Destroy All Monsters (1968)

7/10

MartianOctocretr57 July 2006

Toho decided to throw a block party for monsters in Tokyo, and invited every creature they could get to sign on to do the flick. Their three biggest mega stars are featured: the lovable giant fire-breathing lizard Godzilla, the supersonic bird who stirs up hurricane winds, Rodan; and the evil three-headed serpent King Ghidora. Throw in the talents of several other monsters and you have a Battle Royale that's a feast for the eyes.

Aliens want to conquer the Earth. So they use hypnosis chips on both key humans as well as the giant beasts, forcing them to assist in a sinister scheme. The human actors, although intentionally upstaged by their larger co-stars, make for an interesting invasion from within story. The actors really do a good job showing urgency in this battle for Earth, (in spite of the sometimes questionable dubbing job). The action moves fast and furious, leading to the inevitable climactic monster showdown.

The film incorporates the monster back stories as much as possible; considering how many creatures get in the act, that's quite an accomplishment. It's fun to see them all together; and they put on several good destruction and battle scenes. The TV reporter doing a sports play-by-play in the decisive battle is a great touch, giving us great lines such as, "Listen to the monsters, with their cries of horror and sudden death!"

Fun stuff for Japanese monster movie fans or anyone who likes a good, campy, action filled flick.

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7/10

Operation Monsterland (1968)

SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain26 December 2011

Love Godzilla, love other monsters, love aliens, love destruction, love this movie.Destroy All Monsters takes us into the future where all monsters are now confined to Monster Island. All goes well until a race of alien metal people kidnap the monsters. Then, they brainwash them and set them to attack the major cities of the world. After so many Godzilla island adventures, it was so good to see the cities having their asses whooped. Great designs and model work left for a series of inventive attacks. By the end it all descends into a chaotic (and very unfair) fight. However, their were some genuine moments of panic. There was a moment between Anguilas and King Ghiddorah which left me almost covering my eyes. The sheer intensity, and likable monsters made it an engaging affair. We're left to deliberate how creatures instinctively know who their enemies are. This is a greatest hits for all fans of the genre.

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7/10

Still good after all these years !!

pittro122 July 2018

Still one of my favorite Godzilla Movies but the new English dubbed version is horrible... someone stated in a previous review that the new version is comical..they got that right...is there an old copy out there with the original dubbed version out there..would love to see that version..throw this new version out the window...lol

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Simply tremendous fun,possibly the essential Japanese monster movie

DrLenera22 March 2004

Destroy All Monsters is one of the most sheerly entertaining Godzilla movies. The story,if derivative of Monster Zero,is large-scale and exciting {although the alien invasion idea would soon be done to death},the action is non-stop and the film features almost all the monsters from Toho films made up to that time. There is mass destruction,lazer gun shoot-outs,lots of barmy but cool ideas such as Monster Island,a place where all Earth's monsters are kept by scientists-how can the movie not be terrific entertainment?

There are a few flaws with the film which may not have been present if the Toho of 1964 had made it rather than the Toho of 1968. Although the story has the entire world threatened and several of Earth's cities destroyed,the budget did obviously not extend to allowing much of a depiction of this,bar some brief,unconvincing scenes. Also,a few of the monsters are only briefly shown,such as Varan {The Unbelievable},who appears only in two blink-and -you're-miss-them shots {the suit had been ruined and there was not enough money to buy a new one}. The film may therefore have actually been better with less monsters. However,criticisms of dullness are ridiculous,the film is constant action,which makes up for the lack of interesting human characters,and amazingly,the film is taken more seriously than many of the other Godzilla films,almost achieving the perfection of tone of Godzilla Vs Mothra. Of course,there are a few wonderfully stupid moments,like the sequence of our heroes severing a control device with a lazer which helariously goes on for ages. A shame the final Earth monsters vs Ghidorah fight is too short,but than Ghidorah did not really stand a chance!

Terrific fun,though,with a wonderful Akira Ifikube score featuring two of the most memorable kaiju themes! Not the best Godzilla film,but probably the most essential one to see!

