When Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse rumbled into movie theaters in 2014 with Godzilla, it did so with an advertising campaign that emphasized the movie’s gravitas. Director Gareth Edwards conservatively doled out peeks at the titular creature for two-thirds of the movie. The series’ second movie, Kong: Skull Island, showed a markedContinue Reading
Celebrating his 70th anniversary in 2024, Japan’s biggest movie star, Godzilla, comes roaring back in what may be his most brutal screen outing yet. Godzilla Minus One again reinvents the atomic-powered lizard. This time around, he rises from the ocean to torment a post-World War II Japan already reeling fromContinue Reading
If you’ve ever wanted to know from where the idea for Godzilla originally spawned, look no further than 1953’s The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. It inspired not just Godzilla but virtually every atomic-age giant monster movie that followed it. In fact, it was the first movie to feature a creatureContinue Reading
Atomic age monster movies are some of my favorite creature features. Logic and science are mashed together with fantastic scenarios to produce some absolutely unbelievable plotlines. In 1957’s The Giant Claw, a gigantic bird begins smashing planes out of the sky for no apparent reason. The highlight of the movieContinue Reading
Other than Jaws, there are very few really good shark movies to pick from. A few movie studios, like The Asylum, have embraced the fact that they’ll never be able to equal the best shark film of all time. So, they shoot in the opposite direction. There is no shortageContinue Reading
The poster for The Lake, a 2022 creature feature from Thailand, features the tagline “A Monster Will Rise.” And, indeed, a monster does rise. Two of them, in fact. Unfortunately, no one bothered to figure out what to do with these creatures afterwards. So, rise they do. And then theyContinue Reading
Since I was a little kid, I’ve been a fan of Japanese giant monster movies. When I’d watch them on TV during Saturday afternoons, I’d always be disappointed if the movie didn’t feature Godzilla or Gamera. There weren’t many of them but they did exist. One such movie is 1970’sContinue Reading