doesn’t have anything close to this in it, in fact it is just one of a number of misleading ideas that this film throws out there, with the most glaring being Gamera, who in all honesty seems kind of lost with his appearance here, which totals all of about 15 minutes and could easily have been edited out, making what would essentially have been a better monster movie.

Gamera for those of you not in the know is a giant fire breathing, flying turtle who in later entries in the series would become better known as being a "friend to children of the world", which is kind of surprising seeing how gory the Gamera films are as the monsters gush blood, making for an interesting contrast to the relatively blood free Godzilla movies, whose films it is almost impossible to not draw comparisons with when you look at the Gamera films. Still at this point in the series Gamera is still keen on trashing Japan, much like his fellow monsters, who he is supposed to be stopping, making it more of a Darwinian contest for territory and resources than anything resembling the monster smackdowns, which the later movies would become.

The main story involves a bunch of Jewel thieves and their quest to steal an Opel twice the size of a man’s fist, which their leader of sorts Hirta (Natsuki) a WW2 veteran hid in a cave, when he was stationed in New Guinea. Seeing how he is now unable to make the trip back to the cave, he recruits his brother Keisuke (Hongo) and his two friends, one of which being Omotura (Fujiyama) who has plans of his own for the Opel and is also the one responsible for the trouble the party encounter on their quest to retrieve the Opel, rather than them encountering a giant monster on route. It is soon pretty clear what a bastard Omotura really is, not only content to let his so called friends get killed by a giant scorpion, but also willing to bury one alive in a cave in. He is also willing to put the fate of Japan at risk, by attempting to steal the diamond lure which Karen and her fellow members of the black tribe (a tribe it would seem made up largely of blacked up Japanese actors), have supposedly used over the years to kill off Barugon’s ancestors. This storyline is interesting enough to keep the audiences attention, especially seeing how it takes up the first half of the film until Barugon hatches, when his egg is exposed to an infrared lamp’s rays, releasing a decidedly plastic looking and slime covered dinosaur.

Barugon is an interesting first opponent for Gamera, mainly because he is the first to highlight Gamera’s weakness for the cold, thanks to his extendable tongue which shoots out a freeze ray, while his back shoots out a rainbow death ray, which is certainly an interesting choice of attack, even more so when it is never explained why it has to look like a rainbow! Still due to Barugon’s freeze ray, Gamera get his ass truly handed to him within minutes of their first encounter with each other, leaving Gamera knocked out for most of the film, until he’s needed to finish off a heavily weakened Barugon at the film’s climax. It’s in this respect that this film in particular stands out from so many of the other “Kaiju” films, seeing how the military forces are actually pretty effective in their attempts to stop Barugon, which came as even more of a surprise to someone like myself he is more used to watching the military show up with impressive looking pieces of hardware, followed shortly afterwards by that said hardware exploding in a shower of pyrotechnics, which is not to say it doesn’t happen here aswell, it’s just that it actually does some real damage, than seeming like a distraction. Though this is also not to say that they don’t still manage to come up with some random ideas of solving their giant monster problem, with my personal favourite being to hang a giant diamond from a helicopter and have Barugon follow it, to the sea where he is expected to drown, which is kind of surprising seeing how he emerges from the sea to begin with, especially when you consider what a weakness water is to Barugon, who is also stopped at one point by it raining!

All in all it is an interesting entry in the Gamera series, criteria which it only just manages to scrape thorough, as I mentioned before he could have easily have been edited out of this film and just left it as a Barugon movie. Still it makes for a fun viewing while it lasts, even if the first half feels a little slow in places, meaning that the less dedicated amongst us will have no doubt switched off, long before Barugon has unleashed his first attack and in a way provides an idea of how the series could have gone, especially seeing how it is the only film without a child lead and lacking many of the Gamera trademarks which would appear in later films, which would see Gamera change from being a destructive monster into “The Guardian of the Universe”.

Welcome to Kaiju Season

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.