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6/10

Can we tempt you with an extra helping of kaiju?

vkn11 March 2001

The basic set-up sure seems delicious; a whole group of Toho's most popular monsters all in one movie. Godzilla, Rodan, Anguillas, Mothra and pretty much all the others (including a few very obscure ones) packed into one movie should by all rights be simply irresistible.

And....mwelll, it is quite good, only not as tremendous as I had expected. Yes, the whole kaiju bunch get together to battle the nasty aliens in the end (who send in Ghidora against them, who's always nice to see in action as the kaiju über-baddie), and this big fight scene is pretty great. Only, it's short, and there's little else in there that really stands out. In fact, for a flick with so many monsters in it, you see shockingly little footage of the kaiju actually tearing up cities good and proper. Plus, some very obscure monsters join the fray, which eventually only clutters things, as we'd rather just see the proper big-name kaiju instead of a shady filler-material monster.

There's some kind of a plot in there, but it's not really something to write home about. Someone's had the clever idea to store all the earth's (or Toho studios') giant monsters on the aptly-named isle of Monster Island. This just begs for disaster, of course. Before long, a mysterious cataclysm causes all the monsters to escape and wreak havoc. And as usual, there's a bunch of unpleasant, and very oddly dressed aliens behind all this. Que lots of scenes with brave human heroes and their funky spaceship trying to put a halt to the aliens' evil plans. In fact, far too many of such scenes. And while there are delightfully silly cheapo sci-fi costumes and tacky spaceships in there, somehow more of the proper kaiju action that this film's concept promised would've been much better.

It's still quite an addition to a kaiju lover's collection, and is good enough to kill time in a nicely silly way, with all those groovy big monsters in there. Worth a go, but could've been much more. (still, hooray for a flick where poor old Anguillas is -not- merely used as a kaiju-sized live punching bag for a change).

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7/10

Great, but a bit overrated

stevenfallonnyc14 April 2004

While "Destroy All Monsters" is no doubt a great Godzilla film, it definitely has its problems and it not the non-stop awesome epic it has acquired as a reputation over the years.

I think the film's rep as the "ultimate Godzilla epic" had to do with a few certain things. As kids, we certainly remember this movie being played on Saturday afternoons of the late late show because it does have a cool title and well, plenty of monsters. Also helping was the fact that after VHS got really popular, while plenty of Godzilla films were released (mostly shoddy released from cheapo companies), DAM was not released, and therefore was highly sought-after on the bootleg market. I remember reading a magazine in the mid-80's where one guy claims he paid $150 for as bootleg copy, imagine that!

How disappointing the DVD release is. While it's nice to have the film on disc, in English and widescreen, it has no title screen, no chapters, no extras, no nothing.

The film itself, well it is really good and a lot of fun. Aliens want to cause trouble for Earth, and get the monsters off Monster Island to destroy all the planet's major cities. Unfortunately, you hardly see any actual destruction of these cities, because it's pretty much just a quick shot or two (like Godzilla destroying the UN building in NYC, and that's that). All the monsters then get together in Tokyo (they seem to travel around the world really quickly) to collectively pounce on that city (well, where else?). Some really good destruction scenes happen here, and it is here where some good scenes were cut from the film, especially the famous "Godzilla vs. Manda" (the snake) scene, which you can see on a Toho "deleted scenes and outtakes" video. It's a quick scene but extremely cool to see and have, having read and heard about the missing fight since I was a little kid.

Really disappointing is the actual final battle between Ghidrah and the monster group. Ghidrah hardly fires his lasers, and doesn't really seem to put up a great fight. But he still is probably the coolest looking monster Toho ever came up with, so he's a fan fave anyway.

Of course the lack of monsters throughout the movie is a downer, because you barely even see some of them. Varan actually comes back for a quick shot at the end of the movie when his rubber puppet just kind of rises from behind a mountain and then shoots up into the sky.

