But yeah, like what are they even going to use
the Cosmos for? Like there's one moment where
it's like, oh, we can use them for publicity.
It's like, is that the entire reason you're doing
this? That seems like a terrible idea. And for
how long? Right. What's the board going to say?
What's Becky at accounting going to say? This
has, this can't, you can't get away with this.
Yeah. Their stock prices are going to plummet.
Yeah. Can't just do that. Right. Hello, everybody,
and welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast.
We are your hosts, Vincent Hannum. And Matt Levine.
And we are talking about all of our favorite
monster 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 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 media and contact
the Zach Pack for investment opportunities. Links
in those show notes. What's going to happen next?
What we fear is that Batra won't wake up again.
Earth SOS. It's not Batra. It's a creature with
a special mission. Good to see you. Good to see
you as well. How are you, Vincent? I'm good.
A little under the weather, but that's all right.
I'm going to try to bring my A game here for
Godzilla versus Mothra versus Batra versus Indiana
Jones versus, I don't know, the list goes on.
Battle for Earth. Yes. Throw that on at the end
for for no reason. It was like the alternate
title of this movie suggests it's an it's an
appropriate title. But like, I don't know, it's
it also kind of helps differentiate it from Mothra
versus Godzilla from 1964. So I do kind of appreciate
that qualifier at the end. Oh, yes, there's lots
to this title we'll get into. But how are you
doing? I'm doing all right. Seen some good movies
recently. I'm enjoying the almost spring weather
in Minnesota. Oh, so good. Yeah, can't complain
too much. Well, I know we were just talking offline
about keeping things more succinct with our recording,
but I've seen some good monster movies lately
that I just want your quick, I just want a quick
talk about. Nice. Leviathan from 1989. I saw
that on your Letterboxd. I'm a big fan of that
movie. I agree with everything you wrote about
it. It's like it has some flaws for sure, but
it's so stylish and very entertaining. Yeah.
Would love to talk about that one day. Yeah.
And then Event Horizon. another great one also
with its own flaws but just like it's in that
sweet spot of like 90s kind of dumb but kind
of like genuinely scary sci -fi horror movies
yeah i was pleasantly surprised with both of
those movies lots to chew on listeners let us
know what you think yeah those are fun i'm a
little bit jealous that you both or that you
saw both of those for the first time recently
because i have fond memories of those for sure
yeah Cool. I mean, I haven't seen a lot of monster
movies recently per se. I did see Time Cop with
Jean -Claude Van Damme, which is so much fun.
That's a really, really like such an entertaining
movie. I love JCVD. He's like maybe my favorite
action star of all time. Lost Highway, the David
Lynch movie. Probably the best thing I've seen
recently is Rope, the Alfred Hitchcock movie,
which I hadn't seen. like 20 years probably.
So I rewatched that. Sorry, I know this isn't
a monster movie, but I was just blown away by
it. I didn't remember just how strange it is,
how dark, stylish, like even aside from the long
takes, there's like a lot of unusual stuff in
that movie. So I really, really loved Rope. Yeah,
and my favorite part is at the end when the rope
comes to life and strangles everybody to death.
Man. They must've cut that ending. Like that
was Hitchcock filmed it. And then the studio
was like, no, it's just too weird. We can't get
away with it. Hitch. We have to say no. Yeah.
I would like to believe that's the story. No,
those are great movies that I haven't seen. The
first two you mentioned time cop sounds great.
And I got to get on my David Lynch education.
Rest in peace to David Lynch. Yeah. I like lost
highway. Like many of his movies is really dark,
very scary, very nightmarish, a little bit sleazy,
but overall really great. I would say. Nice.
Yeah. Those are the words I would use to describe
Godzilla versus Mothra sleazy, nightmarish. No,
JK. Thank you everybody for hanging out and listening
to this nonsense week after week. We sincerely
appreciate it. So if you do enjoy this, Give
us a rating. Give us a positive rating and a
review wherever you listen. That really helps
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also send us listener comments at campkaiju at
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kaiju. Or if you'd even like to be a featured
voice on the show, leave a voicemail, 612 -470
-2612. Talk to us about your favorite monster
movies. We'd love to hear what you grew up on,
what you're watching these days. And you can
visit campkaijupodcast .com for just kind of
the one -stop shop for everything Camp Kaiju,
including links to our Threadless store and our
Patreon page, patreon .com slash campkaiju. Special
shout out to our patrons, Jason, Chris, Sean,
Peggy, and our anonymous patron. You really keep
the engine going here. Thank you so much. Now.
