Vigilante-407

Like a lot of early Japanese giant monster films, the Japanese and American versions of Godzilla Raids Again are almost completely different films (though not quite as different as, say, Varan the Unbelievable).

I just had the occasion to watch the subtitled version of this movie on DVD and found it to be a much better film than the US version. I think that as a rushed-out sequel, it is almost comparable to Son of Kong in terms of quality of effects and story. The one point that stands out is that almost all of the effects shots that use city miniatures are shot rather murkily ... there's none of the crisp, black and white documentary feel of the original Gojira. I'm not sure whether this was done intentionally to hide the face that things were rushed and not up to the previous film's par, or simply a bad processing problem, as most of those particular effects scenes were supposed to be at night.

Both versions also suffer from really bad pseudo-scientific explanations for the monsters' existence, but the original is better in that aspect as well, being considerably less childish. I'm still trying to understand how paleontologists could figure out dinosaur motivations.

Either version of Godzilla Raids Again/Gigantis the Fire Monster is worth a watch, especially for the kaiju/50's Sci-Fi completest out there.

I like Spaceways, but it is a pretty average movie on all fronts (for the fifties). Even though it does have the lovely Eva Bartok in it, and was directed by Hammer Film's legendary Terence Fisher, the film's main problem is that it can't decide what type of genre film it is, with all the various story elements running around. We've got a early British science fiction (hence the title, of course), a murder mystery, and a bit of early Cold War thriller all tumbled together.

The performances by all are solid if stereotypical, but the effects consist primarily of using the same stock footage of V-2 experiments that viewers would come to know and sometimes loathe in many movies later on (Fire Maidens From Outer Space, King Dinosaur, etc., etc.). The movie also seems to end a bit abruptly.

Luckily, the DVD of the movie is available at mall music/video stores for about $6 (I got my in a double pack with Kronos for $10), so it is at least affordable for the 50's Sci-Fi Completest out there.

That's about all I can say about this movie. But then, nothing is as bad as Highlander 2. The story is definitely better than that horrid film, not that that is saying much.

It is, though, hard to believe that this was filmed in 1985 and not, say 1969 or 1970. Considering I don't think many of the folks in it were professional actors (or directors, writers, et. al.), it could've been worse, I guess.

This movie's greatest claim to fame is with MST3K fans, as portions of it are shown during the credits of the Film Ventures release of Pod People. It's too bad that The Galaxy Invader was never used on the show.