Kaiju

Demeking: The Sea Monster (Demekingu) (REVIEW)

Submitted by Angelo B on Wednesday, Dec 29th 2010

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an archaeologist so badly. And why wouldn’t I? I mean, look at Indiana Jones, that dude kicked ass. And Alan Grant in “Jurassic Park”? Yeah, dude was pretty awesome (though in retrospect, Jeff Goldblum’s character is way more awesome). Of course, I now know that archaeologists don’t fight Nazis or get invited to Dinosaur amusement parks. Instead, they just get dysentery in some crummy town in the middle of nowhere and hang out in dusty museum basements with no air conditioning. It kind of sucks.

Frankenstein Conquers the World (REVIEW)

Submitted by Tor on Friday, Oct 15th 2010

“They Saved Hitler’s Brain” is a made for TV masterpiece from 1966. Well, actually it’s a titular masterpiece that was originally a 1963 theatrical release under the much less appealing name, “The Madmen of Mandoras”. Anyway, in the film, the Fuhrer’s head is kept alive on a remote South American island so that the 1000 year Reich might rise again. It’s not a hugely entertaining or memorable movie but odds are if you are genre film fan the title is familiar to you.

War of the Gargantuas (REVIEW)

Submitted by Tor on Friday, Oct 8th 2010

What role does nostalgia play in our tastes as film fans? During my October 2010 quest to visit and revisit some lesser known Japanese monster movies from days gone by I have had many occasions to jump into the deep end of nostalgia and drift away to the land of the daikaiju beasts. It is a place that formed my whole opinion of horror movies until I was about 9 years old. I learned to love, trust and identify with these monsters.

King Kong Escapes (REVIEW)

Submitted by Tor on Friday, Oct 1st 2010

I don’t know. I don’t… know. Is “King Kong Escapes” just a criminally cheap cash-in on the diakaiju eiga (Japanese Giant Monster movies) explosion of the 1960’s? Or is it perhaps a Japanese re-interpretation of “Plan 9 from Outer Space”. Or, or, or is this film a sly wink at how artistic appropriation fueled by profit analysis models turn moderately clever mimics into culturally revered ‘geniuses’ and ultimately squeeze authentic artists into the fringes of industry, where they shelter to keep their art pure? I don’t know.