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Godzilla Minus One earned the franchise its first Oscar for special effects, setting the stage for a loyal following. Godzilla's attacks span the globe, focusing on iconic cities like Tokyo and New York, with devastating results. Godzilla's power as a metaphor for nuclear weapons shines through, creating a chilling commentary on society.

Godzilla has been through multiple iterations since its 1954 debut, but the monster's attacks on humanity have been wildly varied, with some far worse than others. The Japanese production Godzilla Minus One became the first movie in the franchise to obtain a well-deserved Oscar for Best Special Effects, although the entire franchise has developed a following over the years, with good reason. Godzilla's abilities and strengths have been compared to nuclear power over the years, creating a metaphor for atomic weapons and their threat to society.

Some of Godzilla's strongest attacks were in Tokyo, of course,...

The director of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters reveals how the upcoming show will focus on characters on the ground, providing a fresh perspective on the MonsterVerse franchise. By developing characters that viewers can invest in, the show aims to balance the excitement of monster battles with relatable human experiences. The approach of telling a monster story from the point of view of people on the ground has excited the partners involved in the show, including Apple, Toho, and Legendary.

A director of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has revealed how the upcoming show is planning to avoid a complaint from the MonsterVerse franchise. The show will be the first live-action television title in the franchise, which includes the movies Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island, and Godzilla vs. Kong. It will focus on the mysterious monster-studying organization called Monarch, following Army officer Lee Shaw (played at different ages by Kurt and Wyatt Russell...

Following a devastating typhoon, reporter Sakai (Akira Takarada) hears that a local entrepreneur Kumayama (Yoshibumi Tajima) has bought a gigantic egg that washed ashore for his company. Along with his partner Torahatta (Kenji Sahara), they plan to exhibit the egg for profit but are visited by two tinny twin women, the Cosmos, (Emi and Yumi Ito) who reveal the egg belongs to Mothra. Seeking shelter with Sakai and friends Prof. Miura (Hiroshi Koizumi) and Junko(Yuriko Hoshi), the group promises the egg’s return to The Cosmos and their island home. Godzilla appears, drawn by the egg, and Mothra arrives to drive him off until it’s struck a fatal blow. While the military deals with Godzilla’s advances, the women and their friends prey for the egg to hatch and the larval caterpillars swim off to deal with Godzilla once and for all.

“Mothra vs. Godzilla...

It’s another CineSavant review of a movie largely unavailable, especially the original Japanese version. This third Ishirô Honda / Eiji Tsuburaya outer space action epic is probably the best Toho science fiction feature ever, an Astral Collision tale in which the drama and characters are as compelling as the special effects. Nothing can stop a colossal planetoid heading toward Earth, but science comes to the rescue with the biggest construction job ever undertaken by mankind. The fine screenplay generates thrills, suspense and human warmth. It also takes place in the far, far future: 1980.

Gorath

CineSavant Revival Screening Review

Not On Region A Home Video

1962 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 88 83 min. / Yôsei Gorasu

Starring: Ryô Ikebe, Yumi Shirakawa, Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno, Akihiko Hirata, Kenji Sahara, Jun Tazaki, Ken Uehara, Takashi Shimura, Seizaburô Kawazu, Takamaru Sasaki, Kô Nishimura, Eitarô Ozawa, Hideyo Amamoto, George Furness, Ross Benette, Nadao Kirino, Fumio Sakashita, Ikio Sawamura, Haruo Nakajima.

Mill Creek again dips into exotic Japanese sci-fi fantasy, and this time scores with the desired language choices and subtitle configurations for these spectaculars from the beginning of Toho’s strongest period. The H-Man is a stylish gangster-horror melange about a radioactive slime that cheerfully transforms Guys ‘n’ Dolls into living goo. Then, a Battle in Outer Space is the result when a two-rocket expedition to the moon uncovers an imminent alien invasion, and flying saucer vs. rocketplane dogfights break out in low Earth orbit and in the skies over Tokyo. Was matinee moviegoing ever better than that? CineSavant writes, uh, at length about all the fan concerns over this disc.

Toho Double Feature

The H-Man & Battle in Outer Space

Blu-ray

Mill Creek

Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date June 9, 2020 /

Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi

Director of Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya

Produced by Tomoyuko Tanaka

Directed by Ishiro Honda

Here’s how a...

