HORROR 101 with Dr. AC: GODZILLA REBORN: GOJIRA (1954) / SHIN GODZILLA (2016) ROUND TABLE!!!

GOJIRA (aka GODZILLA) (1954) d. Ishiro Honda (Japan)
GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS (1956) d. Ishiro Honda/Terry Morse (Japan/USA)
SHIN GODZILLA (2016) d. Hideaki Anno (Japan)

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It’s impossible to approach this episode’s subject with any objectivity, so I’m not even going to try. My childhood infatuation with this Tokyo-stomping behemoth first piqued an interest in monster movies, from which my passion for horror cinema followed. Granted, my gateway encounter was a far cry from the dark and imposing figure introduced to Japanese audiences in 1954 – by the time I met Godzilla in the mid-’70s, he had evolved into a rambunctious, bellowing, drop-kicking superhero, defending humankind from the evils of pollution, alien interlopers and the like.

When I eventually caught up with Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, I found the titular character to be instead a vengeful spirit intent on nothing but destruction of people and property, akin to 1953’s The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. The comparison to Ray Harryhausen’s breakthrough effort is an important one; both director Ishiro Honda and effects maestro Eiji Tsuburaya initially hoped to replicate Beast’s stop-motion motif, until budget and time constraints forced them to shift to the detailed miniatures and “suit-mation” techniques that have come to epitomize the kaiju eiga.

However, even the “original” version of Godzilla that young Yanks grew up watching was not Honda’s original vision. Rather, 1954’s Gojira had been markedly altered, with nearly 20 minutes of new footage (directed by Terry Morse and featuring Raymond Burr) inserted throughout and shortened from its original 96-minute running time to a lean 80.

Though the heartfelt and damning anti-war message of the Honda original is certainly the more mature, without the restructuring and streamlining of the American release, it is entirely possible that Godzilla might never have evolved into a worldwide cultural icon.

Regardless of one’s preferred incarnation, Godzilla’s significance to the giant monster genre cannot be understated. 70 years, 30 official Toho films, and five Hollywood efforts later, The Big G still stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Join AC and his awesome panel of guests (Dan Caffrey, Barry Kaufman, Michelle Kisner, Mark Matzke, Lee Price) for this special TWO-PART EPISODE as we celebrate 70 years of Godzilla, the true King of the Monsters, in his original 1954 debut as well as the 2016 reboot, Shin Godzilla!