Patrons and anyone willing to become a patron
between now and May 5th, we, Matt and I, will
be co -hosting with Naomi Osborne. As you've
been listening all season, she hosts a monthly
movie trivia night at Indeed Brewing in Minneapolis.
And me and Matt are going to join her. We're
very grateful for the opportunity. to host movie
trivia. And if you are a patron or become a patron
between now and May 5th, you will get one free
drink on us, alcoholic or not. And that's just
our way of saying gracias. Indeed, I'm excited.
I love trivia, love movies, love monster movies.
It's going to be a fun time. Yeah, it's a good
opportunity to put our trivia host hats on. So
I'm looking forward to it. Oh, yeah. I have to
assume there will be monster movie. trivia, horror
trivia, sci -fi trivia when we come to town.
Totally. I think we can bring that too. And like
Naomi has certainly done stuff like that before,
but I'm sure between the three of us, we'll have
some of that there for sure. Oh yeah. And speaking
of Naomi, our Dracula's Daughter episode that
precedes this one went really well. I did have
some cut for time content that I will be tacking
on to the end of this episode. So listeners,
after you enjoy some Godzilla conversation, stick
around and enjoy some cut for time conversation
with me, Matt and Naomi. Okay. Matt, what month
is it? It is March, mid -March. It is. Yes, that
is correct. It is also Mothra March Madness.
Yep. Yeah, I should have known. That's what it
will henceforth be known as. But, you know, I
asked you and you answered correctly. It took
me a second, though. I was like, it is March,
right? Is that correct? Yeah, that's right. Not
a trick question. I don't have any fun promos
for Mothra March Madness. It's just the time
of the year where we get to celebrate Mothra,
Queen of the Monsters. Now, last March. Camp
Kaiju was on our hiatus while I was taking parental
leave. And so we didn't really do anything last
year. But two years ago, we talked about Mothra,
the cinematic debut from 1961, and then Mothra
versus Godzilla from 1964. So we haven't talked
about Mothra since then. I'm excited to talk
about this monster again. With this movie. Me
too. Yeah, it's been a long time. I like Mothra
a lot. And from what I've been reading online,
just like fan comments and stuff like that, it
sounds like some people actually aren't a big
fan of Mothra, which really surprises me a lot.
How can you not love such a benevolent but still,
you know, badass queen of the monsters? She's
great. She is great. Mothra's my favorite. I
have my action figure from the 90s, which is
modeled after the depiction in this film. So
I always love especially the Heisei Mothra. I
guess I could have some quibbles with this depiction
of Mothra, but I'll get there. I'll get there.
Yeah. And last thing I want to say before we
dive in to some other fun things. This is also
the first Heisei Godzilla movie we've talked
about since Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, which
I think was also two years ago. Yeah, I think
you're right. And that movie is awesome. I love
it. Like, that's probably my second or third
favorite movie of the whole Toho Kaiju canon.
The original Godzilla, Ghidorah the Three -Headed
Monster, probably numbers one and two, but Godzilla
vs. King Ghidorah is really incredible. And so
far, I've really been liking all these Heisei
movies, I have to say. Yeah, and just through
pure happenstance, we've been going through the
Heisei era chronologically. which we have not
done with a show of movies. But the Heisei era,
this works out really well because these movies
do have an overarching narrative that it's been
fun to watch them in order on our podcast. Totally.
Yeah, some elements of the story are a little
bit confusing if you don't remember what happened
in the previous movie, which I didn't at first,
but it eventually came back to me. Yeah, yeah.
