a_chinn I quite liked this non-Godzilla kaiju picture. A group of reporters find a baby monster they call Gappa, which they take back to Japan. Unfortunately these reporters never learned that you don't play with bear cubs because momma bear will come an maul you, because the momma and papa Gappa come to Japan and wreak havoc to find their offspring. Although the characters are all standard issue and not all that interesting or well developed, the humor is actually funny at times and there is a TON of kaiju monster movie destruction throughout the film, which is my main complaint about most kaiju pictures, that they make you wait until the end for a good monster fight. Released by Nikkatsu, this was their only kaiju picture (with terrific special effects by a former Toho SFX artist) and they unfortunately went out of business shortly thereafter. I'd have loved to see what else they would have come up with if they'd stayed in business.

Leofwine_draca Remember GORGO, that middling and often boring British 1960 giant monster movie in which scientists capture a baby monster and have to contend with the creature's rampaging parent? Well, this low-budget and often shoddy Japanese monster epic (for once NOT from Toho, but from a cheapie rival instead) is an unofficial remake of that movie, although for what reason I'm not sure, as it doesn't really improve things anymore. Instead what we have is a totally generic monster film with a predictable plot, stock and dull characters, and predictable action. On the plus side it has a fast pacing to it and lots of special effects, most of which are cheesy. This is a film to watch if you're in desperate need of a good laugh.We begin as our team of intrepid explorers (including the man with the most annoyingly dubbed voice in the world) explore a remote island and are bombarded by earthquakes, achieved by the shaking of the camera in an extremely irritating manner. The natives are restless, running around shouting "Gappa is angry" and are amusingly Japanese folk in blackface. The first "Gappa" is discovered, a hilariously misshapen monster which looks like a turkey crossed with a lizard and dropped off a cliff. Soon enough he's carted off back to Japan and experimented upon, and gets to wear a funny red helmet for his efforts.Meanwhile, the parent Gappa aren't too pleased with the kidnapping of their son, so fly to Japan to rescue him. The 'rescue attempt' consists of destroying lots of cheap model buildings in their quest for revenge. They also have the ability to fly, with wings which make them look like they're wearing capes. These costumes are some of the worst you will ever see, so bad that I actually felt sorry for the guys who were wearing them. A fight ensues with the military, or in reality lots of little miniature toy tanks which are quickly destroyed. The monsters also fight some model aircraft and breath a heatwave on them, before retreating into a lake, beaten for the time being.It's not long before those pesky scientists are bombarding the lake with sound waves, causing the creatures to fly out and cause yet more model destruction. Watch out for some really bad back projection effects here, folks. Also, the cheesiest, most obvious, superimposed tidal wave effect you're likely to witness in a movie. I would guess that the only people who ever have a chance of seeing this movie are those who know what they're letting themselves in for, so there's no real need for me to tell you how poorly put-together this film is, or how awful the special effects are. But, as I said before, it passes the time and is a pretty amusing entry in the Japanese kaiju series.

Clay Loomis Wow. Sexism, racism, monsterism, ridiculism, this movie has it all.I've seen many Japanese "man-in-a-rubber-suit" monster movies. Yup, got hooked as a kid. And this is the worst I've seen. To be fair, I saw it on one of the late night Monster, Horror, Chiller Theater showings, and it was the English dubbed version that had been edited down to just over an hour, so I could be missing some of the more subtle points and nuance.But here are the parts I DID see- The little Japanese boy, playing a "native" that went through the entire movie in black face (a subtle touch I managed to catch).The female scientist, who spent the whole movie cold-shouldering her suitor in order to pursue her career, only to decide at the end to give it all up to go home, become a woman, and wash diapers (a wholesome family message I was happy to see).Monsters that can't decide how large they are. Are they 10 feet tall, 100 feet tall, 1000 feet tall? The answer is YES! The version I saw did not explain how these flying, swimming, fire breathing lizard-birds (called Gappa) came to be. It also made no mention how a scientist with no prior knowledge of Gappa's immediately knew they were hypersensitive to certain sounds. But I'm sure that was all explained in the unedited version of the movie. Oh, and at the end of the movie, as the monsters flew off into the sunset, they blew up (huh?).This is not the worst movie ever made (Can you say "Monster a-Go Go"?), but it IS a really bad movie. I'm not sure how MST3K missed it.

haildevilman Long thought to be missing but.......here it is. (Apologies to the Ramones.)This was a late comer to the U.S. video ranks because its script was hard to change to make it more 'American.' Japanese satire would be lost on anyone without a significant knowledge of the country. Most would see this as just another dude in a rubber suit burning Tokyo again.The monster itself was a bit different. Like Godzilla and Rodan hybridized. The usual happens. Military comes...fails...but this guy knows the secret.I have a Japanese video copy. It's the original version. But the DVD release was necessary. And the racist tag line never existed.