Mill Creek again dips into exotic Japanese sci-fi fantasy, and this time scores with the desired language choices and subtitle configurations for these spectaculars from the beginning of Toho’s strongest period. The H-Man is a stylish gangster-horror melange about a radioactive slime that cheerfully transforms Guys ‘n’ Dolls alike into living goo. Then, a Battle in Outer Space is the result when two-rocket expedition to the moon uncovers an imminent alien invasion, and flying saucer vs. rocketplane dogfights break out in low Earth orbit and in the skies over Tokyo. Was matinee moviegoing ever better than that? CineSavant writes, uh, at length about all the fan concerns over this disc.

Toho Double Feature

The H-Man & Battle in Outer Space

Blu-ray

Mill Creek

Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date June 9, 2020 /

Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi

Director of Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya

Produced by Tomoyuko Tanaka

Directed by Ishiro Honda

Here’s how a...

Just several years prior, Toho Studios and director Ishiro Honda scored critical and audience success with the monumental Gojira/Godzilla, unleashing a cavalcade of projects that inspired countless kids and filmmakers for generations to come. One of the more overlooked and underrated efforts to come from their cooperation was a rather simple concoction of film-noir, sci-fi and horror originally written off as a Blob rip-off but has become more beloved over time as more have given a look at his classic Bijo to Ekitai-Ningen, also known as “The H-Man”.

After a strange accident, Inspector Tominaga is called to investigate the case which shows a gangster mysteriously vanishing on city streets with just his clothes, gun and a bag of narcotics left behind. Finding the man’s girlfriend Chikako a night-club singer at a club that operates as a front for the gang, involved with the strange disappearances,...

Now expanding to the Big Apple, the New York Haunted Hayride will take place on October 2nd. Also: details on both Tales from Beyond the Pale at Fantasia International Film Festival and a kaiju marathon of Godzilla-sized proportions on Shout! Factory TV.

New York City Haunted Hayride: Press Release: "Ten Thirty One Productions (Tto), the worldwide leader in producing live horror attractions, will expand the most popular Halloween attraction in the country, Los Angeles Haunted Hayride, to New York City this October for the first time ever. The wildly popular attraction, annually held in Los Angeles, led Mark Cuban to make the largest investment in “Shark Tank” history as well as a second investment by Live Nation. Tto will now be bringing its biggest and best scares from seven years of haunting the west coast to the east coast for the most horrifying experience in town.

“This expansion to...

**Massive spoilers for every Godzilla movie, with the exception of the 2014 reboot, and Mothra follow**

August 6th and 9th, 1945 forever changed the course of history. When the first nuclear bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, World War II ended, but a new fear was born that dominated the thoughts of all men, women, and children for decades to come. The Cold War, atomic bomb testing, a cartoon turtle telling children to “duck and cover”, and this new technology that had the actual potential to literally end the world changed the perception of what was scary. Art reflects life, so cinema began to capitalize on these fears. Gone were the days of creepy castles, cobwebs, bats, vampires, werewolves, and the other iconic images that ruled genre cinema in film’s earliest decades. Science fiction was larger than ever and giant ants, giant octopi, terror from beyond the stars, and...

One of the most beloved art/horror fests on the West Coast is Monsterpalooza, which celebrates the "Art of Monsters." The fest will hit Burbank once again on March 28-30. Save the date!

As usual, Monsterpalooza will feature award-winning F/X artists, special presentations, a walk-thru monster museum, and monster-related artwork on display and for sale. The list of celebrity guests is large and impressive. Take a look at whom you can expect to see at this year’s Monsterpalooza.

Special Celebrity Guests From The Genre And Beyond!

Kenji Sahara – War Of The Gargantuas, Destroy All Monsters, Rodan, Godzilla vs The Thing, The Mysterians, King Kong vs Godzilla

Harou Nakajima – Godzilla, Rodan, Destroy All Monsters

Russ Tamblyn – “Twin Peaks”, War Of The Gargantuas

Rutger Hauer – Blade Runner, The Hitcher, “True Blood”

Dee Snider – Twisted Sister, Strangeland, Van Helsing’s Curse

Tippi Hedren – The Birds, Marnie, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”

Nancy Allen – Blow Out,...