A toxic, ever-evolving alien life-form from the Dark Gaseous Nebula arrives to consume rampant pollution, and neither Humanity nor Godzilla may be able to stop it.A toxic, ever-evolving alien life-form from the Dark Gaseous Nebula arrives to consume rampant pollution, and neither Humanity nor Godzilla may be able to stop it.A toxic, ever-evolving alien life-form from the Dark Gaseous Nebula arrives to consume rampant pollution, and neither Humanity nor Godzilla may be able to stop it.
Akira Yamanouchi
- Dr. Toru Yano
- (as Akira Yamauchi)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Yoshimitsu Banno has mentioned that Hedorah's eyes in the film were deliberately made to resemble female genitalia, with Banno joking that the vaginally inspired look made it more unsettling. During Godzilla's battle with Hedorah, strange white orbs are ripped out of Hedorah's dried-out body. According to Banno, they are meant to be Hedorah's eyes, which he considered the most important part of a person's body. The film has a running theme of eyes being injured with several of its characters. However, the reason they do not resemble Hedorah's actual eyes is due to rushed production and a smaller budget. Banno mentioned that not only had Toho given him less than half of the budget of the prior Godzilla films, but he was also only given 35 days to shoot the entire film (both the drama scenes and the special effects scenes). Making matters even more challenging for Banno was the fact that he had to make do with a single film crew.
- GoofsWhen Hedorah throws some sludge at Godzilla during the Mt. Fuji scene, it hits Godzilla's right eye - but after Hedorah gets done laughing, Godzilla's left eye is the one that is damaged.
- Quotes
Yukio Keuchi: There's no place else to go and pretty soon we'll all be dead, so forget it! Enjoy yourself! Let's sing and dance while we can! Come on, blow your mind!
- Crazy creditsIn the AIP version of this film, its entire cast is mysteriously uncredited.
- Alternate versionsThere are two distinct versions of the American International Pictures version of this film, which is titled "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster." The first version, presumably the original 35mm theatrical version, features an English language cartoon sequence (reworked from a similar Japanese language one in the Japanese version). A similar insert replaces a shot of a newsreader with an English language map of Fuji City. In addition, AIP removed all of the Japanese text from the scenes of various "science lessons" given by Dr. Yano. This is the version that was released on VHS and LaserDisc by Orion Home Video in 1989. The second version, however, has none of these unique shots. The Hedorah cartoon and newsreader scene are unchanged from the Japanese version and Dr. Yano's science lessons feature onscreen Japanese text. This version seems to have been the standard 16mm release for television distribution and can be seen mostly in unlicensed home video releases of the film, such as the 1990 Simitar VHS release from the U.S. and the Digital Disc DVD release from Canada.
- ConnectionsEdited into Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
- SoundtracksKaese! Taiyô wo
("Return! The Sun")
Main Title Theme
Music by Riichirô Manabe
Lyrics by Yoshimitsu Banno
Sung by Keiko Mari, the Honey Knights and the Moon Drops
Featured review
Okay, so.... Godzilla vs Hedorah! It's been said that this is a Godzilla movie you either love or hate, so it's either a 10 or a 0. For me personally, this movie is a 5; right smack dab in the middle! It's not a shining gem or a smouldering turd, it's just kinda "eh" *gesture where you shake your hand with all the fingers flat out*
So, the premise; rampant water and air pollution has spawned Hedorah, a sentient monster made of pollution that is like a mix of the Blob and a garbage dump! Hedorah is able to melt people to bones! The only hope for humanity, as always, is GODZILLAAAAA~!!!!
Hedorah is a notable monster as he is the last monster of the Showa era that is acting on his own will, he isn't obeying anyone or under mind control, unlike Ghidorah, Gigan, Megalon, Mechagodzilla, and Titanosaurus of the succeeding Showa films.
This movie is different; there's bizarre animation, trippy montages, and drug innuendos a-plenty!!! Now, the animation shown isn't anime, it's just some bizarre animation straight out of Uncanny Valley. Hedorah is shown sucking on a smokestack from a factory and exhaling the smoke before showing his bloodshot eyes, a blatant reference to taking a bong hit.
As someone who has taken a few bong hits before, I found this to be a clever little thing. The drug innuendos can be excused because this movie was made in 1971; weed culture was still in it's very huge first run!
There are two or three POV shots from Hedorah's perspective.
Also, no review of Godzilla vs Hedorah would be complete without mentioning the bizarre scene where Godzilla FLIES. This was a total WTF moment.
All in all, if you watch this movie with a sober mind like I did, you'll either hate it or it'll just be "eh". If you watch it after smoking some weed or ingesting an edible, it'll be the best damn Godzilla movie you've ever seen!
So, the premise; rampant water and air pollution has spawned Hedorah, a sentient monster made of pollution that is like a mix of the Blob and a garbage dump! Hedorah is able to melt people to bones! The only hope for humanity, as always, is GODZILLAAAAA~!!!!
Hedorah is a notable monster as he is the last monster of the Showa era that is acting on his own will, he isn't obeying anyone or under mind control, unlike Ghidorah, Gigan, Megalon, Mechagodzilla, and Titanosaurus of the succeeding Showa films.
This movie is different; there's bizarre animation, trippy montages, and drug innuendos a-plenty!!! Now, the animation shown isn't anime, it's just some bizarre animation straight out of Uncanny Valley. Hedorah is shown sucking on a smokestack from a factory and exhaling the smoke before showing his bloodshot eyes, a blatant reference to taking a bong hit.
As someone who has taken a few bong hits before, I found this to be a clever little thing. The drug innuendos can be excused because this movie was made in 1971; weed culture was still in it's very huge first run!
There are two or three POV shots from Hedorah's perspective.
Also, no review of Godzilla vs Hedorah would be complete without mentioning the bizarre scene where Godzilla FLIES. This was a total WTF moment.
All in all, if you watch this movie with a sober mind like I did, you'll either hate it or it'll just be "eh". If you watch it after smoking some weed or ingesting an edible, it'll be the best damn Godzilla movie you've ever seen!
- beetle-259-554148
- Nov 12, 2017
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $250,000 (estimated)
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content