October 9 - Monster from a Prehistoric Planet [1967]

Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (1967)

Director: Haruyasu Noguchi

Starring: Tamio Kawaji, Yoko Yamamoto, Yuji Okada

I've been trying to mix up the sub-genres during this marathon, and tonight I went for something a little lighter in style.

Monster from a Prehistoric Planet is the US release of the Japanese monster movie Daikyoju Gappa, with over-dubbed American voices, and is similar to the famous series of Gojira (Godzilla) movies.

Scientists travel to a south sea island full of grass-skirt wearing natives (Japanese actors with blackface makeup on - how unPC!) and discover a giant egg, which hatches into a creature that's  part lizard, part bird. They take this creature back to Tokyo, but its parents soon come looking for it... and that's when the fun begins. 

Let's face it - the only real appeal of these movies is the laughable over-dubbing and the scenes of stunt men in big rubber suits smashing over cityscapes. Here you get the giant lizard-bird things tearing up Tokyo, the army firing rockets at them, the monsters shooting down jetplanes with mouth-beams... pretty standard fare for these kinds of movies.

These movies only appeal to a certain type of fan, and while I wouldn't count myself as a true fan of Godzilla-type movies, I quite like watching them every now and then for a good laugh.