Hello and welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast.
We're your hosts, Vincent Hannum and Matt Levine, and we're talking about all our favorite
mobster movies, the good, the bad, and the downright campy and asking if they stand the
test of time.
Traditional Kaiju, creature features, space invaders, the supernatural, and everything
in between.
All strange beasts are welcome here.
Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zach Linder and the Zach Pack.
Powered by Coldwell Banker Realty, your source for real estate, home rehab, fixing and flipping
for investor clients and residential buyers.
Reach out to the Zach Pack today for real estate services, follow the Zach Pack on social
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Hit that link in the show notes.
Yeah, thanks for hanging out, friends.
Matt, you're hanging out too.
We're hanging out here on season four of Camp Kaiju.
You know, we still got a lot of episodes to go, but it's been an honor to sit down with
you every few weeks for three years now.
Absolutely.
Still going strong.
I remember when you first asked me to just like talk about a movie for like 15 minutes
on Instagram Live, I was like, oh yeah, that sounds fun.
And I didn't know what the future would hold.
It's been a pleasure ever since.
Absolutely.
And you know, you know, listeners, you're part of that too.
And me and Matt, we're going to talk about season five plans here in a little bit.
But we want to thank you all for listening.
Week in, week out.
Please rate and review Camp Kaiju wherever you listen to this show.
No offense if you want to just hit pause and stop listening to me so you can hit four or
five stars for us.
That'd be great.
Only five.
Five stars only allowed.
Okay.
Well, Matt's going to hold you to that.
I rule with an iron fist.
If stars aren't your system, you can just leave us comments.
Please leave us comments at campkaiju.gmail.com, Facebook page, our Instagram, all those links
around the show notes.
We love featuring your voice on this show and really building up that community.
If you are even brave enough to leave a voicemail, that would be awesome.
You can do that at 612-470-2612.
Just tell us about your favorite monster movies.
What you thought about Godzilla minus one.
God told me to.
And who knows what else.
So please check out our website for the what else at campkaijupodcast.com.
We got a whole lot of stuff going on there every week.
Yeah.
So keeping the lights on for us here are our patrons, Jason, Chris, Sean, our anonymous
patron and Peggy.
And folks, if you're not a part of our Patreon, take it into consideration for as little as
five dollars a month, you can support me and Matt and all our guest hosts.
And you all are paying for the zoom and the post-production.
And it really means a lot for keeping the quality of this show to the level it's at.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Happy Thanksgiving to everybody.
How many times can we say thank you in this episode?
Yeah, that's the theme of the episode.
Giving thanks.
Thanks to our patrons.
Thanks to monster movies.
Thanks to a lot of other things.
It's that time of the year.
Have you ever seen the movie Thanksgiving, which just came out a couple of years ago,
maybe last year even.
I can't remember when it came out.
The horror movie.
Did you say Thanksgiving?
That's a great name, but I think it's just called Thanksgiving.
The Eli Roth movie that came out like a year or two ago.
No, I'm just curious.
I don't know if it's a monster movie, but it's definitely like a very gory, violent
slasher movie.
And I've heard mixed things about it.
I kind of want to see it.
OK, all right.
Well, listeners, let us know.
Yeah, I threw it out there.
Maybe I'll try to watch it before our next episode.
Yeah.
Speaking of holiday monster movies, though, we do have Gremlins coming up in December.
A nice classic Christmas horror monster movie there.
But before we talk about the future, let's talk about the past.
Since last time, we had Sean Pryor, the author of Kaiju Unleashed on our show.
Folks, please listen to that episode.
Matt, what I mean, that was that was a really fun conversation.
It was.
It was a lot of fun.
Sean is just like such a pleasure to talk to.
He obviously loves Kaiju movies, loves monster movies and is very knowledgeable about them.
Very, you know, just fun to talk to.
And his book, Kaiju Unleashed, is really beautiful.
So much fun for anybody who loves monster movies.
So it was it was a great talk and a very, very cool book for sure.
Yep.
So, listeners, you can listen to that episode and check out links to the book in that episode's
show notes.
A bit of a bit of a downer since last time, we had a couple of monster movie actors pass
away.
First and foremost, Tony Todd, who starred in Candyman, passed away.
And that was that was a loss to the horror movie community.
Absolutely.
I was just thinking earlier today or maybe it was yesterday, like we have to bring Candyman
to the podcast.
I've wanted to for a long time.
And I mean, Tony Todd brings so much gravity.
You know, certainly he's scary, but it's more than just, you know, being scary in those
movies.
There's so much history, you know, racial history, political history, social history
to those movies.
Tony Todd is like synonymous with that character.
Rest in peace to him.
We have to bring Candyman to the podcast, if only to honor him sometime soon.
Couldn't agree more.
I'm very excited.
I haven't seen that movie.
So if if it indeed makes an appearance at camp, I will not complain about that one.
Indeed.
Yeah.
And there are it's like a whole franchise and like maybe not the best horror franchise
out there, but at least the first two.
And I would say the remake from a couple of years ago are all pretty great, in my opinion.
Nice.
Yeah.
Other?
Well, Jonathan Hayes also died.
And if that name doesn't mean anything to you, this you will you will recognize.
He played Seymour in the original Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman.
Jonathan Hayes was in his 90s.
Just rest in peace.
A long career, long life and a classic of the genre.
This month, we are looking at some movies released in November.
Yeah.
Well, you know, one of the movies on this list we're going to talk about, I'm sure,
in our upcoming episode, but we'll get more to that shortly here.
The other one that all highlights right now is Onibaba, a Japanese movie that came out
in November of 1964.
So 60 years ago, they're about really great Japanese new way of horror movie.
It's set in kind of like feudal historical times in Japan.
This kind of like a cursed demon mask.
That's a big part of the plot.
But it's also kind of a political commentary on where Japan was at in the early 60s and
kind of after World War Two in general.
I love Japanese new way of horror movies.
Onibaba is one of the best.
Definitely check it out if you haven't seen it.
I I'm so excited about that.
I haven't checked it out, but I see it on all these lists.
Yeah, I will one day for sure.
Classic by Keneto Shindo, a really great Japanese horror director.
That's amazing.
Another Japanese film I'm going to shout out is from 2004 released in November.
Godzilla Final Wars is the last film of the Millennium era.
And Toho really went out with a bang.
It's a monster mash through and through.
It's really shot at a frenetic pace.
The editing is like, you know, an action movie from the 2000s.
So it's like to to to to to to.
But there's martial arts, there's alien invaders, have almost every kaiju from the previous
franchise.
History makes an appearance in the film.
It's a lot.
And it's a really cool movie.
It sounds awesome.
Yeah, I I like the few Millennium era movies that I've seen, but I really have to explore
them a lot more.
So maybe that'll be the next one on my list.
Would recommend awesome.
Coming up in 2025.
I did not know this, but 28 years later is coming out.
I did not know that until right now, until I saw your show notes for tonight.
That's exciting news.
I like the first two movies in that in that series a lot.
So I'm looking forward to it.
And I think Killian Murphy is even returning.
Oh, good.
Because I don't think he was in the second one, but he was great in the first one, of
course.
Do you know is Danny Boyle going to direct it?
Are you do you know?
He might be actually.
I think they're getting the band back together.
Awesome.
Because now Killian Murphy is an A list actor more than ever.
Totally.
Yeah, yeah.
It looks like Danny Boyle is directing it.
It does look like Killian Murphy is in it and Aaron Taylor Johnson as well.
Written by Alex.
Oh, wait.
Yeah.
Co written with Alex Garland.
All right.
It sounds pretty cool.
Sweet.
The next one that's coming out.
I couldn't believe this.
There's talks of an idle hands remake.
