News

Godzilla premiered in November of 1954, eight months to the day after the United States set off its first hydrogen bomb. Indebted to but distinct from pioneering giant monster movies like 1925’s The Lost World, 1933’s King Kong, and 1953’s The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, the seminal Japanese kaiju film is more than just another special effects-driven creature feature. Working from a story by Shigeru Kayama, writer-director Ishirō Honda and co-writer Takeo Murata provide an outlet for post-war Japan’s fears.

In the atomic age parable, an ancient, 164-foot creature dubbed Gojira ravages Tokyo after being awakened from its deep-sea hibernation by nuclear testing. Scientist Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata), salvage ship captain Hideto Ogata (Akira Takarada), paleontologist Kyohei Yamane, and his daughter Emiko Yamane (Momoko Kōchi) are tasked with fulfilling their social obligations to stop the seemingly indestructible beast.

The decision to use an actor (Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka) in a...

More than 40 production staff associated with the Godzilla films throughout the years took to the stage at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

The fest held a Godzilla remastered 4K Digital screening and a day-long “Godzilla Fest” to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the original 1954 film.

88-year old Yoshio Suzuki, who worked as an assistant sculptor on the original film, shared his experiences on a panel alongside Oscar-winner Yamazaki Takashi, writer and director of Godzilla Minus One.

The remastered digital version of Godzilla had its world premiere at the Berlinale earlier this year.

Suzuki first worked on the 1954 Godzilla film as an 18-year old.

“I was a first-year sculpture student at Tama Art University and was looking for work as I was short on cash,” said Suzuki. “My classmate, Yoshio Tsuburaya, told me that his uncle was making a movie called Godzilla and suggested that I try to work on that set.

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

Godzilla 4K Uhd from Criterion

Godzilla will celebrate its 70th anniversary in style, as The Criterion Collection is bringing Toho’s 1954 Japanese kaiju classic to 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on November 5.

The film has been newly restored in 4K with uncompressed monaural sound. A high-definition restoration of Terry Morse’s 1956 American reworking of the film, Godzilla, King of the Monsters, is also included.

Ishirō Honda directs from a script he co-wrote with Takeo Murata. Eiji Tsuburaya (Ultraman) helmed the special effects. Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata, and Takashi Shimura star with Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka as Godzilla.

Special features include: commentary by film historian David Kalat; interviews with Takarada, Nakajima, special effects technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai,...

After a 160-ft tall prehistoric monster rises out of the sea and crushes an entire village in 1954's "Godzilla," all hell breaks loose. Professionals scramble to study this ginormous beast in hopes of understanding its motives but soon realize that its mutated form follows no logic while leaving destruction in its wake. Even after a 100-ft electrified fence is built to keep the monster out, it demolishes this obstacle with its atomic breath along with the city of Tokyo, leaving thousands dead and injured before temporarily returning to the sea.

The only way director Ishirō Honda and special effects creator Eiji Tsuburaya could portray Godzilla's unforgettable Tokyo rampage was through practical means, and it was certainly not easy to pull off. At the time, Godzilla was portrayed by a man in a rubber suit — namely Nakajima Haruo, who brought the iconic monster's telltale mannerisms to life — which meant that...

He may be king of the monsters and headliner of the longest-running film franchise, but Godzilla isn’t exactly a beacon of consistency. He made his premiere in Honda Ishirô’s 1954 classic Godzilla as an allegorical figure, warning of the dangers of nuclear technology, before eventually settling into a drive-in movie star and a hero for children, as well as those young at heart. That’s a somewhat unlikely legacy, especially considering that the original film ends with the creature’s unambiguous death.

Inspired by King Kong’s popularity in Japan, Godzilla’s filmmakers didn’t have the time or resources to execute the stop-motion movie magic that brought Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s King Kong to life (the 1933 monster adventure was re-released in Japan in 1952), but their resourcefulness and ingenuity resulted in a different kind of magic. Tsuburaya Eiji’s pioneering use of suitmation was not...

The original 1954 "Godzilla" was directed by Ishirō Honda, butithout minimizing his importance, it's impossible that the film would have turned out the same way without the special effects Director Eiji Tsuburaya. Portraying a giant monster with the convincing scale of Godzilla had almost never been done before and crafting the monster was Tsuburaya's responsibility.

Tsuburaya had a prolific career that began almost 30 years before he worked on "Godzilla," and included previous collaborations with Honda on the war films "Eagle of the Pacific" and "Farewell Rabaul." Today, though, he is mostly remembered as "the father of Tokusatsu" or effects-heavy Japanese film/TV. Such productions typically depict actors in costume as giant monsters, robots, or superheroes. Tsuburaya earned this title not just through his work on "Godzilla" and subsequent films (such as "Rodan"), but by creating the 1967 TV series turned media phenomenon "Ultraman."

While Ultraman is a hero, Godzilla is (at least...

The distinction between Japanese and American Godzilla films is subtle but significant, creating disparate experiences for the audience. Shin Godzilla, directed by Hideaki Anno, stands apart in capturing the genuine horror and catastrophe unleashed by the behemoth, using a seamless blend of practical and digital effects. Anno's masterful blend of practical and digital elements in Shin Godzilla offers a visual feast that resonates with the intrinsic and existential horror that Godzilla embodies, making the terror of the Kaiju more palpable and relatable.

Immersing oneself in the world of Kaiju films, one is greeted with the apocalyptic dance of gigantic monsters, cities in distress, and the ultimate battle between humanity and colossal creatures from the beyond. At the center of this maelstrom of destruction stands Godzilla, a titanic beast whose representation has remarkably evolved through the decades. The distinction between Japanese Godzilla films and their American counterparts in the MonsterVerse is subtle but significant,...

The Corridor Crew YouTube channel compares the filmmaking of Shin Godzilla and the American MonsterVerse, highlighting how the Japanese film captures horror and destruction through its use of practical effects, miniature sets, and CG. Shin Godzilla is praised for its intercutting between a CG and animatronic Godzilla, as well as its cinematography and motion capture, which make the creatures feel more realistic compared to recent MonsterVerse films. Godzilla effects have evolved over the years, from hand puppeteering and rubber suits in the original 1954 film to the use of CG in the 1998 version and the fully CG Godzilla in Gareth Edwards' reboot.

The Corridor Crew YouTube channel breaks down how Shin Godzilla and other modern Japanese Godzilla movies stand out from their American MonsterVerse counterparts through how the filmmaking captures the horror and destruction caused by the Kaiju. The modern American giant monster franchise began with Gareth Edwards' 2014 reimagining of Godzilla...