King Kong vs. Godzilla

Now, the monster mashups begin. Godzilla's first squaring off with another creature is the result of a script that originally pitted King Kong against Frankenstein's monster that Toho got their hands on and retooled for their marquee monster that they were discovering they could bring back repeatedly without turning off their Japanese and American audiences.…

Gorath

I never knew that Ishiro Honda made a prequel to Moonfall. Okay, this is slightly less stupid, but it's still pretty stupid. Also, I much prefer miniature effects to CGI, so this has some charm to it in overdelivering special effects. This isn't near the top of Honda's science-fiction oeuvre, but it does provide a…

Mothra

The first kaiju film from Honda that actually feels like it owes something to the original King Kong, Mothra was Toho's efforts at appealing explicitly to the female part of the movie-going audience. You see, Mothra is a girl this time. And there's singing. Other than that, it's pretty typical of this era in terms…

The Human Vapor

Well, this is a surprise. I did not expect to so thoroughly enjoy The Human Vapor. A curious mixture of film noir, The Invisible Man, The Phantom of the Opera, and even a soupcon of His Girl Friday, this genre-bending horror film from Ishiro Honda is his most effective and entertaining film since he got…

Battle in Outer Space

Ishiro Honda returns to the cinemas with another big, special effect spectacle ala The Mysterians. I'd say that this is a step down from the previous film, not having the same kind of narrative verve (the modest amount that The Mysterians demonstrated) and is more of a straightforward sci-fi adventure. That could work if, again,…