Idle Hands is a cult film film from the 90s with Seth Green.
It's a stoner comedy about one of them loses their hand and the hand is possessed by the
devil and goes on a killing spree.
But Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things is apparently really into producing a remake
of this movie.
I sort of you know, the original is fun.
I like it.
I don't know if it's really like worthy of a remake, but we'll see.
I mean, it's kind of a cool idea.
Yeah, it's like, you know, you wouldn't remake Casablanca.
Why would you remake Idle Hands?
Yeah, exactly.
They're at the same level.
Pretty much those two movies.
You've been talking about how you want to like explore more killer hand movies on the
podcast.
It's an underrated genre, so I'm actually here for it.
But we'll see.
We'll see if it gets made.
Yeah, an underrated genre with a lot of bad movies in it.
Our next episode, we'll be bringing back guest star Frank Olson.
All you Frankaholics out there will recognize Frank from previous episodes.
He talked about Porco Rosso with us.
Rodin several years ago, he joined us for that episode.
So this time he'll be joining us to talk about Attack the Block, which I'm really excited
about that only came out maybe like 12 years ago, but I haven't seen it.
And I feel like it's already become kind of like a monster movie classic in its own way.
So really excited to have Frank on the podcast for that one.
It's been too long.
It's been too long for all us Frankaholics.
I need my drink.
And then a season five announcement slash holiday party.
It's been two years since our last holiday party.
So we're going to have some fun.
We're going to drink some eggnog.
We're going to have some monster movie trivia.
And I'd like to invite officially all of our patrons and guest hosts who appeared on season
four.
So if you're listening to this and that describes you, be on the lookout for an invite through
Patreon and your emails.
This should just be fun.
That will announce what we're going to talk about for the first six months of 2025.
Yeah, I'm really excited for the next season.
And it's always fun to like, you know, discover what you're bringing to the podcast because
we never talked about it beforehand.
So it's really exciting for me too to hear what you're going to bring to it.
So it should be a lot of fun.
Yeah.
Now I got to think.
I know.
Yeah, I have a long list in my head.
What makes the cut?
Well speaking of Godzilla minus one, we're going to talk about our personal histories
with this film.
We're going to get into the production history of the film.
We're going to hear from Peter Laurie.
We're going to have Naomi Osborne on the show later on where she's going to hit us with
some great trivia.
And then we're going to talk about the themes and wrap up the show with our personal reviews
and whether or not Godzilla minus one stands the test of time.
Yeah.
Even though it only came out last year, it's already gained quite a reputation.
So a lot a lot to pick apart there.
Yeah.
OK.
Speaking of then, what's your history with this film?
Well I saw it in theaters when it came out about a year ago in like November, I believe,
of 2023.
Very acclaimed.
Like, you know, there was a lot of like advanced buzz about it.
So I was really excited about it.
Saw it in theaters.
I don't want to give away too many spoilers, but I can understand why it is so beloved
already.
And yet I there is a slight feeling of disappointment for me around this movie.
But that's all I'll say at this point.
I did not get to see it last year.
It was it came out the weekend of my daughter's birth.
So I will always let her know that she kept me from seeing Godzilla minus one in the cinemas.
That's an awesome story, though.
I mean, like that's, you know, always going to be the story of her birth.
It was Godzilla minus one weekend.
It's probably better to say that it was the weekend of your daughter's birth and not Godzilla
minus one weekend.
But still auspicious timing there.
Definitely like happy birthday.
It's been X number of years since Godzilla minus one came out.
Yeah, exactly.
You'll give her a Godzilla minus one themed present every year for her birthday.
Never forget.
Yeah.
But I did finally see Godzilla minus one just this past week.
I know it came out to streaming over the summer.
I just didn't get around to it.
I've been building the suspense and I finally watched it.
And you know, I don't think it's a spoiler to say that I also get what the hype is all
about.
And I will probably gush over this movie more than I ought to, but I can't help it.
Cool.
Nice.
That's good to hear.
It's been re-released in theaters several times since then.
Like there was a black and white version in early 2024.
And then I think it was just re-released a couple of weeks ago in honor of the 70th anniversary
of the original Godzilla.
So this movie's out there.
It's pretty easy to see.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Um, select crew on this film.
We got to lead off with the with Takashi Yamazaki.
He was the director, the writer, and the lead visual effects supervisor on this film.
He has a bit of a pedigree.
He's a leading figure in the Japanese film industry.
And we're going to talk more about him in the production backstory.
Aiding him in Godzilla minus one is the cinematographer, Kozo Shibasaki.
And we have music by Naoki Sato with samples from Akira Ifukubei's iconic Godzilla theme
from Gojira, as well as themes from Mothra versus Godzilla and King Kong versus Godzilla.
So if you know your Ifukubei, Godzilla minus one is a bit of a treat.
You're going to be like, oh, that's the Mothra theme.
And it's nice.
Best part of the movie, in my opinion.
Yeah.
So I have to admit, I don't know a lot about these actors, but we'll still go through the
cast here real quick.
We have Ryu Nozaki Kamiki as Koichi Shikishima, a former kamikaze pilot.
I did read that he did a lot of voice acting for Hayao Miyazaki movies like Spirited Away
and Howl's Moving Castle.
So I might have heard his voice a long time ago.
Godzilla minus one also stars Minami Hamabe as Noriko Oishi, Shikishima's girlfriend,
although he never really calls her his girlfriend or wife or whatever.
It's relation.
What is it?
The situation ship?
I guess that's what it is.
The film also stars Yuki Yamada as Shiro Mizushima, a young crewman aboard the Shinsaimaru, which
is the mine sweeping boat that they go on to sweep mines after World War Two.
The film also stars Munetaka Aoki as Sosaku Tachibana, a former Navy Air Service mechanic.
Hidetaka Yoshioka as Kenji Noda, a former naval weapons engineer.
He has a really wonderful presence.
I don't really recognize him from any other movies that I've seen, but he's great in this
movie, I think.
And then finally, we have Sakura Ando as Sumiko Ota, Shikishima's neighbor.
I know that at the same time she was filming this movie, she did the movie Monster with
Hirokazu Koreda.
I really love Koreda's movies.
I haven't actually seen Monster, but I did recognize Sakura Ando in this movie as well.
But yeah, I know several of those cast members have been in a lot of Japanese blockbusters
and other kind of TV series and kaiju films, but I have to admit, I'm not super familiar
with them.
I will say that I enjoyed the cast of this film.
I found it to be...
I found that the actors and the characters had a lot of chemistry and it was the ensemble
of this film actually made me think that out of all the Godzilla movies I've seen, these
might be the best human characters.
Maybe that's just me, but I found them funny and charming and I feel like they just worked
really well off each other.
Yeah, agreed.
Yeah.
There are things I don't like about some of the characters and there are things I don't
like about the dialogue, but I don't think that's due to the performers.
I think the cast members all do a really, really good job.
Sure.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right.
Nothing the screen has ever shown before can surpass the thrills of Geek and the Beast.
Geedra, the three-headed monster.
Geedra, the three-headed monster, battles Godzilla, Mothra, and Rotan for mastery of
the world.
Men quake before the terror of their unleashed fury.
All new, all never to be forgotten, a new high in screen terror.
Geedra, the three-headed monster.
A remote Pacific island where an expedition of world-famous scientists investigate incredible
rumors of its fantastic mysteries and discover barren volcanic mountains surrounding strange
green valleys.
Mammoth caves that breed giant mutations.
Rare plants that devour humans.
But most astounding of all, the tiniest women in all creation.
Sacred beauties of a lost tribe which worships a monstrous creature.
What is the secret of Mothra?
What is the bizarre spell that awakens Mothra?
As these doll-sized girls call to the super god from captivity.
