Emmyzilla

Just recently watched toho’s 1958 scifi kaiju horror film “Varan” aka “varan the unbelievable”

And yeah gotta be honest, considering that I enjoyed the first three solo kaiju films from the iconic scifi horror films like Godzilla and Rodan and the beloved fantasy film Mothra and since I appreciate those movies for being genuinely good movies

I was honestly expecting that this movie is gonna be on the same category as the other solo kaiju films, I mean for a cool kaiju desing like varan and his cool ability of gliding himself, i expected that this movie is gonna be underrated or great

But sadly and unfornately in my very own honesty, this movie is easily considered one of toho’s weakest films especially for being a genuine black sheep of their filmmography and it’s no hard to see why considering that this movie has alot of flaws and problems especially on it’s narrative, the characters, it’s out of place lighting, the acting and dialogue and sadly even the visual effects and action sequences which are also left a lot to be desired

First off, the story is pretty lackluster and boring especially that it does feature alot of moments of filler and alot of scenes that drag on for very long especially even some moments that are supposed to be exciting like the military montage sequence of preparing themselves to attack the monster are very meandering and dull and do make the film very boring especially that the film has a very convincing premise during the first act of varan being worshipped by the natives and the movie could have potential for following on the idea similar to Mothra but sadly that plotpoint didint go anywhere since the second act just became a generic giant monster rampage flick and the characters trying to stop it which of course dragged the film, the characters are easily pretty forgettable especially that their acting and dialogue are notoriously lackluster and boring especially that it felt like the cast didint even care about being in the film and you can tell that they felt bored while being in the movie especially that one of the characters like the main scientist character, his expression and dialogue felt like the actor preffered to be anywhere else instead of this movie and just only wanted to get it over with by only reading the script and move on with it and treated the film like a job and it shows since he felt like he was done with this movie

The lighting which is “black and white” is so notoriously out of place considering that it made toho’s filmmography go on a downward spiral and it feels ironic considering that they did Rodan along with the mysterians in color but here, it feels like if toho took their direction backwards and it feels very cheap and out of place

And gotta be honest, as much as I do like varan’s design and his gliding ability is cool but his roar is just pretty forgettable and lackluster since it’s just a stock roar from Godzilla but less convincing and does take away the originality of the creature

And yeah to be honest, as much as I love practical effects and miniatures in a monster movie like this but this is problaby the weakest of the way they are handled, yeah I get that this movie does feature some cool battle sequences but they can be very dull and meandering and cheap at times

The water battle sequences while cool and entertaining at first, they can be a drag when they kept on progressing it especially that the they took forever especially that these battle sequences happened for like 4 times and it just gets old fast

And when we finally get to the airport, even if it does have some good effects moments but sadly most of the action sequences at the airport are just stockfootage from the first two Godzilla movies and do admittedly find varan’s defeat to be kinda stupid and rushed

And I can easily understand why ishiro honda hated this movie and considered to be one of his weakest films that he had ever directed especially that he didint think positive about the movie and the experience in general and the final product definitely showed

Overall, “Varan” is easily considered one of toho’s forgettable and disappointing movies especially for being one of their weakest films that they have created, for its predictable and lackluster story, to the uninteresting characters, to their bad and mediocre dialogue, to the cheap lighting and finally for having one of the weakest visual effects to ever put on screen

(4.5/10)

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2 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 158

Emmyzilla

Which of these solo kaiju movies do you prefer the most?

3 days ago | [YT] | 333

Emmyzilla

Just recently finished watching the 1961 Toho and columbia pictures’s scifi fantasy kaiju film “Mothra”

And do admit after seeing this movie especially that I did watched the original Japanese cut, I do gotta admit that it’s easily considered one of toho and Columbia pictures’s beloved monster movies especially that the movie does have a very good narrative along with some well written characters especially that the film features some relatable themes and messages of being greedy and religion in it

for the greed, the movie feels like an allegory of being selfish and oblivious to the danger and surroundings since Nelson and his Allies are oblivious that they unleashed a curse on not just them but also humanity in general for kidnapping the little twins and unleashed Mothra to go on a rampage on Tokyo and later new kirk city and this story idea is kinda similar to gamera vs barugon that follows a similar premise of characters unleashing a monster by their own selfish goals and of course, the curse was unleashed on humanity by barugon’s rampage