We'll get to more Godzilla vs. Mothra in a little
bit, but... We got to get to this month in monster
movie history. Bat, I left your picks from last
time on. I tacked on some more here. But what's
a title that stands out to you? Oh, man, I'm
sorry. Let's see here. It's hard to choose just
one, isn't it? I think I'll have to go with the
relatively recent one, It Follows from 2015.
I'm a big fan of that movie. I feel like recently
over the last 10, maybe. Maybe a little bit more,
but, you know, there's kind of like this age
24 art horror kind of like a sub sub genre that's
become popular, like Ari Aster and Hereditary
and Midsommar, I think are good examples of that
as well. But it follows is really, really good,
genuinely scary. I mean, it's a great depiction
of being a teenager and just kind of like the.
you know, the feeling of power that that entails,
but also the feeling of like, it's not going
to last very long. There's a lot to that movie.
So yeah, it follows if you haven't seen it. I
know it's pretty popular, relatively recent,
but I like that movie a lot. Yeah, long bit on
my list. Excuse me. I'm going to go, I'm going
to stick with the kaiju theme here, but here's
a movie, I don't know if you've heard of, called
The X from Outer Space from 1967. Not Toho, not
Daiei. I don't even remember the name of the
studio that made this kaiju. But it was in the
height of peak kaiju times in Japan. And it's
kind of infamous for its monster, which has a
kind of goofy look to it. It's a film that I
do have on my list in the coming years. If Camp
Kaiju is still going strong, it might be so bad
it's good. It might also just be so bad it's
bad. We'll see. Or just good, possibly. Or maybe.
We'll see. I've never seen it. I have heard of
that movie and I have always wanted to see it.
So maybe it'll be on the show at some point.
It's fun, though. It is fun to all you lovers
of the X from outer space. New and upcoming releases.
We do have Jurassic World Rebirth. I know we
talked about this a few episodes ago, Matt, but
I did cut that content. I think it was our Tusk
episode. It was already running along. So I was
like, eh, we'll talk about Jurassic World Rebirth
later on. Directed by Gareth Edwards. And it
comes out in July, I think. Could be June. It's
a decent cast. Scarlett Johansson. There's another
actor in it that I like, although now, of course,
I can't really remember who it is. Do you remember?
Who else was in that movie? I think it was a
velociraptor. Yeah, that's it. A shoo -in for
best supporting raptor at the Oscars next year.
That was a dumb joke. Hey, I set the bar low.
The humor here. Oh, Mahershala Ali, I think is
who I was thinking of. Yeah, we'll see how that
movie is. I haven't really liked the last couple
Jurassic World movies, but maybe this one will
be better. Maybe. Well, what else? What else
we got coming up on Camp Kaiju? Matt, this is
your pick. Yeah, The Island of Dr. Moreau from
1996. I've always been fascinated by this movie.
Still haven't seen it. It might have the most
notoriously disastrous production backstory of
any Hollywood movie ever, which is saying a lot.
And it's not supposed to be very good, but I
think it's going to be really interesting to
talk about. So looking forward to that. I'm so
excited. It's based on the novel by H .G. Wells,
who wrote War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man,
many other classic. sci -fi novels. And folks,
if you want to read this book before we talk
about it, check it out. After that, I'm bringing
some 50s sci -fi to the pod with Invaders from
Mars, a cult classic from 1953. And this movie
is near and dear to my heart, and I've been wanting
to talk about it since day one of the podcast.
But now's the time. I'm excited. That's one of
the few movies that I just like know almost nothing
about. I've heard the title and that's it. Like
I don't know anything else about it. So I'm really
excited to dive into that one as well. Yeah,
it's a treat. Both those movies I think are on
Tubi. So folks, if you're out there, give them
a watch. Okay. Personal histories with Godzilla
versus Mothra. What is your personal history?
Pretty much nothing. Like I said a little bit
earlier, I've really been enjoying the Heisei
era of Godzilla movies. Return of Godzilla, Godzilla
vs. Biolante, and then Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah,
and then this one. So yeah, I had high expectations,
but no other history with this film, really.
Yeah, same. I mean, aside from my aforementioned
Mothra action figure, I hadn't really seen this
movie. Until I was very much an adult in my 20s.
I've seen it a couple times in the past few years.