Mothra, whose revenge is more devastating than any man-made weapon.
Mothra, who defies warplanes.
Sterects ocean liners.
Smashes dams and bridges.
Mothra, creating hurricanes.
Mothra, enveloped in a shell that no human force can penetrate.
Mothra, indestructible, all-powerful, indescribable.
What kind of creature is this god-monster Mothra?
So following 2016's Shin Godzilla, which was a smash for Toho, execs knew they wanted
a follow-up.
They, however, were contractually unable to make their own Godzilla movie because at
this point they had entered into a business partnership with Legendary Pictures and Warner
Brothers in the United States.
And Warner Brothers and Legendary were doing their monster-verse thing.
So Toho was unable to make their own Godzilla movie until 2020.
And when that year came around, they absolutely greenlit this next project, which was not
initially widely known to be a Godzilla movie.
But they did tap Takashi Yamazaki for the project.
While this is his first Godzilla movie, and coincidentally he is now helming the sequel
follow-up to Godzilla Minus One, but before Godzilla Minus One he had made two previous
projects featuring the Godzilla character.
A 2007 movie called Always Sunset on Third Street 2, which has a dream sequence in which
Godzilla appears, and then a motion simulation theme park ride called Godzilla the Ride Giant
Monsters Ultimate Battle that Yamazaki made.
We absolutely have to go to that ride outside of Tokyo.
It's on my bucket list now.
Welcome to Japan.
Where is Godzilla the Ride, please?
I wonder...
Well, maybe Naomi can tell us because she was in Tokyo recently, but I imagine they
probably have more than one, but I could be wrong.
I mean, also, like probably licensing is very strict, so who knows?
Yeah.
But this particular one, Godzilla the Ride Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle, I mean, how
can you resist that name?
It sounds awesome.
And the design of Godzilla in Godzilla Minus One is a variation on that Godzilla from that
ride.
Which I think is like based on like the kind of old suitmation look, although it like obviously
looks different with like digital effects and everything, but I think that was kind
of the inspiration.
And you can kind of see it in Godzilla Minus One with like the lumbering sort of like bottom
heavy look of the monster, you know?
So yeah, I mean, if it's that way in the ride too, I'm sure that would be very, very cool
to see.
Yeah.
So Yamazaki took three years to write the movie beginning in 2019.
It wasn't initially planned to take that long, but pre-production paused during COVID and
Yamazaki's screenplay was influenced by the lack of faith in the government's handling
of the crisis.
It also kind of led to a longer pre-production process, so he had a longer time to work on
the screenplay.
He always wanted to make the film a period piece.
He did not want to invite contrasts with Shin Godzilla, the very popular 2016 movie, which
is set in modern times.
So that was something that Yamazaki wanted to do all along.
He had made previous films set in post-war Japan, including The Eternal Zero, which also
involved a kamikaze pilot.
So that's familiar subject matter for Yamazaki.
And I know in the past, he said things about how, you know, I don't know how much we should
hold him to his word, but he's kind of said like, Godzilla movies, you know, to pay homage
to the original should be set in that kind of post-war era.
So I think he's trying to tip his hat in that way as well.
In 2022, the unspecified kaiju film that he was working on was revealed to be this Godzilla
movie.
A considerable influence on it was Godzilla Mothra King Ghidorah Giant Monsters All-Out
Attack from 2001, which Vincent and I have talked about in the podcast recently.
Yamazaki said that that is one of his favorite Godzilla films, and that one also involved
Japan's reckoning with its role in World War II.
The digital aspect of Godzilla, Yamazaki is quoted as saying, it allowed for much more
detail than was possible with any type of handcrafted version.
So we were able to increase the resolution of the scales, for example, and make them
feel really, really sharp and give it this aggressive texture.
And in terms of the bottom half of Godzilla, we made it feel very heavy and dense in a
way that made the viewer feel like this mountain and triangular silhouette was walking and
moving through a space.
I don't have a strong opinion either way on how I feel about Godzilla's movement in this
movie.
I feel like, and I'm just getting into a little bit of review here, I like the idea of him
being so lumbering as depicted in this film, because there's a great, it's like an animal
this large would move that way, and there's a tremendous amount of power behind that.
But at the same time, I felt like the effects came off stilted and almost like, is this
a computer?
This is a computer graphic.
It's not moving as gracefully as I would like it to.
I can't really explain it, but there was something there that was a little off for me.
Interesting.
I feel like you and I slightly disagree about this movie, which is great.
I love it when that happens, but I feel like the visual effects are actually sort of by
far my favorite part of this movie.
I think Godzilla kind of seems like a predator lying in wait in this movie, and I think there
are some really scary images, especially when he's swimming after the ships towards the
end, and we just see the top of his head and his eyes glaring at you.
And I do like the kind of tribute to the Suit Nation, guy in a suit original look of the
original Godzilla.
And I also think that when Godzilla sort of like charges up his heat ray in this movie
and like we just see him like slowly kind of arches back and like the fins start to
light up, I those are my favorite parts of this movie pretty much.
So I do understand what you're saying, but but I'm OK with it.
I do.
I think the design of Godzilla in this film is very effective.
I do too.
What?
Sorry, what I meant was just in those moments where he is walking lumbering.
Gotcha.
But I am I agree with you completely, and I think the visual effects are are way more
seamless than I expected almost like I find the effects extremely well done in this movie.
Yeah.
And more so than in Shin Godzilla.
I actually would say that I like the movie Shin Godzilla more than Godzilla minus one.
But some of the CGI and Shin Godzilla is like a little bit unconvincing.
And it's you're right, like you use the word seamless.
That's totally accurate to describe the visual effects in Godzilla minus one.
Yeah.
So speaking of the visual effects, the big talking point of this movie is how good those
effects are on the budget that this film had.
So reportedly, the budget was between 10 and 15 million dollars.
For comparison.
I mean, I'm pulling these numbers out of my butt, so their estimates.
But like your average Marvel movie.
Hundreds of millions of dollars.
And like the 2014 Godzilla, the American version by Gareth Edwards, that's his name, right?
Yeah.
I think that had a budget of like 150 million at least something like that.
I'm going to look at 150 million and Godzilla minus one.
Fifteen.
One five.
Right, man, it's I mean, you can read a lot into that.
And I know there was some controversy like, oh, was the visual effects team like overworked
on Godzilla minus one?
I don't think there's actually any evidence to support that theory.
It's just like, how did they how does it look so good on such a small budget?
You know, and I think the answer is that it's so carefully interwoven into the story.
Like that helps so much, you know.
Yeah, absolutely.
Oh, we're getting there's a there's a I recently watched a video.
A video of Tom Hanks.
He was in a recent interview on TikTok or something.
Anyways, he talked about and I'm paraphrasing, like you can make a monster destroy Chicago
or fill Lake Michigan with cuckoo clocks like visual effects allows us to do anything we
can imagine.
But what's the story?
His point is, it doesn't matter how how much money you spend on your effects or like whatever
you do, if it's not in support of your story.
Who cares?
It's boring.
We've all seen it before.
Like, the imagination is lost in that aspect.
So Tom Hanks is actually arguing that stories becoming more important to audiences.
Since the digital revolution, which I love.
And I see that in Godzilla minus one.
I see these effects supporting the grander human story.
And I think that's the key to its success.
Yeah, I totally agree.
In my opinion, the movie with the best visual effects of all time is Jurassic Park, which
is from the early 90s before CGI really got all that advanced.
And it's for that reason, you know, like the again, the effects are so like, carefully
interwoven in the story.
It's mostly about the story and the characters and the setting and all that.
That's why it still works so well 30 years later, you know.
Story people.
So Godzilla minus one was released in Japan in November 2023 and in North America in November.