And for religion, for its allegory of faith that stopped the destruction since the characters prayed to god for help to stop Mothra’s rampage and of course god did responded and told Mothra to stop with the powerful allegory at the end when the Churches and bells ringed to attract her attention like if god told her that the characters have her twins and convinced her to calm down

Especially that as a catholic person myself, it’s very heart warming that a movie like this acknoledge Catholicism especially that eiji tsubaraya himself was also a religious person himself and his catholic belief was translated into this movie and it does give a sense of powerful symbolism that since the cross symbol that belonged to Mothra and the ones that are on the churches in new kirk city represent the Jesus Christ cross and when Mothra calms down and picks up the twin girls at the end, it’s like if god stopped mothra from attacking and told her to go to the airport since the characters have her twins, Mothra listened and obey to god and went to the airport to pick up the twins, which implied that god himself saved the day and it does feel very beautiful and heart warming for a movie like this

Not to mentioned that the special effects are also very good aswell along that the miniatures and practical effects are very well done and Mothra herself looked very adorable and beautiful

Overall, Mothra is easily considered a beloved monster movie of both Toho and Columbia pictures, for it’s great narrative, likable characters and beautiful and relatable themes of faith and greed

(10/10)

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3 days ago | [YT] | 112

Emmyzilla

Since I had rewatched Rodan yesterday

I’m finally gonna watch the 1961 Toho and Columbia pictures’s fantasy kaiju film “Mothra”

Wish me luck everyone

😉😉😉😉

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3 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 54

Emmyzilla

Just recently finished rewatching toho’s 1956 iconic scifi kaiju horror film “Rodan”

And man after giving this rewatch especially that I also watched the original Japanese cut, I still do easily considered this movie to be one of toho’s best movies along with the original Godzilla movie especially that I do appreciate of how clever it feels for incorporating a mystery horror film when the meganulons attacked the main characters in the mine during the first act to then later introduced the kaiju on the second act and the pay off is well executed especially that it gives the film a genuine disturbing and horror movie vibe to it and I kid you not that this movie has alot of moments that do scared the living to shit out of me when I watched this film like the moments when the meganulons attacked the characters during when they are investigating the mine with the creepy sound effect of them or when Rodan made his introduction during the fighter jet dog fight sequence and man seeing Rodan popping out and killing the pilot scared the living shit out of me and gave me chills especially that it felt like Rodan jumpscared me

And these aspects especially for incorporating alot of suspenseful moments especially for constantly hiding the creatures before making their introduction do give the film a genuine disturbing vibe in a very effective way and made the film very fun to Watch because of how well written and executed the movie feels for adding suspense to the moments

I also do enjoyed the human characters aswell especially that they do have moments of sympathy towards them and even that this is a kaiju movie and alot of people talked about the monsters way to much, the human characters are also considered the highlights of the film especially that they have alot of screentime that actually gave them something to do and do admit that I do like all of them like shigeru, goro, Yoshi and even kio and I was also rooting for them to survive when the meganulons attacked them during the first act or when the rodans attacked them during their introduction

The visual effects are obviously very stunning and incredible to look at especially that the meganulons along with the rodan’s themselves are very Impressive and even terrifying at times considering that their designs do look pretty disturbing and monstrous in a very good way since their presence do give the allusion that this is more of a horror movie than just a kaiju movie and the pyrotechnics along with the miniature sets are very well made

Overall, “Rodan” is easily considered one of toho’s best movies for having a very clever narrative and storytelling, likable and memorable characters, the visual effects still look very outstanding and I do appreciate that the movie incorporated a horror movie vibe despite that it’s also a giant monster movie

(10/10)

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4 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 139

Emmyzilla

Just recently gonna rewatch toho’s 1956 iconic scifi kaiju horror film “Rodan” especially that I’m officially gonna see it on it’s original Japanese version