There is a lot of action though, a decent plot, good music, pretty Japanese girls, and a lot of cool camera shots. While DAM isn't quite the legend it is made to be, it probably is the last truly great Godzilla film of the original series.

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7/10

Beautiful

NerdBat1 July 2018

I'm surprised this movie isn't rated higher. I can admit there are a few parts that seem to be a bit confusing, but it's a wonderful movie. I have heard people that feel the film focuses too much on the humans, but I must disagree. I think the main reason this film is as good as it is, is because it does indeed focus more on the monsters. I don't know exactly if I can recommend one specific Godzilla movie which I would consider "the best", but this one has to come close, at least in my opinion. Originally it was going to be the end of the series but I'm glad it wasn't, we had a lot of fun in this film and it's a must see for all monster lovers~

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6/10

Destroy All Monsters 1968 Review

chandean-6976222 March 2021

The Avengers of the Godzilla Universe.

In Destroy All Monsters, the story consists of this weird alien invasion plot that never really gripped me, it felt a little too silly - sillier than Invasion of Astro-Monster and that movie felt like a fever dream.

But where this film really shines is it's kaijus and it's action. Right from the start you get to see the monsters, making this automatically feel different by being more monster-centric. Plus they get a whole lot more screen time too. The action is great, the destruction looks the best it's ever looked, and the final fight is some of the best kaiju-on-kaiju action thus far!

I only have two complaints: One, why is Mothra always a larva? Why can't we see the queen herself fly around with Rodan? And two, Minilla is the most worthless kaiju i've ever seen. All of the other monsters have their moments in the fight while Minilla stands in the back waving his dumb little arms.

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9/10

Great Fun

loufalce8 December 2005

I make no appologies. I LOVE Kaiju films. Period. Godzilla meister Honda- along with special effects guy Tsubaraya are at the top of their form here.After confining the worlds greatest monsters to monsterland- an island where they can run wild yet not do any harm all is not well. It seems that space aliens are controlling their minds and sending them on many city bestroying rampages. Mothra in Beijing, Godzilla in New York, Rodan in Moscow, etc, etc.Meanwhile on the moon-a rocket crew is observing a UFO. Does this have anything to do with the monster attacks? Back at monsterland, the control crew are replaced by the aliens{Who take on human traits} After much intrigue, the alien base is discovered and the fun begins.The special effects are superior. The rockets and UFOs have a pulp magazine quality that was somewhat dated in 1968, but for some reason it works in this film. Especially cool is the tank like vehicle the rocket holds. Even the model work is of the first order and although it would probably would not pass muster with todays computer generated FX fans, it gives this film an immaginative quality that is sadly lacking in most of todays films.And the climactic monster fight with all the genres all time greats is really a blast! Whenever I1m feeling down, I just pop this one in the VCR and bingo! I feel better again.No deep thinking, just fun on a monster size scale.

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7/10

They say Avengers was the best crossover in cinematic history...well Godzilla and pals did it over 50 years prior!

johnregan19999 February 2021

All the monsters on "Monster Island" have been taken control of by an alien race through a mystical fart like cloud, and are set off on a rampage across earth. Meanwhile, a team of astronauts must band together to gain back control of the monster squad before it's too late.

As the end of the so called "Golden Era" of the Toho produced films, "Destroy All Monsters" is a suitably cheesy and throughly entertaining finale to this part of the Showa-era. Although I miss the darkness of the original, at this point in the series I was on board with the silliness of the plots. As always, the practical effects here are fantastic for the time period. The rampaging monsters look the best they have ever looked, and every scene that the monsters are on screen is so fun.

I'd be reluctant to say it's the best of the Showa era, but I would say it's one of the most entertaining in terms of pure monster madness. A must watch for Kajiu fans.

Side note: I've never watched a rated G movie that literally shows a guy getting shot in the face, with blood and all, AND a suicide. Damn the 60's were wild.