It won eight Japanese Academy Film Prizes and Best Visual Effects at the 96 Academy
Awards.
And you know, I mean, like its legacy, I feel like has already been pretty firmly entrenched.
Like a lot of people say it's the best Godzilla movie ever.
Steven Spielberg said that he saw it three times and was obsessed with it.
You know, there are a lot a lot more examples, but just broke box office records.
It's yeah, this has already become like such a huge smash success.
Thanks for bringing up the Spielberg point, because I did read a number of noted like
Hollywood.
You know, blockbuster kings really praised Yamazaki and just like gave credit where it
was due.
And I just love that idea of, you know, colleagues in the business cheering for each other.
Totally.
Yeah.
And Yamazaki said that Spielberg was a big influence on him in the making of this movie.
And you can see the influence of Jaws definitely in this in Godzilla minus one.
Almost a little too much.
Yeah, I think so too.
But it's charming.
I like that.
Homage slash ripoff, whatever you want to call it.
So Matt, I will have criticism.
Yeah, I I might have more than you, but we'll see.
We'll find out.
That's all right.
I don't want you to go easy on this movie.
Also I'm nervous to do so, though, because so many people love it.
So I feel like I should be somewhat reserved in my criticisms.
But we'll get we'll get to that soon.
Yeah.
Well, until then, let's talk about Zack Linder and the Zack Pack.
Camp Kaiju is sponsored by them and they are powered by Coldwell Banker Realty, your source
for real estate, home rehab, fixing and flipping for investor clients and residential buyers.
Reach out to the Zack Pack today for real estate services.
Follow the Zack Pack on social media and contact the Zack Pack for investment opportunities.
Links in the show notes.
Now Menia's mailbox is brought to you by Patreon.
Become a patron and your comments are tops.
Well, I have one here from a patron, Sean, on Instagram.
I posted on our story, I posted a question.
What's your history with Godzilla minus one?
And Sean says, if Godzilla minus one was in real life, the world would know no peace.
OK.
Yeah, it seems accurate.
I suppose you could say that about a lot of Kaiju movies, but certainly this one in particular.
You know, Sean, you always give us something to chew on.
So I appreciate that.
Come to our holiday party, please, Sean.
We'd love to have you and hype up your own podcast.
So thanks for the support.
A happy Thanksgiving to Peter Laurie.
Yeah.
What is he thankful for these days?
He's thankful that he only has two more episodes left and then he's going right back to the
spirit world from whence he came.
I'm thankful that his movie reviews about the silent era are so good, so insightful and
so well delivered that finally he will be liberated from his earthly prison where he's
forced to give movie reviews on our behalf.
You know, it's a terrible fate, but we did force him to do this.
So we are culpable in this.
But he forgives us.
We forgive him.
We're going to spread with Mr. Laurie this week.
Happy Thanksgiving to Mr. Laurie.
Happy Thanksgiving, Peter.
Before Karloff and Lugosi stopped the screens, the movies were no less monstrous.
These frightful figures lurked in the expressionistic shadows and danced in the macabre moonlight.
Oh, they laughed.
They cried.
They, they fooled the sensibilities of honest, decent folk.
In the age of silent pictures, these gruesome ghouls nonetheless cried out, for the savage
humanity took the breath from all who witnessed their devilish delights.
For in the silence, no one can hear you scream.
Oh, Pierre, that is a funny joke.
No, no, no, no, no, you are right, my little furry friend.
He does sound like that.
Oh, I had no idea you were such a gifted impressionist and jokester.
Perhaps, perhaps you would like to take the lead on this week's segment.
No, I know it is my sworn obligation.
I just, I want to let you know that you could do it if you so chose.
Perhaps after I return to my beloved box in the ground, Matthew and Vincent will recognize
you for the supreme audio talent that you are.
Yes, Pierre, yes, embrace your inner podcaster.
Show the bastards on the outside what you are made of.
By all means, the microphone beckons and the floor is yours.
Oh, Pierre, that, that was, that was not appropriate to what you said there at the end.
They are now, now our friends, so, so please, please allow me this second take and perhaps
Matthew and Vincent will be none the wiser.
Welcome to Silent But Deadly, I am your host, Peter Lorre.
You may know me from such movies as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Verdict.
This week I bring you the 1923 Universal Monster movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame starring
Hollywood legend Juan Cheney known as the man of a thousand faces for his prowess with
make-up and physical transformations.
Now, this movie is based on the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo and it tells an interwoven
story of love, loneliness and mad jealousy.
Cheney stars as the titular hunchback named Quasimodo.
Cheney's make-up for Quasimodo has become legendary in its own right with the prosthetic
hump and the milky white eye and the toadless grin and the physical contortions remaining
incredible sights to behold.
The movie truly established Cheney as a star and is credited with being the first monster
movie in the renowned canon of Universal horrors.
The trade publication Harrison's Report reported after the release of the movie that
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a two-hour nightmare, its murder is hideous and repulsive.
What makes this production a piece of art however is the work of Mr. Cheney, the pedigree,
the characters, the king of the beggars, the mob scenes, the love story all impress one.
But the one thing that will stand out in one's memory is Quasimodo.
Mr. Cheney's work will live in the memory of when all else has faded away.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an accomplishment of which any producer should feel proud.
This hapless podcasting movie critic happens to agree.
Next time on Silent But Deadly we will revisit one more Lon Chaney picture, a weird crime
thriller directed by Todd Browning called The Unholy Three.
And sweet unholy Moses Pierre put down that awful weapon.
My goodness gracious where did you ever get such a large cleaver?
No Pierre I did not mean to insult you before, I just, you just, you just need to practice
a little.
No, no, do not come any closer.
See these prehistoric beasts emerge from the bowels of the earth after 200 million years
to devastate mankind.
Heavy jets cannot catch him.
Buckets cannot stop him.
Armored tanks are helpless before him.
Unguided missiles are powerless.
Sea Rodin destroy a modern city, leveling it to the earth with a killing airstream of
his mighty wings.
Nothing can stop him.
Nothing escapes this monstrous beast of evil.
Naomi Osborne, welcome.
How are you guys?
Pretty good.
How are you?
Good, good.
I just got off of an airplane, but I'm doing well.
I was in Las Vegas for work over the weekend.
So.
Wow.
And you were in New York before that, right?
Yes, yes.
Also for work and play.
In a lot of October I was in New York for first New York Comic Con and then I stayed
a week after for Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, which was super fun.
Yeah.
Being in a place like that, it just would be so it'd be hard not to just be doing something
every single night.
You know, like there's just so many good screenings and so many cool theaters and events.
And I even got to play some horror trivia, which was super fun because I never get to
play.
So that was really, really fun.
Nice.
That's awesome.
Sounds busy, but exciting.
Yeah, it sure was.
It absolutely was.
And you know, I definitely thought of you guys and this episode coming up, because when
I was at New York Comic Con, I was able to go to a panel with Takashi Yamazaki that was
called Godzilla versus New York Comic Con, 70 years of the King of the Monsters.
So like it just worked out so wonderfully to be able to sit there and just like soak
it up and hear from the man himself.
You know, like, oh, it was so cool.
What was he like?
What was the atmosphere?
He was really friendly and really humble.
I had a great sense of humor.
The panel was absolutely packed.
It was the only one I went to that had like people standing.
There wasn't even enough chairs for the amount of people that wanted to go.
And it was just him and a translator.
And it was a mixture of, you know, kind of just clips that honor the heritage of Godzilla.
Some questions that I think were already kind of pre-prepared.
And then he even gave time for people to ask their own questions about the film.
But he was just super gracious and had a lot of good things to say.
It was really funny.
You know, he talked about his cat a lot and how that really influenced the look of Godzilla.