Wish me luck everyone

😉😉😉😉

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4 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 83

Emmyzilla

Just recently watched toho’s 1959’s alien invasion movie titled “battle in outer space”

And I gotta say, I do find this movie to be a little underrated for what’s it’s trying to be especially for being an engaging alien invasion storyline in it’s own right especially that it does have some aspects that makes it very enjoyable and entertaining and the characters are honestly very good and well written (for the most part) and the visual effects are still great for its time and still to this very day

but considering that this movie is considered a “sequel” to the 1957 alien invasion movie “the mysterians”, it’s honestly baffling and downgrade considering that the movie doesnt feel like a follow up and does feel like a standalone movie and it’s no hard to see why since the characters from the last movie aren’t present in this “sequel”, the aliens dont look like the mysterians and finally they are notoriously not that advance compare to last alien race (I will talk about that later)

Despite my praise for this movie, i do got some few criticisms that I need to point out

My first complaint is that it does have some moments that do felt like filler and added nothing to the narrative like the moment when the possessed man is at the City blocking traffic or when the characters encounter the debri of the space station from the opening sequence

My second complaint is that I do find the aliens in general to be kinda stupid and not that advanced considering that they do have some futuristic technology like controlling people or obbliterating mayor cities but they stupidly didint even use them before the humans sent their mayor attack on them especially that it’s baffling that these aliens have the capacity of controlling human beings but they somehow can only control like one person instead of multiple people and it could have been alot more easier for them if they have the ability to control more people in order to make their alien invasion successful but they stupidly didint even use the idea and just kept on wasting their time and jeopardising their mission and they also stupidly didint even order the possessed man to shut down the engines before they went to space which it highlights of how stupid they are and for being advanced aliens, their technology just felt very inferior considering that they are easy to defeat since the characters just easily defeated them with their laser guns like easily because of how weak their technology are and hell even they are definitely alot more weaker that the mysterians, since the human characters in the mysterians had a very difficult time of defeating them and have to use different tactics to defeat them but here, they are defeated very easily with laser guns and it’s just humiliating for them and speaking of “advanced” aliens, its Honestly pretty baffling and hilarious that the physical representations of them look like teletubies and they do look notoriously laughable instead of being taken seriously and they are a far cry from the advanced and threatening race of the mysterians

And my final complaint is that the movie is considered a “sequel” to the mysterians which it obviously doesnt feel like a direct sequel because of the aspects i had already mentioned

Overall, battle in outer space is honesty an underrated alien invasion movie on it’s own right since it does have some aspects that I do like but it also has some aspects that I do find frustrating like the stupidity of the aliens and how it does features some filler moments

And again, as it’s own standalone movie, its a great and excelent scifi alien invasion movie for what it is but as a “sequel” to the mysterians, it’s a massive downgrade and inferior to the first film

(9/10) or (9.5/10)

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4 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 79

Emmyzilla

Just recently watched the 1967 Japanese kaiju film titled “Gappa: The Triphibian Monster”

And gotta be honest, I do find this kaiju movie to be an okay film considering that it does have some aspects that I do like and others that I do not especially the fact that this movie feels like a Japanese knockoff of “gorgo” but this one is by far weaker than that movie since this one suffered alot of the same problems in terms of its narrative and characters as gorgo but this movie suffered the most, the sequences with the kaijus themselves are definitely the highlight of the movie for obvious reasons since the pyrotechnics and the suits are very well done and these sequences with the kaijus are the better aspects of the film and the destruction sequences are very impressive and fun to watch

My biggest gripe about this movie is that the story is straight up disarrayed and meandering since it’s starts out promising with the theme park attraction during the first act but then that plotpoint doesnt go anywhere and it’s straight out pointless and when the second act came in when it basically becames a rehash or carbon copy of gorgo,the movie started to get old fast because of how predictable it feels especially that the dumb characters didint make the film very watchable and fun since they are depicted as stupid morons who knew that they were gonna unleash the gappas and their plotpoint of kidnapping gappa is meandering and dumb considering that the movie never gives an answers in why they want to capture it alive and hell even the characters said the best themselves later on that they should return it back to the island and the natives also said the best themselves to them that they should return it back to it’s parents but they just kept on acting like idiots again and just acted oblivious up until the gappas arrived in japan and because of these frustrating aspects, it makes the viewing experience kinda jarring and boring and I kept on constantly skipping the human sequences up until the monsters are on screen since they didint do any for me because of how badly written they were