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4/10

With such a title, there was surprisingly little monster destruction going on...

paul_haakonsen20 August 2019

I sat down to watch the 1968 "Kaijû sôshingeki" (aka "Destroy All Monsters") as part of my recent binge of watching the old "Godzilla" movies. And with a title as "Destroy All Monsters", then I must admit that I had somewhat of great expectations to the movie, taking into consideration, of course, the limitations imposed from being made in 1968.

This movie wasn't really up to what I had expected. There was way too little kaiju action throughout the course of the movie, which made it feel like I was being cheated out of something that the movie was essentially promising, given the title of the movie.

For a movie made in 1968, I must say that the effects were actually good. They still prove entertaining today, though in a goofy, campy and retro manner, of course.

The storyline in "Destroy All Monsters" is simplistic. So very, very simplistic. It is essentially just about a heap of kaiju duking it out with us humans caught on the sideline.

I was disappointed with the outcome of "Destroy All Monsters" from writers Ishirô Honda and Takeshi Kimura. And director Ishirô Honda wasn't really providing much of any worthwhile for the audience watching the movie. As such, then I am rating the movie a mere four out of ten stars.

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9/10

What Final Wars Should Have Been

gigan-9230 September 2010

Warning: Spoilers

This film was supposed to have been the finale of the Showa series of films, but Toho saw how successful it was and plowed forward. How ironic that they followed this up with one of the, if not THE, worst Godzilla movie, "Godzilla's Revenge". But yeah, this film was the last to feature all four fathers: Akira Ifukbe, Ishiro Honda, Eiji Tsubraya, and Tomiyuki Tanaka When you have them all you know you're in for a treat. One might say the series should have ended here, but then we would've never have seen the creation of some fan favorites, like Gigan and Mecha Godzilla.

I'll start by saying the single blunder of the film; its run time. It's exactly 88 minutes, as long as "Mothra vs. Godzilla'. That film had a total of four monsters. This film has almost tripled that, so how is it possible that they're the same length. Less characterization apparently, the same flaw crippled "Tokyo S.O.S." in comparison to its predecessor "Godzilla X Mecha Godzilla". A factor because this one's heavy on the sci-fi, heavier than usual. Eight minutes in we have our action start with the siege of Monster Land but in the end it won't bother most.

I won't even bother going into detail about Baragon and Varan, two monsters who didn't do sh*t in the whole movie. Although Baragon was supposed to attack Parisso, Varan, why are you here? Godzilla has a new friendlier look, but it is far better than the laughable 1966 and 1967 suits, and the result is a great suit all in all. Rodan looks terrible in close ups sad to say despite his screen time but otherwise (or rather afar) he's okay. Anguirus looks fantastic and has lots of personality I must say. Kumonga, Mothra, and Gorosaurus pretty much remain the same, but look great. Manda has lost a few of his "Atragon" facial features but I still love him in the movie. Minilla, wish King Ghidorah had killed his ass, but whateverThe characters are pretty legit and the story involves them quite well. Some have called "Final Wars" the 2004 version of this film, but hardly. The human action in that film was Matrix rip-off type crap. Here we simply have the drama of a man and his alien-controlled sister. Plus nice shoot outs, but no over the top sh*t. Plus unlike in 2004, the leader isn't a cheesy annoying pric. This film beats "Final Wars" on that hands down.

Another aspect where the 50th anniversary failed is with the monster action. Godzilla basically killed everyone in a one-by-one killing frenzy. Somewhat cool, but I like what we see here better. Like the Tokyo stomp scenes, or the grand finale at Mt. Fuji. That's what we wanted to see in "Final Wars"!! All the monsters gathered in one spot, fighting the "demon of our galaxy", King Ghidorah! It was F*ckin awesome! Not to mention it's a brutal and bloody battle. The cinematography and SFX are epic for their time. To top it all off, Akira Ifukbe delivers one of the best Showa scores ever. I love this film to death. The end battle can never be topped and so I rest my case.

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6/10

back to basics

SnoopyStyle13 October 2019

Aka Destroy All Monsters. It's the end of the century. UNSC is launching daily missions to the moon base. All the monsters are safely contained on an island until an accident in containment allows them to escape across the globe. It is revealed that it's aliens again.