And then when we left, he gave everybody a poster that he designed that was for the theatrical
re-release on November 1st.
So but it was just really cool.
Little memento from it.
And I was just so happy to to be there.
Yeah, that's that's incredible.
You're living the dream.
You go into Japan, you're seeing Godzilla, you go into New York and you're seeing Godzilla.
That's amazing.
I feel like Vincent and I have to do a much better job of touring and go into these conventions
and everything because you're getting all the inside intel, you know?
Yeah.
No, I thought about you guys would have been you would have gotten more out of it even
than I did.
I was just so happy to be there.
But having gone to Japan twice this year and went going to that panel, I just felt kind
of like uniquely equipped and excited for this for writing this question and talking
you guys about it.
Oh, can't wait to hear it.
Before we get into that, what are your thoughts on Godzilla minus one?
Well, it was really fun to watch it.
I actually watched it twice leading up to this one.
I saw it first in the theaters, but I was very curious to kind of see what that minus
color cut was like and what that would feel like because I hadn't heard about that until
recently.
But something that really struck me with it was I really appreciated the long shot of
Godzilla.
And it really reminded me of like a nature documentary, how the filmmakers sort of set
that up to where you can look and appreciate the subject, which would be Godzilla in this
moment.
And it's not kind of given the normal horror treatment of just quick cuts and kind of,
you know, less is more sort of.
So to me, that that was just really, really cool.
And I think it kind of underscored a lot of the emotions that you feel when you're watching
that.
I thought it was really great.
Agreed.
For sure.
Yeah.
I'm excited to see kind of how this felt, how much it resonated with people, even just
kind of everyday non nerds, non kaiju people and see, you know, what happens in the future
and how a franchise like this that is seven decades old can get this kind of like breath
of fresh air.
And, you know, even my mom liked this movie, you know, that kind of thing.
I just thought it was really great in that way.
I really something I liked about they talked about was, you know, so often on film sets,
people have their kind of lanes that they stick in.
And he's just so talented, you know, as a director or writer, like the effects, like
he just considers it all to be part of the same thing.
Like it's all filmmaking, he said.
And I just thought that was so cool.
And, you know, he said that it gives him like more appreciation for what other people do,
too, because, you know, he he would look at a script and be like, what kind of writer
would expect, you know, an effects person to pull this off?
Like, ha ha ha, that was him.
And I like so he just kind of can see all sides of that process.
It's pretty cool.
You know, the more movies I watch, the more I appreciate those who truly understand, like
the craft of it.
It's just like not everyone can do that and and not everyone can do that at that level.
So no, absolutely to win an Oscar and to to just be that that creative and that talented
like is is kind of unbelievable.
It's so cool.
And you can tell, like he just radiates that he loves what he does.
And it's really neat to see that.
And the the vibe was very joyful.
And it was just honestly such a pleasure to to see people watching that and enjoying him
talk and.
It was so cool.
I really enjoyed it.
And hearing a Japanese perspective on it, too, was also very interesting.
He talked about how he feels that there's almost let's see what there's a quote.
There's a concept in Japan called Tartari Gami, which means spirits that bring calamity.
So they're good gods and bad gods and Godzilla.
He's half monster, but he's also kind of half of a god.
And I think that that's somewhat interesting because he's somewhat like a force of nature
in that regard.
And it's definitely a sort of Japanese point of view that some gods are malevolent and
you know, not all of them are good.
And I thought that that was interesting because I never really thought about that.
You know, I always just kind of thought about him as, you know, a dinosaur or something
that was affected by, you know, something manmade.
But to think about a sort of like spirituality to him makes him even more scary and more
of a force.
Yeah.
I love that aspect, too.
And the original Godzilla, you know, you're hearing the locals on this island, Odo Island,
talk about their god, their sea god, Gojira.
So that elements in there, too.
Yeah, I love thinking about the geographic, like, like, just having been in Japan and
been in Okinawa and knowing what a big aspect the Pacific Ocean plays in every aspect of
their culture and life.
And just seeing like that knowing that that's like where Godzilla came from.
And he's seen as somewhat of a force, like a natural force of sorts, you know, much like
a tsunami or hurricane would be.
I thought that was really interesting and really cool.
I think we kind of see that in Godzilla minus one when he does kind of die at the end, although
he's not, you know, permanently dead, the end implies.
But like, you know, after he after he's blown up, after his head is blown up, basically,
like all the like military men salute him.
And they're probably saluting Koichi a little bit as well.
But I just thought that was a really, really good touch, you know?
Yeah, absolutely.
I agree.
And, you know, just thinking about the regenerative nature or aspect of nature, too, you know,
we see what is her name, Noriko with that mark on her neck.
And it's basically been confirmed that that is like, you know, an effect of like G cells,
which, you know, implies regeneration, not just for Godzilla, the creature, but for the
next film.
So I think that'll be really cool to see, you know, or at least that's that was, I think,
my interpret of it.
That's really interesting.
I did catch that moment.
The camera lingered on this mark.
Yeah.
I. And now that might be why, Matt, she survives this blast.
Yeah, we were Vincent and I were just talking about that.
And it's a moment that doesn't totally work for me.
But if it sets up like a storyline for future sequels or future installments, then I'll
forgive in the long run, even if I think it's kind of a little manipulative in this movie.
But it does seem to like foreshadow things to come.
But I just didn't make that connection at all.
So maybe it's something.
We shall see.
No, I don't think so.
I think a lot of people didn't.
And they just saw like this was a wounded woman.
She had bandages, you know, we're all just kind of dealing with the shock that she's
actually alive.
Like we had all kind of made peace with that and, you know, have that grief.
But, you know, I think it's it's leaving the door open, you know, for these, you know,
the G cells.
G cells.
I. I'd love to see Mothra in Yamazaki's world or if he revisited a standalone Rodin movie.
Naomi, have you seen the original Rodin?
Yes, I have seen it.
I think that that would be really, really cool.
I agree.
He did mention which one he would like to see redone because somebody asked him there.
Like I said, a lot of people were coming up with their own questions.
And one of them was that.
Let me just look.
Oh, yeah.
Question.
If you can remake or see any previous Godzilla movie be remade, which would it be and why?
Yamazaki San says Godzilla versus to Dora.
I think that's that's for its time, her Dora was a very cutting edge Kaiju.
And thinking about the type of visual expression we can do with technology and how far it's
come today, I'm imagining how it would move.
And I think that would be a really cool remake.
OK, that's what he said on that.
That's cool.
Thank you, Naomi, for your reporting on the ground there.
Yeah, not a problem.
Yeah, I thought about you guys the whole time.
I wish you were there with me to soak it up.
Thank you.
Yeah, no problem.
Yeah, he said, one day I'd like to have a big heart like Godzilla and everyone laughed.
And I just have thought about that the whole time since then.
I thought it was so sweet and it sort of encapsulates what kind of guy he is.
Godzilla sized heart.
Yeah, sounds like he already has a big heart, you know, a big, big loving heart for sure.
Absolutely.
Are you ready to play the trivia that challenge the world?
Let's get down to business.
What kind of trivia to have for us this week?
All right.
So without giving anything away, I just want to say that the main criticism that I read
about this film is kind of what inspired the question.
So here we go.
In Godzilla minus one, Godzilla appears in only 9% of the film's total runtime.
This translates to six minutes less than its predecessor Shin Godzilla and two minutes
more than the original Godzilla.
How many total minutes does Godzilla appear in Godzilla minus one?
So I'll read that again for you guys.
I know there's a lot of numbers in there, but let me read it again.
Yeah, you'll have to watch again and just keep a close eye.
So that again for everybody in Godzilla minus one, Godzilla appears in only 9% of the film's
total runtime.