Like I said again, the kaijus themselves along with the special effects and pyrotechnics are definitely the highlight of the movie since even if the movie was meandering and mediocre in terms of its storytelling and characters but the monster sequences are definitely the highlight of the movie and I do gotta admit that I was rooting for them alot more instead of the human characters

And say what you want about gorgo, since it also has issues in terms of its storytelling and characters but at least it was alot more faster paced but this one is straight up meandering and forgettable because of how disarrayed and boring it feels and it’s easily inferior to the British counterpart

Overall, Gappa: The Triphibian Monster is honestly a very average and okay film since even if does have some aspects that makes it enjoyable to sit through like the kaiju action but it does suffer in terms of its disarrayed and badly executed story along with some forgettable and stupid characters that made the film a bit of snoozefest and jarring

(6.5/10)

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5 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 111

Emmyzilla

Just recently watched Larry Cohen’s 1982 monster conspiracy horror thriller “Q the winged serpent”

And I gotta say, after seeing this movie, I do find it a very underrated B movie that does have some aspects that makes it very enjoyable and entertaining to sit through especially that even if the monster is not on screen like constantly but the human plotpoint is also very fun to watch aswell along with impressive performances from the cast like David carradine and Richard roundtree especially that the movie is pretty clever of incorporating a ritualistic conspiracy into the mix since it makes the film very interesting since it gives the allusion and clues in why the monster was there and was called Q and the fact that it gives answers in why were alot of dead bodies that were skinned alive as offers to the aztec deity and these aspects makes the film very enjoyable to watch even if the monster itself was limited through the entire movie

The monster itself aka “Quetzalcoalt” does look very good, even if it looks generic in design but it does look impressive and intimidating especially that the stop motion shoots are very well made especially that even if it was limited In terms of screentime, it still gives us a sense of mystery of what it looks like during the beginning of the movie

And I gotta admit even if the movie was low budget, it’s still impressive how the filmmakers managed to incorporate alot of footage of New York despite that it was low budget

Though I do got some few nitpicks though they dont affect the movie but I still need to point

My first complaint is that I do find it very funny that the fact that most of the entire movie takes place in New York especially that most of the entire movie takes place during the day time and somehow none of the civilians managed to identify the creature or catch a glimps of it up despite that it was attacking in broad daylight, it would have make sense if it was attacking during the night time but since it was attacking in broad daylight, it’s seriously pretty blaffing

My other complaint is that even if I enjoyed the human storyline of a murderous ritualistic conspiracy but I do find the robbery subplot to be kinda pointless and out of nowhere considering that it makes the narrative pretty confusing to follow like it’s supposed to be a murderious conspiracy story or a robbery story since I couldn’t even tell like which storyline should I follow the most

And final complaint is that the movie could have given us some clues on who is the guy who was causing all of the ritual murders or given us a subplot of getting to know him before the reveal becuase when i watched this movie recently, I expected that it was Jimmy since I was convinced that it was him who caused the murders but when the human antagonist is revealed at the end who was threatening jimmy, it kinda comes off that he came out of nowhere with no context

Overall, “Q the winged serpent” may have some few nitpicks like I mentioned earlier but it’s still a fun and entertaining B movie that does have alot of positive aspects that makes It entertaining and enjoyable to sit through and even if the monster wasnt revealed to much but the human storyline of a murderious conspiracy that lead to the monster’s existance in the story is pretty clever and enjoyable and the monster itself does look very impressive especially of how well made the stop motion shoots are

(9.5/10) or (10/10)

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6 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 103

Emmyzilla

Which of these B movie monster movies are considered your favorite?

1 week ago | [YT] | 280