The franchise goes back to the basics. There is no more silly comedy. It's a sci-fi monster movie. The major drawback is that the monsters initially get scattered. It's not until much later when they are drawn into a giant battle royale. I like the earlier alien designs. This is nothing more than a dress. Overall, the story is a bit muddled with the monsters going back and forth with the rooting interest. It is nice to get the franchise back to its roots.

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3/10

Toho Monster Rally

AaronCapenBanner2 May 2014

Ninth Godzilla film has him leading nearly the entire Toho studios legion of monsters(even a couple we thought dead!) off of Monster Land after they are programmed by ruthless alien invaders in an attempt to conquer the Earth, but are met with fierce resistance by the combined forces of the Earth authorities, who concoct a plan to free the monsters from their control. Lots of action here, but film otherwise started the decline of the series, with a confused jumping forward in time(1999) and a decidedly uninspired and nonsensical plot that had been done before, and better; more of a video game than a film, though this remains popular with fans.

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7/10

Kick ass monster movie

S-Reisner27 December 2005

Any movie with 11 monsters is an instant bad ass. I did not see all of this film but it was incredible.

Though it took a while to get to monster action with Godzilla, Manda, Rodan and mothra all invading New York at once, it was an exciting film. Though the narrating sucked and the acting wasn't so great, it was good.

It definitely made the military look like idiots in the first monster scene when they are firing machine guns and missiles at the four monsters in New York. This movie should not be rated G, but pg-13 for monster violence. I advise you to see this film A.S.A.P.

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6/10

It definitely Overrated but Still has it's Classic Moments

MlleSedTortue30 December 2020

Destroy all Monsters has to be the most overrated of all the classic Showa films. Most of what occurs in this film was done better in previous films. An alien invasion plot. Astro Monster and Mysterians did it better. A big monster monster brawl? GTTHM did it better. Fun characters? Most of Jun Fukuda's films. Even in terms of enjoying the classic tokusatsu work, other films like Mothra and Rodan look better. Still I wound never go so far as to say the film doesn't have things that work. The story and characters, while par for the course, is still fun and enjoyable. Ifukube's score is still memorable and the work that went into creating the miniature sets are insane. When the film has it's moments, it excels. I just wished the film was able to equally balance all these aspects, but as is, it's still worth seeking for it's memorable moments.

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6/10

Recycled plot but the fight scenes make it worthwhile

Daviddavecavemave1 March 2020

The plot of this movie is very similar to what Invasion of Astro-Monster was only the plot takes place on Earth rather than another planet. And personally, I am much more of a fan of that movie than I am this one.

The only redeemable thing about this movie is that the fight scenes are pretty entertaining. There's a wide variety of Kaiju featured (from Godzilla to Ghidorah) and it makes for some pretty solid entertainment. It's definitely more tolerable than a majority of other Godzilla films but it's far from the best.

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7/10

Japanese Monster All-Star Eleven!

Red-Barracuda19 September 2023

In the future of 1999, the world is at peace, with all the giant monsters imprisoned on the island known as Monsterland. But that's all about to end because a race of evil female aliens suddenly pitches up and frees them and using mind control then gets them to go around stomping all the major world capital cities! Well, here's a Japanese monster movie that has a great concept! Forget one, two or even three giant monsters, why not make a film with eleven! To that end, this sucker features Godzilla, his moronic kid brother Minya, giant caterpillar Mothra, three-headed alien creature King Ghidorah, the giant spider Spiega, the dinosaurs Anguirus, Baragon and Gorosaurus, the giant snake Manda, and the flying reptiles Rodan and Varan. Its ostensibly regarded as the 9th Godzilla film but with that much talent, this is clearly more of a team effort.