This translates to six minutes less than its predecessor Shin Godzilla and two minutes
more than the original Godzilla.
How many total minutes does Godzilla appear in Godzilla minus one?
That's a question.
I love a math question.
It's great.
Unexpected.
Yeah.
And I'm not even a math person really, but I thought it would be kind of fun.
Maybe some people are more numbers oriented or, you know, were dissatisfied with the amount
of time Godzilla got on the screen and could kind of start their research from that standpoint.
Or just rewatch the film and see which scenes he's in and go from there.
I love that.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah, no problem.
We'll see you next time for the trivia that challenged the world.
Listeners you can drop your answers in the comment section here on the podcast or you
can do so on Instagram, on YouTube, on our email.
However you want to get to us, you can call the Kaiju hotline.
That will enter you into the hat twice.
But either way, if you comment, you're entered into the drawing for some free merchandise
from our store at campkaiju.threadless.com.
You guys have some great shirts.
I've got the one like that navy blue one I wore in Japan with the kind of like windy
vampire kind of look to it.
Yeah.
It's awesome.
I'm a conversation starter.
I've gotten some good remarks in my camp Kaiju shirts as well, especially the Godzilla at
the campfire, which I think was the one that started it all.
The first shirt of them all.
Yeah, they're great shirts.
Definitely catch people's eyes sometimes.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's really fun to talk about.
I'll pass that on to our designer.
He's a friend of mine, so he'll be happy to hear that.
Oh, very cool.
Very cool.
Maybe a trivia night in store for us.
Yeah, that'd be great.
It's the first Monday of every single month.
At Indeed Brewery, people can DM me on Instagram to find out about it or find out about it
from Indeed themselves or hit up the Film Friends movie trivia page on Facebook to stay
up on it.
But yeah, first Monday of every single month at Indeed Brewery starting at 7.30.
That's always really fun, very varied.
My new format kind of has guest co-hosts coming in because I really just want to share different
tastes and perspectives outside my own.
But yeah, you guys should do a spot sometime.
I think it'd be really fun to have a, you know, it could be about Kaijus or it could
be just about whatever.
You know, I think you guys have great tastes.
It'd be fun to show that off to my trivia community.
That'd be a lot of fun.
I would love to, yeah.
Cool.
Vincent and I will have to, you know, discuss in greater detail at some point.
Yeah, that'd be super fun.
I think that'd be really, really fun.
You know, I usually have one person that goes, you know, two rounds or three rounds.
But you know, maybe you guys could each do a round or I don't know.
We'll talk about it.
It'd be really fun.
I will include the link to your Facebook page in the show notes so listeners can find the
info there.
But Naomi, this was a pleasure as always.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I'm just happy to meet really cool people in the community.
And it's a true honor.
That's good.
You guys have a lovely night.
See you.
You too.
Bye.
Out of the polluted waters, it came to become the most fearful menace that ever threatened
mankind feeding growing evermore deadly on smog.
Only one force dared stand up to its overpowering evil.
Godzilla!
Godzilla versus the smog monster.
More than 1600 dead have been reported while other casualties are expected to exceed 30,000.
Can Godzilla save the earth from this mastodon of destruction?
Godzilla versus the smog monster.
Rated G.
You want to talk first about what you pulled from this movie?
You know, I definitely think the foremost theme is the sacrifice that nations ask their
citizens to do for the sake of war.
You know, the main character, he is a kamikaze pilot during World War II.
The film starts when he sort of pretends to crash land, although there's actually nothing
wrong with his plane, on a smile island.
He just doesn't want to take part in this kamikaze mission, which is understandable.
Who wants to willingly die like in an act of war?
You know, I don't think really anybody wants to.
You know, even very nationalistic people, very patriotic people, you know, killing yourself
on behalf of your nation is a big price to pay, obviously.
So yeah, Koichi does not want to do that, but then he's shamed for that.
At the beginning of the film, he also encounters Godzilla along with a bunch of other mechanics
on this island.
The head mechanic asks Koichi to shoot down Godzilla using the gun on his plane, and Koichi
kind of freezes up and can't do it.
So the theme of fear, of panic, of maybe being a pacifist in the face of all this war and
violence and cruelty, and then the shame that comes from that certainly is a huge theme
in this film.
And that's kind of the character arc of Koichi.
By the end, he's willing to, I'm not saying that he actually does do this, but he's willing
to sacrifice himself in order to save Japan and maybe the world and take down Godzilla.
Yeah, it's, it's, there are only so few themes, I feel like, right?
You, you learn this in English class, and the more books you read and the more movies
you watch, and it's just like, yeah, we talk about the same things over and over again.
Love, war, nuclear radiation.
But in this movie, I found fear and life, like the willing, like the desire to live,
a theme I have not encountered very often.
And I found it surprisingly effective in, in, like you say, in the beginning, he's a
kamikaze pilot and their sole mission is to die for their country.
But Japan, Japan's military at this time, like was rooted in such a fanatic duty and
honor.
Honor, it's the word I was looking for.
It's like, you know, the samurai legacy is still rooted in their military.
So when Koichi even comes back and every time he's found out he was a kamikaze pilot, he
gets a lot of grief for this from the citizenry.
And you're just like, man, this guy, he chose what we view as the same choice and he just
can't catch a break.
So now he's dealing with a lot of PTSD and guilt over his, his lack of honor and his
quote unquote cowardice, which even in, I think Western militaries, right?
Like don't be a coward, you got to jump on that grenade to save your, your buddies.
And that's so much easier said than done.
Right.
And even at the end of this movie, as you say, he's, his arc is complete.
He's like, I'm going to sacrifice myself now to save my country.
And on the surface, it's, that alone is satisfying.
You're like, okay, you've, you're now the hero.
I'm going to spoil it.
Turns out just when you think he is dead, he ejected himself out of his plane because
that mechanic who on Odo Island chastised him for, for the death of all those other
mechanics, even he, that mechanic in the end decided, you know what?
It's better to to live and to survive and he outfitted that jet with an ejector seat.
So now this, this simple trajectory of coward to hero becomes complicated with the fact
that no, to live is the courageous act.
And how, and how do you get a country and your comrades to see that living is in itself
the act of bravery?
It's just again, easier said than done, which makes it to me such a complex, fascinating
theme.
I like your description of it.
I, I feel like one of the things, one of the reasons I thought maybe that theme didn't
work all that well for me is cause I thought it kind of took the easy way out a little
bit, you know, like you think that it is the story of a man who is unable to sacrifice
himself and then is willing to do so.
And then if he had actually done so, I think that would ask really difficult questions
about like, was this the right thing?
Are we happy that he did this or not?
But then of course there's this plot twist where he miraculously survives and it's not
the only contrivance at the end where somebody miraculously survives and you're like, oh,
thank God they're okay.
There are a couple of moments in this movie where I feel like it kind of takes the easy
way out, but to hear you describe it, maybe it does complicate it.
Maybe it does say, I mean, it definitely does say like living is the right thing to do.
So now I'm kind of rethinking my initial criticism of that.
I do still feel like the plot contrivances don't totally work for me.
Like, I feel like the audience is being jerked around a little bit.
And another thing about the theme is that there are some lines of dialogue that suggest
that it applies to modern Japan as well.
Like there are a couple of times where a character will say something like, can Japan ever change?
Maybe it's impossible.
And like, oh, Japan will always ask its people to like sacrifice themselves or whatever.
And it's like, I want more elaboration.
What exactly do you mean by that in the modern context?
Like maybe that would be a little bit more apparent to a Japanese viewer.
But for me, it was like, oh, I feel like that's implying that this still is like a relevant
theme in modern Japan, but I don't know what it means by it.
But that certainly could be my fault.
Maybe it's not the film's fault.
