Cast: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi, Akihiko Harata, Takashi Shimura
Tonight TCM is showing a string of J-horror films directed by Ishiro Honda.
PLOT: A ship goes missing off of the Japanese coast. Later on, a whole series of ships are missing and later presumed destroyed. On Ohto Island where the survivors are stranded, a man named Masagi, who has been attacked, blames it on a monster. The day after, an old man blames it on Godzilla as well. He explains, during an exorcism ceremony to keep the monster away, that it leaves the ocean to feed on humans.
A hurricane blows up and blows something else up with it, and a when a young man, Shinkichi, investigates, he sees the something else. During a council meeting in Tokyo, archaeologist Kyohei Yamane insists that investigators be sent to Ohto Island. The investigators and Yamane come and determine that the well water is contaminated. Yamane also finds a fossilized trilobite and radioactive footprints. Meanwhile, the islanders panic as the monster strikes again. Yamane determines that this creature is from the Jurassic Age.
Yamane returns to Tokyo and presents his findings. A crazy lady demands that the truth be revealed and score one for Japanese feminism, because it is. Ships are deployed to counter the monster and those crazy Japanese people even set up an Anti-Godzilla Hazard Center. Now that's what I called preparednpeess!
At a dance, Godzilla rises out of the sea and disappears, frightening everybody. Daisuke Serizawa, a scientist, is engaged to Yamane's daughter, Emiko, but she wants to call off the engagement. Before she does that, Serizawa wants to show her his experiment, never giving Emiko a chance to break off their engagement.
That night, Godzilla strikes again. Yamane orders the policeman to not use lights on the monster. The monster says "Oh yeah?" and stomps on a train, causing everyone to rush out.
International researchers are called in. The plan is to send 50,000 volts of electricity in hopes of electrocuting the monster. A maximum security alert is issued and the citizens are evacuated.
On the night that Hideto Ogata decides to ask for Yamane's consent to marry his daughter, Yamane comes home, upset that the people who want to kill Godzilla do not want to keep him alive in captivity. When Ogata insists that it's for the greater good, Yamane tells him to get out of his home. Yamane needs to stop being angsty. When an evil monster that's destroying everything and killing everybody is an imminent danger, um, yeah, you have to kill it.
The electricity is no match for Godzilla, as takes the fence down, causing a raging fire, and goes about destroying the town. What I find pathetic about this monster is that he doesn't even breathe fire, just hot breath that somehow ignites everything. Lame. Anyway, the Japanese army is still too stupid to realize that guns and bombs won't take the lizard down as the tanks keep firing away. Of course, the only person that seems to be enjoying this is the local media; Godzilla was Japan's Lindsay Lohan in 1954. But don't worry; Godzilla takes care of them soon enough. The people can do nothing but look on in fear and horror as Godzilla has made a mess of their town. Godzilla descends into the waters of Tokyo Bay unharmed.
The next day, the dead are collected. It is on this day that Emiko decides to betray Serizawa. Serizawa invented an Oxygen Destroyer. Despite the stupid name, it destroyed all of the fish in the tank by asphyxiation. Ogata realizes that the machine can be of use to destroy Godzilla, so he begs Serizawa to let him use it. However, as you probably can guess, Serizawa refuses and he and Ogata get into a scuffle. Serizawa burns his notes and finally agrees to let the device be put to use. He and Ogata go underwater together to use the device on the monster. Serizawa plants the device and sacrifices his life. The monster gives one final roar, then falls to its death.
REVIEW: Well, the Japanese sure made better sci-fi flicks during the 50s than the Americans. This wasn't corny at all, but it wasn't made to be truly scary, either; the film's director, Ishiro Honda, intended it to be an allegory for nuclear war. 4 out of 5 stars; I understand it wasn't made to be scary, but it could have been scarier. More Honda films coming up.
Trailer:
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