HORROR 101 with Dr. AC: GODZILLA VS. MEGALON (1973) 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!!!

GODZILLA VS. MEGALON (1973) d. Jun Fukuda (Japan) (81 min)

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A far cry from the anti-nuke statement that spawned the large lizard’s origins, this entry (#13) serves up twice the monster mashing and half the “plot” of other installments. Throwing caution and physics to the winds, this installment features the underwater race of Seatopians who, ticked off by another round of nuclear testing, unleash the giant beetle-looking monster Megalon to destroy Tokyo. In response, the Ultraman-inspired Jet Jaguar robot enlists the help of Godzilla, whereupon the Seatopians bring back Gigan from outer space, and the remainder of the movie is an oversized wrestling match for the ages.

The dubbing is awful, the effects cheesy, the human characters inane, and logic entirely absent. (Jet Jaguar’s inexplicable ability to increase from human-size to monster-size is simply explained, “He must have programmed himself.” Whaaaat?) However, as a purely ribald roaring rumble, it delivers the goods, along with a couple good flying drop-kicks from our favorite rubber-suited hero, later immortalized in MST3K’s opening credits.

Join AC and guests Barry Kaufman (House of Monsters), Stan Hyde (G-Fest), and Dave M. Gray (Raiders of the Podcast) as we celebrate this amazing slice of celluloid cheese which endeared the Big G to oodles of Western youngers in the 1970s and whose legacy endures to this day.