I'm not going to say it's one I gravitate towards.
It's not a go -to of mine. But as a fan of Mothra,
as a fan of these series of films, I find some
things worth checking out, I would say. Yeah.
Definitely, yeah. Yeah. Mothra was also in...
Destroy All Monsters, right? Which we watched
a while back and talked about. I'm thinking of
Giant Monsters All Out Attack. Yeah. Cool. Sorry,
I'm just trying to rack my brain a little bit
because I know I've seen Mothra and some other
stuff. I couldn't quite remember exactly what
though. Yeah, good callback. Godzilla, Mothra.
King Ghidorah Giant Monsters All Out Attack.
What a clunky title. And I know some people love
that one. I wasn't as big a fan of that. But
Ghidorah the Three -Headed Monster, which Mothra
also is in, if I remember right. Like I said
before, I love that movie. So big fan of Mothra.
I think in this movie, I actually prefer Mothra's
evil twin, but we'll talk about that a little
more soon. Yeah. And you just reminded me, in
Ghidorah the Three -Headed Monster, in that film...
Mothra is only depicted in the larval stage.
And here's a Tencent word for you. The Imago
stage is featured in this Heisei movie. The Imago
stage is the winged moth butterfly stage of the
evolution. Pretty cool moment in this movie when
we first see that. Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. That
just got me excited to talk about some of this
movie. 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. Vampire 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. Wrecks
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? Monster of the motion
picture screen meets The Thing. Godzilla versus
The Thing. Innocent looking, but so feared, pagan
man worshipped it. See the battle of gigantic
forces spreading terror across the world. Inventions
conquer them. See in color. Terror scope. Godzilla
versus the thing. screen has ever shown before
can surpass the thrills of Ghidra, the three
-headed monster. Created from an atomic fireball
hurled from outer space, Ghidra, the three -headed
monster threatens man's very existence on Earth.
All new, all never to be forgotten. A new high
in screen terror. Production history of this
film. We're going to talk about some select crew,
some select cast. Some faces are familiar, some
are new. We have the director Takeo Okawara.
Apologies on the pronunciations. Screenwriter
Kazuki Omori. The film was executive produced
by Tomoyuki Tanaka, the man behind the birth
of Godzilla in the 50s. But it was also produced
by Shogo Tomiyama, who did a lot of the actual
producing on the ground. The music is by Akira
Ifukube. A lot to say about the music, but Ifukube
is a legend, and I think this score bears that
out. The cinematography is by Masahiro Kishimoto,
and the film is edited by Miho Yoneida. So the
film stars Tetsuya Besho as Takuya Fujito, aka
Indiana Jones, for all intents and purposes.
Yeah. Slight joke, but you'll see what I mean.
If you haven't seen this movie, the opening scene
that he is featured in, you're like, oh, where
have I seen this before? Yeah, Raiders of the
Lost Ark, right. The movie also stars Satomi
Kobayashi as Masako Tezuka, who is Takuya's ex
-wife. Takahiro Murata stars as Kenji Ando. The
film also stars Megumi Odaka. She was a former
Japanese idol, actress, and singer, very popular,
well -known for the role of Miki Saegusa in six
Godzilla films from 1989 to 1995. So I believe
introduced in Godzilla vs. Biollante, if I remember
right. Right. She has a psychic connection to
Godzilla, if you remember. She has this connection,
and you see that fleshed out a little bit more
in this film, Godzilla vs. Mothra. Yeah, and
it doesn't explain it at all. That's one of the
things where I was like, who is this character?
I had a vague recollection, and then I had to
read up again on Godzilla vs. Biollante a little
bit. Not necessarily a bad thing, but you might
want to do a little research if you haven't seen
any of the surrounding movies for a while, preceding
movies. It's funny, if I may interrupt, there's
a battle between the kaiju, and everyone's rooting
for Mothra and or Batra, maybe. And she is the
only one who's like, oh, no, Godzilla. And if
you don't know her character, you'd think, why
are you the only person on Godzilla's side? Which
I kind of admire, you know, like she has her
allegiance. That's great. Yeah. Someone's got
to stick up for him. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's
a cool character. It's a very cool character
in Godzilla vs. Biollante, but still pretty fun
in this one, I would say, too. Rounding out the
cast of Godzilla vs. Mothra, we also have Keiko
Imamura and Sayaka Osawa as the Cosmos, who are
the miniature twins who are kind of Mothra's,
maybe not guardians, but stewards, maybe is the
right word for it. Yeah, that's a good term.