Early on we enjoy several of the big hitters taking the various towns - Rodan flies into maul Moscow, Mothra derails a train in Peking, Baragon takes down the Arc de Triumph in Paris and Godzilla emerges from the Hudson and demolishes the UN building. Of course, the action inevitably soon switches to Tokyo with various monsters, including Manda, getting in on the city smashing act. After all this fun, the entertainment does sag a bit in the middle, when the monsters take a back seat and the humans and aliens battle each other on the moon. But not to worry, the big guys return in style in a massive team effort, climatic final battle, where King Ghidorah comes down from outer space and fights all the other monsters. This sequence was notable to me for doing something I had never seen before - have a villain out-numbered by the good guys! And he is well and truly leathered by the lot of them, aside from Minya who does nothing useful in the entire film, except appear mildly brain damaged. Needless to say, this whole finale is absolutely brilliant fun and, as the saying goes, worth the price of admission alone. The special effects and model work are especially great in this whole sequence. Top quality entertainment overall.

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9/10

Great Godzilla and monster film!

Movie Nuttball6 March 2003

This Toho monster film is very good.The all star cast of monsters is great but Baragon and Varan have little or no screen time.The newer version has an all new dubbing and digital recording which makes this serious film funny.If you love Godzilla and other Toho monsters then check Destroy All Monsters out today!

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6/10

Giant Monster House Party!

vtcavuoto15 August 2007

Warning: Spoilers

"Destroy All Monsters" was Japan's answer to Universal Studio's "House of Frankenstein" and "House of Dracula" which featured all the popular monsters of the time. You get Godzilla and all his pals on an island that mankind has banished. Aliens come and control the monsters to destroy civilization. A group of Astronauts come to the rescue and destroy the transmitting device that controls the monster's actions. The monsters attack the aliens and battle King Ghidorah at the end of the film. The movie is what one would expect from a Godzilla film. The dubbing and acting is average at best. The music score and special effects are decent. Not the strongest film in the series but still fun to watch.

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5/10

kinda slow and theres almost no monsters, except for that ending the ending is amazing

y-0231117 February 2020

The ending is amazing but the rest is a kinda slow alien invasion movie with barely any monsters

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9/10

Entertaining cheesy monster movie

wbruce71418 May 2014

Warning: Spoilers

Destroy all Monsters is an excellent monster movie for the simple reason that it has everything you are expecting out of a 60s Godzilla movie. Cheesy effects, aliens, and a lot of monsters. Godzilla Gorosaurus(one of my personal favorite kaiju) Baragon Manda Minilla King Ghidorah Anguirus Varan Mothra Rodan and Kumonga all make appearances in the movie, some more brief than others which leaves some fans wishing for a bit more.

The plot of the movie is very similar to the 1965 Godzilla flick Invasion of Astro Monster where aliens attempt to take over the Earth by using mind control on the monsters and sending them to destroy major cities. Most of the movie is the humans trying to figure out a way to stop the aliens known as the Killaks but monster scenes are thrown in so the movie doesn't completely bore you. There are many great monster scenes like at the beginning where it shows you all the monsters living on monster land(a island where the humans keep the monsters contained. There's also a great destruction scene in Tokyo where Godzilla Manda Rodan and Mothra all appear at once completely obliterating the city. However the best is saved for last. At the end of the movie all the monsters team up to fight King Ghidorah which makes one of the best fight scenes in all of the Godzilla series. It's epic! It makes up for all of the boring in between stuff by being so awesome. Definitely worth the wait.

9 stars out of 10 because of the boring human stuff but the monster scenes are fantastic.

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7/10

Ishirô Honda Systematically destroying Japan since 1954!