It's an interesting theme that I think the movie in some ways it doesn't totally successfully
convey, in my opinion.
Yeah.
And I do hear you about the contrived miracles.
Yeah.
Especially, what's her name?
Surviving essentially an atomic blast.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean, there's a lot of melodrama in this movie.
Maybe not totally a bad thing, but it doesn't always work for me.
Well that's what I was going to say.
I mean, and this is again, a beautiful contrast between you and I.
I actually, the melodrama worked for me in this movie.
And even though those unexpected survivals, I think Koichi's survival subverts a theme.
So like, I'm really good with that.
But you're right.
Koichi's, his partner's survival is a tad further into the realm of incredulousness.
Be that as it may, at that point in the film, I feel like they've earned it.
The heroes are alive and Godzilla is defeated.
Yeah.
Yeah, you're right.
I mean, this isn't the kind of movie where they're going to have a totally bleak ending
where all the characters die.
Yeah, but nine times out of 10, I'm with you.
And I would rather us not have a happy ending, quote unquote, and let's sit in the uncomfortable
pain that is life.
But I don't know, this time I was like, I feel like they've earned it.
I'm okay with it.
Yeah, it's definitely crowd pleasing for sure.
This final mission will decide the fate of the human race.
This is operation final war.
Okay, I'm going to go first.
What did I like about this movie?
That you're going to tear it all down.
Nonsense.
I do, as I said with Naomi, I love that this movie doesn't even feel like a Godzilla movie
first.
It feels like a sincere period piece post World War Two Japan.
Not only do I love 1940s period pieces, but I have never seen a movie from the Japanese
point of view after the war ended.
I mean, Tokyo is in ruins after the Allied firebombing.
And the sense I got from the movie was that of a post apocalyptic movie.
They're living out of shacks.
They're just eking out a living here.
And it reminded me of a post apocalyptic film.
And another theme of pushing through that and slowly rebuilding your city and your family
and your life.
And it was a touch sentimental, but that was the reality after the war ended.
People literally had to start from ground zero.
So I did like that aspect a lot.
I did like the way Godzilla looked in this movie.
I really loved the beginning on Odo Island when we first see Godzilla, but it's the Godzilla
source.
The way that monster makes its appearance is scary.
And I don't care that it was very Jurassic Park.
It was frightening the way it was shot.
And it reminded me of Godzilla versus King Ghidorah when you had the 1940s flashbacks
to the Godzilla source.
And I was like, yes, that's what I love.
I love World War II Godzilla movies.
Totally.
Yeah.
Yeah, I was thinking of Godzilla versus King Ghidorah too, which is one of my favorites
that we've talked about so far.
I'd be a little bit nervous if he remade that just because I love it so much.
But no, I thought about that movie too.
I think World War II and kind of like hearkening back to the 1954 original.
It just brings back that sense of nostalgia and also thematic depth and just like a sort
of serious real world context.
I didn't mean to interject.
Are you done with your good category?
Yeah, I'm done.
Okay.
So yeah, totally agree with everything you said.
With the themes, one thing we didn't talk about is that the Godzilla-saurus is of course
affected by American nuclear bomb testing.
And that's what makes it grow in size and have this radioactive superpower.
So still that theme from the original of the American military meddling in Japan's affairs
with hugely disastrous consequences is still here in Godzilla minus one.
And then there's the theme too that the United States doesn't really want to help because
then it's going to be like misconstrued by the Soviet Union.
Like why are they like, you know, hanging around Japan?
So like America is just like, we're not going to help you deal with it in Godzilla minus
one.
So I like that thematic aspect of it too.
You know, even if some of the themes of sacrifice and guilt and shame aren't totally effective
to me, I'm happy they're here in this movie.
Like it has things to say.
It has character depth and I obviously appreciate that.
Like I said before, the visual effects I think are really fantastic and the attack on Ginza
in this movie might be my favorite urban destruction scene in any kaiju movie I've ever seen.
Like there are some that are like kind of can be cheesy and fun.
There's one that's set in like a version of New York City.
I think it's from one of the Gamera movies.
Does that sound familiar?
I can't remember the movie now.
Well, Mothra was New Kirk City.
Yeah Mothra.
That's what I'm thinking of.
Like that's a really fun scene.
But in terms of just like scope and destruction and intensity, I think the attack on Ginza
in Godzilla minus one probably is my favorite.
Just like Godzilla.
I won't use any profanity, but just like going to town.
You know what I mean?
Like that moment is incredible in this movie.
And there are a lot of things I like, but the last thing I'll say is like whenever you
hear Akira Ifukube score like kind of come out of nowhere or the first time you hear
it, it comes out of nowhere because it's a good like 45 minutes into the movie, I would
say.
It is just amazing for kaiju fans to like see Godzilla and hear that score.
It never gets old.
It's a really incredible moment.
That's awesome.
I like that they call it a heat ray in this movie instead of the atomic breath.
But either way, when Godzilla lets loose and it's a full blown atom bomb, that's chilling.
I was like, oh my God, I've never seen it like this before.
Yeah, it's a really convincing effect.
And I like obviously just the subtext of what the Japanese people went through just a couple
years earlier in like the context of this movie.
Yeah.
I mean, it's intense, it's sad, it's like traumatic.
It brings all those themes together very powerfully.
What I didn't like about this movie, and even there's very few I'm stretching here, I admit
that.
So I'll leave the the hardball criticisms to you.
There was there was one moment that took me out of the film.
Noriko's on a train when Godzilla attacks and Godzilla rips into this train and lifts
the train car with Noriko in it.
And Noriko is like hanging from a bar suspended over the water.
And in that moment, that was a moment where I thought, okay, yes, we can do these effects
like Tom Hanks said, we can do anything we want.
But I'm borderline not believing this moment.
It seems too actiony.
It just I don't know, it didn't seem rooted in the realism that we had established for
her to, you know, fall to the bar and then fall into the water and then survive.
And then it's just it was like one step too far into over the top, I guess.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, for sure.
She has some incredible upper arm strength if she can like stay hanging from that bar
like that entire time and like the train is being like whipped around, you know.
Yeah, it's unconvincing and it feels kind of gratuitous.
And then also like she falls into the water and then like very shortly thereafter, we
see her on the street and like her clothes are wet and like her hair is wet so we can
kind of understand what happened.
But still, it's a very jarring cut.
It's like, wait, she just fell on the water.
How does she get up here?
You know, so the editing maybe is not great at that moment, too.
Yeah.
We mentioned the jaws stuff before.
I didn't hate it.
And that's not actually a criticism.
I just thought about jaws and I was like, I don't know.
I don't want to be thinking about jaws in this moment.
But damn, it looks really good, though.
And it's really effective.
And it's just as scary as when the shark is after Quint and the gang.
So it's fine.
But yeah, a little derivative at times, maybe a little.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
All right.
What do you got?
So I really, you know, overall, I do like this movie, but I don't love it as much as
many, many other people seem to.
And I think like the main thing for me at times, this comes dangerously close to like
a Godzilla version of like Oscar bait, which I know is weird to say because it is the only
Godzilla movie that actually won an Oscar, but it's for visual effects.
But what I mean for that is it's kind of like a prestige movie or like a message movie that
Godzilla happens to be in.
And when I say Oscar bait or a prestige movie, I think of like the bad ones like Crash or
Green Book were like, you know, the themes are just laid out very obviously on the surface
where there's even dialogue that's like, this is the theme of the movie.
Like, you know, like all the stuff about like the war is not over for me yet.
I like literally rolled my eyes every time they said that in this movie.
And I think the reason it seems kind of like prestige or Oscar bait or message like I think
again, it's like the contrivance and the melodrama.