Yeah. And in the... Heralds. Heralds, yeah, that's
an even better term. Yeah, totally. I believe
they were called the Shobin or the Shobajin in
the 1960s Mothra movies, right? Yeah. So this
time they're called the Cosmos. And then finally,
we have to mention a stalwart of the Godzilla
series, Akira Takarada. He was in so many Godzilla
movies. We just saw him in Invasion of Astro
Monster. Here he is. Opposite Nick Adams. Starring
Nick Adams. I don't know. We gotta ring a Nick
Adams bell or something. Well, yeah, like in
the last Nick Adams episode that we talked about,
which was Invasion of Astro Monster, we like
we both read off some of his dialogue. I think
we're going to have to like record that from
the movie. And that can be our Nick Adams, like
Bell or whatever, you know, would like some line
of dialogue from that movie. We'll figure it
out. All right. I'll see what I can do. All right.
Cool. I feel he's very important from a scientific
point of view. Takahiro Murata, just going back.
He. is in several other Godzilla films from this
time, including Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla
2000, Godzilla Mothra, and King Ghidorah Giant
Monsters All Out Attack, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.
So he is one of those familiar faces for sure.
Cool. Yeah, I knew he looked familiar. I couldn't
quite remember from what exactly. Same, same.
Same with Akira Takarada because he's just so
much older. I mean, this is like 30 years after
Astro Monster. Yeah. And he has like a very bit
part, but he has some like really amusing like
expressions, facial expressions, and he gets
really into the kaiju battles. So he's fun to
watch in this movie. For sure. The idea for a
Mothra movie, because this is the first film
featuring Mothra since I think Destroy All Monsters,
which was in the late 60s. It had been a while,
but the idea for a new Mothra movie was conceived
in 1990 with a screenplay by Omori called Mothra
vs. Bagan? B -A -G -A -N. Unsure how to pronounce
that one. Bagan? Bagan? Bagan? Yeah, I guess
I'm not totally sure either. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Well, anyways, this character is a vengeful dragon.
who apparently sought to destroy humanity for
its abuse of the Earth's resources, only to be
defeated by Mothra, the goddess of peace. However,
this initial screenplay was scrapped because
of the low box office of Godzilla vs. Biollante,
and Toho believed a standalone Mothra film wouldn't
sell overseas. Now, following the success of
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Toho announced a
sequel that would feature Mothra, Originally,
they had thought about a sequel to King Ghidorah
where that monster would return. However, they
polled audiences and found that Mothra was most
popular with women who apparently made up the
majority of filmgoers at the time. So purely
looking at the bottom line, Toho said, we'll
go with the moneymaker. I don't know. How do
you feel about that? I mean, I think it works
okay. I don't have a big issue with the kind
of, you know, like it's aside from just the appearance
of Mothra, I think Godzilla versus Mothra has
kind of like a family friendly sort of whimsical
fantasy tone, which like was not really true
of Godzilla versus Biollante or Godzilla versus
King Ghidorah. But I'm kind of okay with it in
this case. Again, I love Mothra. And like, it's
weird in this movie, I'll talk about this a little
bit more later, but like, I think that kind of
like lighthearted tone is balanced out by like
some pretty serious and maybe preachy like themes
about environmentalism and stuff like that. So
it's, you know, they were looking at the bottom
line for sure. They were trying to get as many,
as much box office profits as possible, of course.
But like, I still think there are elements of
like. you know, imagination and surprise and
unexpected pleasures in this movie. Yeah. Nice.
Sorry, one thing I wanted to mention real quick.
So we talked about how the film was written by
Kazuki Amori and how Amori came up with the idea
of the Mothra versus Bagan or however you pronounce
that. And I just wanted to mention that Amori
also directed the previous couple movies in the
series, Godzilla versus Biollante, Godzilla versus
King Ghidorah, but he didn't direct this one.