Coventry28 August 2010

Unless you've seen it with your very own two eyes, you simply cannot imagine how much fun there's to be had with "Destroy All Monsters". It's a pure and incredibly party-mix of deranged plotting, hilarious dialogs & bad dubbing, grotesque monster action and unimaginably cheesy sound and light effects. I understand this was some kind of celebration movie for the famous Toho Company, as it was their 20th film featuring monsters. It was also the 14th film of director Ishirô Honda, since his original and still almighty "Godzilla" in 1954, in which he systematically destroys Tokyo or sometimes even the whole of Japan on film! For these special occasions – and merely also for your viewing pleasure – Honda and the good people at Toho Company combined their talents to bring us the ultimate monster mash! And what a treat it is. "Destroy All Monsters" naturally features Godzilla, but also his slightly moronic son, the awesome Mothra and Spiga and also Rodan, Angilas, Manda and the utterly cool three-headed extraterrestrial monster Ghidrah! But still there's more. How about a malignant race of evil female aliens, called the Kilaahks, that turn respectable earthly scientists into obedient disciples through nerve gas but turn into petrified worms as soon as they get exposed to cold weather? "Destroy All Monsters" has it all and more!

The year is 1999. Humans fly to the moon on a daily basis (ha!) and all the once dangerous monsters have been safely gathered on a place called Monsterland, where they're being monitored by scientists. But then Kilaahks come with the intention of taking over our planet. They hypnotize the scientists and turn the monsters into remote controlled instruments of devastation that they subsequently let loose all across the world! Godzilla and C° demolish New York, Paris, London and Moscow before they all return together to ravage Tokyo. But a handful of courageous astronauts fight back. When the monsters are back under control eventually, the Kilaahks have to bring in their own space monsters like Ghidrah and a dragon of fire. "Destroy All Monsters" is terrific entertainment, chock-full of (unintentional) laughs and irresistibly delightful special effects and tacky set pieces. I had the pleasure of seeing this cute flick on a big cinema screen, during a "Monster Movie Double Feature" special, and the entire theater had a great time. Everything about this film is so charming and kitschy, like aliens' costumes, the rocket ships' designs and – of course – the monsters devastating rampages. The English dubbed version provides even more hysterical situations, as the acting performances come across as very hammy. Keep an eye on the elderly non-Asian scientist especially. Whenever he opens his mouth to talk, it sounds like he's about to suffer from a stroke and die on the spot!

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1/10

absolutely the worst ever!

gmzewski2 September 2005

This movie is so incredibly bad, it stands out on its own, it can't be categorized even into the sub-zero "Z" grade of Japanese monster flicks. (Several of them were quite good, in fact). A buddy & I dabbled in film-making on our own in the 50s, and the stuff we shot was D.W. Griffith or C.B. DeMille compared to this one! The broken airplane hanging on a string, the Lionel train, the village with the name "Plasticville" on the side,the Bernz-O-Matic torch sticking out of Godzilla's mouth, all of these things and so many more make it an absolute agony to watch, in fact, that's what makes it so good: waiting for the next scene to see if it will possibly be any worse than the last one! Its most memorable piece is the emergency convening of the Japanese Joint Chiefs of Staff, as the monsters are wholesale destroying Tokyo, nuclear bombs can't stop them, the combined military might of of all the Allied forces just make them more angry. Calling the meeting to order, the chairman blurts the stupidest line in cinema history when he says "GENTLEMEN, THE SITUATION BEFORE US IS SO BAD, IT'S WORSE THAN IT'S EVER BEEN BEFORE!"

This one is so bad, it can't even be rated as "good" because of its badness, absolutely, positively, without par or equal, the worst film ever made (And trust me on this, I've spent 50+ years screening bad movies, and this one made me put down my beer, sit up straight in the chair, drop my jaw, and say to myself: "THIS PIECE OF S**T IS SO F(*&^%G BAD< I"VE GOT TO HAVE MY OWN COPY TODAY!!! I won't even give "benefit of doubt" to the possibly it may have been done this way on purpose!

Now, I generally rate the Jap monster flicks by how far off the lip movement is to the sound track, this one, who cares? This is one Bad, awful, movie. Check it out! IT SUCKS! AND REALLY BAD!!!

Oh, yeah, almost forgot: There's a cut scene that has nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of the film, a group of veterinarians watching a film of someone slicing open a huge boil on the nose of an elephant, and gallons of pus and swarms of maggots pouring out! Why is it there? I don't know! Go figure! YUUCHH!

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