You feel kind of jerked around as an audience member a little bit like not only with, you
know, Koichi ejecting at the last moment and surviving and then Noriko somehow surviving.
And if that does become a plot point later in the franchise, then you know, then I get
it.
But like, but it's not only those things.
It's also like the adorable orphan girl.
It's like, you know, like Koichi is not the only sort of underdog hero who comes in to
save the day at the last minute.
There's also like the kid, as they call him on the mind sweeping boat, who like they tell
him like, oh, you're too young.
You can't fight with us.
And of course, he and all these like tugboat captains like come at the last moment to like
bring Godzilla back up to the surface.
And like, I didn't buy a lot of it.
Like you, you know, it's well made in the sense that like there are checkboxes for like
at the end of Act one, we're going to have this moment.
And then in Act two, we're going to have this moment.
And it's like, yep, so all of that coming.
And that's exactly what happened.
So you know, I just feel like it's like an intent and sorry, in an attempt to be like
a little bit more serious and profound.
I feel like it loses some of the imagination and like excitement of like my favorite kaiju
movies.
And I kind of miss that a little bit.
You know, I also think that like visually, this doesn't look all that great.
The visual effects do, but like the cinematography is kind of like muddy and flat.
I know part of that might be the sort of like post-apocalyptic vibe that you were talking
about, but there aren't really very many moments in this movie where I looked at the screen
and I was like, this looks amazing, you know, and like many of the older Godzilla and kaiju
movies like Mothra, Ghidorah, the three headed monster, even the original Godzilla, they're
just so beautiful.
And this one feels to me kind of just like unspectacular visually a lot of the time,
which is weird because like it should be spectacular.
It's a giant monster, you know, so.
Yeah, so I know I said I wasn't going to be too scathing and maybe that sounded a little
bit scathing.
I yeah, it's like kind of like a middle brow movie in some ways, but like it's a very good
one, very well made.
I just don't love it as much as a lot of other people do.
You know, it's the funny thing is that like I don't disagree with any of that.
The tugboats at the end, I did roll my eyes a little bit because it's a doex machina,
right?
And I'm like, OK.
But there's something about it that just worked for me.
So that just comes down to a matter of taste, right?
But yeah, but I do 100% agree with those points, with those checkboxes that you're talking
about.
Yeah, and I you know, I like a good like crowd, crowd pleasing adventure.
There's nothing wrong with like you like laughs and like tugging at the heartstrings and everything.
But in this movie, it feels a little bit like uneven because you have those moments, but
then you also have like deep themes of PTSD and sacrifice and like it doesn't always mesh
very well for me in this movie.
On that note, then was there anything campy to you?
Yeah, yeah.
You know, again, it's like the the moment when like the kid and all the tugboat captains
come in.
And then I think like the older guy, the another guy on the minesweeping boat, I forget the
character's name, but he even has a line of dialogue that's like, Attaboy, go get him
or something like that.
It's like, do you do we really need that?
Come on.
I kind of reminded me of like an Independence Day when Randy Quaid's like drunken drug or
what is it like crop dusting pilot like saves the day or whatever, you know, it's like that
all over again a little bit.
So I totally thought that too, when Koichi goes flying right into Godzilla's mouth.
Yep.
So like, and Yamazaki, he's upfront about all the influences, right?
Jaws, other Godzilla movies.
And it's there.
At least he owns up to it.
But but but I have criticized other movies for being copycats of other films.
So I get it.
It's fair.
Yeah, it's you know, some of them are campy fun.
Some of them are like campy eye roll.
I don't know if you need this, you know.
Right, right.
I found this movie to actually have more humor than I thought it would in the dialogue.
There's a there's like there's a lot of dry humor in this movie, which is my like, I love
that kind of humor to like the first time the Godzilla source shows up and the mechanics,
they're all on the island.
It's basically an oh shit moment.
Yeah, that whole opening scene is really good.
It's very effective.
And then Koichi is reading about the mind sweeping boat and its state of the art.
It's going to be really, really protective of minds.
And then he shows up at the boat and it's made of wood.
And he's like, what?
Another Jaws moment, I would say.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
So it was just like a lot of moments like that.
Yeah, I found humorous.
Definitely.
Yeah.
And I think like also the the Navy doctor, like the scientist who hatches the plan to
get Godzilla.
There's some campiness to that, too.
Like he reminds me of the doctor Mufube in Terror of Mechagodzilla, like the wild haired
scientist.
Totally.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
And I feel like that not to you know, this is a deep thing that we haven't totally gotten
into.
So I'll just barely touch on it real quick.
But like, I feel like that kind of negates the political commentary a little bit because
like, you know, he's the he's like the Navy overseer of this project.
And he's this like nice, adorable sort of like father figure, you know.
So it's hard to really believe that the Japanese government is like, you know, out to sacrifice
its citizens when this guy is like so lovable.
But there is some campiness to his character and and he is very understanding a lot of
the time.
Yeah.
All right.
On that note, let us give it our final rating.
Yeah, as always on Camp Kaji, we have four different rankings.
Number one, it's a timeless classic and definitely stands the test of time.
Number two, there may be some antiquated moments, but overall, it's great.
It stands the test of time.
Number three, it may be historically significant or just fun, but it does not stand the test
of time and our lowest ranking.
It is not worth revisiting and definitely does not stand the test of time.
Well, I know it's well, you go first.
OK, my episode, so I'll finish this off.
Yeah, totally.
You'll have the last word.
I know my criticisms sounded a little scathing, but, you know, I would say overall, this movie
is good to great and it will stand the test of time.
I'm going to give it our second ranking.
I don't know, it's maybe too early to say there are antiquated moments, but I do think
they're like manipulative or like kind of cheesy melodramatic moments.
But but yeah, I mean, it's a beloved movie.
There are so many moments that like are really fun, really effective.
There is thematic and character depth here.
I'm slightly surprised by how much everybody loves this movie.
It's not probably even among my top three favorite Godzilla movies.
But yeah, it'll stand the test of time for sure.
I agree.
I will.
I will say it's a timeless classic already.
I just there's no other Godzilla movie like it.
You could say the original is it's the closest in terms of like.
The story in the time period.
So so I just I just I see this having a long longevity to it.
Yeah, I was just taken by the by this back to basics approach of the film investing in
its characters, its human characters.
I honestly think this is the best human cast I've seen in a Godzilla movie.
And I love period pieces.
So for me, it stands the test of time.
I will revisit this movie, maybe not often, but.
It's in my top tier, I think of Godzilla films.
Nice.
I think we're I think we ended up being closer in our opinions on this movie than I thought
we were going to.
Which I mean, but you know, we had like interesting sort of like diver divergent opinions in some
way, but I think we kind of came out in the end in on similar ground.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, I don't think it's a perfect movie.
Like you said, I agree with all that.
But for like a Godzilla movie, it's just it's just I don't know.
But also, I think I think audiences, when you give them something, quote unquote, serious,
like like what did Batman Begins do to the Batman franchise?
People are like, oh, my God, this is so.
Oscar worthy.
It's it's right.
It's the exact same phenomena.
Yeah, that might be both a good and a bad thing, I would say, you know.
Totally.
And then it'll get played out and then eventually Toho go right back to campy guys in rubber
suits.
It's just it's a cycle.
Yeah.
And I'll probably be really excited when that happens.
Thanks for hanging out, friends.
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Camp Kaiju is recorded in Minneapolis, St. Paul with Menia's mailbox music by Ben Cook
Feltz.
Thanks, friends.
And until next time, stay campy.
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Please welcome Arnold Schwarzenegger and Oscar nominee Danny DeVito.
And the Oscar goes to.
Here we go.
This is it.
Godzilla.
This is the first Oscar win and nomination for the visual effects team from Godzilla minus
one.