And I just think that's kind of interesting because,
again, this movie has a much less dark and kind
of ominous tone than the previous couple. ones
maybe because he's not in the director's chair
anymore that is interesting yeah uh thank you
for bringing that up yeah yeah if there's anything
else please jump in um speaking of omori producer
tomiyama wanted still wanted to keep a lot of
that first screenplay as possible obviously they
just switched around some characters and threw
godzilla in there the movie yeah yep as you noted
return the franchise to a more fantasy -based
direction This is just so silly. This is the
first film in the Heisei era not to feature a
mecha character. Sorry, a mech character. A giant
robot. There was an early idea of making a mecha
Mothra, which I just feel like would have been
like jumping the shark a little bit. Yeah. Although
maybe the Godzilla franchise had already jumped
the shark a few times, but like not in totally
terrible ways. That's fair. That's fair. Why
not? Yeah. Son of Godzilla is the particular
movie that I'm thinking of. Yeah. Godzilla vs.
Mothra featured a new Godzilla suit that had
been there. There had been one in Biolante and
King Ghidorah, but the one in Godzilla vs. Mothra,
it's a little slimmer. There's a bit more mobility
in the arms and neck, more facial movements.
And of course, we have our new kaiju for the
series, Batra. who is meant to be a dark alter
ego of Mothra. The name is a portmanteau of battle,
and Mothra didn't know that, always thought it
was like a play on a bat. Hmm, interesting. Yeah,
so when I read that, I was like, I don't know
if Batra's the best name then, because I just
picture a bat, but it's not supposed to be a
bat. And I'm thinking about it way too hard.
Yeah, I don't know how much logic went into that.
But I like Batra. I guess I don't know how you
pronounce it again. Sorry. But I really like
this monster a lot. And the backstory is that
12 ,000 years ago, Mothra was the protector of
Earth. And then humans started endangering Earth.
So this alter ego called Batra was... I guess
it doesn't really explain how exactly, but then
like Batra then just like destroyed everything
basically. And Mothra, you know, had to like
put an end to that and be like, oh, just don't
destroy the planet. We just wanted you to like,
you know, keep humanity in check a little bit,
which I love that backstory. That's so cool.
Yeah, I do. I do like this character as a foil
to Mothra. I think it deepens, it enriches Mothra's
mythology a little bit. And yeah, it just makes
that character herself more interesting. For
sure. Yeah. Yeah. Another fun trivia, Batra's
cry is that of Rodan's, which I didn't note.
I was like, oh, that sounds familiar. And Godzilla's
own roar, the production team went back to a
pre -1984 cry for that monster. So I don't know.
That's like some really in the weeds. You're
not really going to notice unless you're like
us really watching these movies, but that's some
production trivia for you. Yeah, I can't say
that I noticed the sound effects of the roar
all that much, but I did notice the new look
for Godzilla, which I really like in this movie.
Like you can tell, it kind of just looks a little
bit more menacing. Godzilla honestly maybe kind
of plays like second fiddle to Mothra and Batra
a little bit, but he looks really cool. I like
the new design of the suit a lot. Yeah, yeah.
So, Godzilla vs. Mothra was released in Japan
on December 12th, 1992. It was the second highest
grossing movie in Japan in 1993 after Jurassic
Park, which is just kind of, you know, a coincidence
since this movie, in another attempt to get as
much box office as possible, rips off the Indiana
Jones series quite a bit, or at least a couple
times. Godzilla vs. Mothra was the highest grossing
Godzilla movie at the time since Ghidorah the
Three -Headed Monster from 1964. And it was the
highest grossing Godzilla movie in Japan until
Shin Godzilla in 2016. So a commercial success
for sure. And a critical success as far as I
know as well. Godzilla vs. Mothra was released
in the United States on home video through Columbia
TriStar under the title Godzilla and Mothra the
Battle for Earth, which is what I alluded to
earlier. Because 1964's Mothra vs. Godzilla was
known as Godzilla vs. Mothra in the USA at the
time, just to make it more confusing. It is confusing,
honestly. I keep, yeah. And then, so like the
DVD I have that I watched, I watched, I have
the Columbia TriStar Edition DVD, and it's dubbed.
And I wonder if that took away a little bit of
my enjoyment. With that version, but it is titled
Godzilla and Mothra the Battle for Earth. So,
you know. Can I ask, did you watch the subtitled
version? Yeah, that's the version that's on the
Criterion channel. So that's the one that I watched.
Nice. Have you seen both of them in the past?
Or just the dubbed one? Okay. Yeah, the subtitled
one is good. No complaints, really. I do sort
of like watching the dubbed one sometimes, though.
Yeah, I feel like compared to other dubbed Godzilla
movies. And listeners, please chime in. I feel
like the dub for Godzilla vs. Mothra is a little...
It just creates an air of silliness. Maybe...
I don't think the English voice actors honestly
are very good. They don't seem to... Their voices
don't seem to drop into the same emotional resonance
as maybe the actors are portraying. It's kind
of weird to explain, but I'd be interested in
watching the subtitled version. Yeah, that's
another challenge with all these movies. Ideally,
I would like to watch the dubbed and subtitled
versions of all these movies, but who has all
that time? It seems almost impossible, but it
is an interesting comparison for sure. Yeah.
Well, that's just it. A lot of these movies I
will watch more than once in my life, so I'll
just alternate then if I'm able to. Yeah, yeah.
And I would like to do that in the future as
well. I feel like I remember a couple of the
dubbed ones maybe not being, you know, like the
dubbing is a little bit distracting sometimes.
I feel like maybe it was the terror of Mechagodzilla
that I feel like the dubbing was not very good
on, but I can't quite remember. That was a while
ago. Yeah. This movie was so popular, as we said,
Mothra got our own spinoff series. There's a
trilogy of standalone Mothra films in the 90s.
called Rebirth of Mothra, Rebirth of Mothra 2,
Rebirth of Mothra 3. These are bonkers movies.
If you thought Mothra has insane superpowers
in Godzilla vs. Mothra, this character goes off
the wall with abilities and powers and beams,
and she has Progeny who just takes up the mantle.
It's honestly, you have to see it to believe
it. It's wild. It's crazy. It's straight out
of a five -year -old's imagination. That sounds
amazing. I mean, everything you just said makes
it sound like those are exactly like my cup of
tea, you know? I've got to see those. Yeah. I
think, again, I plan out what movies I'm going
to watch because of this podcast next year for
Mothra March Madness. I think I'm going to bring
one of those movies. Cool. Yeah. Maybe I'll bring
another one also. Another one of those movies.
We'll see. I'm here for it. That'd be great.
Yeah. True Mothra March Madness. Here's some
more trivia if you wanted to read off these last
two points. Yeah, for sure. So this was the last
film to depict the JSDF or the Japanese Self
-Defense Force springing into action. The real
JSDF, which was an actual thing, took umbrage,
love that word, with their depiction as the bad
guys. which I think is debatable in this movie,
but I kind of get it. So Toho created the G -Force
for subsequent films, maybe a thinly veiled version
of the JSDF. Actually, to be more specific with
that note, there's a line of dialogue a child
has in Godzilla vs. Mothra after a JSDF fighter
jet. shoots at godzilla or whoever and the kid
is like oh no you're hurting godzilla you're
hurting mothra so that's where like in the eyes
of the child japan's yeah defense force were
quote unquote bad guys that makes sense and there's
the scene too where mothra is like causing a
lot of destruction i think in yokohama it's in
some kind of urban area and then mothra sees
the cosmos and like after that mothra just like
turns to like go back into the ocean and you
think everything is over and then the jsdf just
like bombards mothra with like you know missiles
and tank shells and stuff that probably doesn't
make them look all that good at the same time
author had just annihilated like half a city
so it's kind of understandable you know Yeah,
shut up, kid. It's a giant monster destroying
your city. Yeah. How many citizens of this town
were just killed by Mothra? What do you expect?
Right. This is what the JSDF is here for. It's
kind of their job. Tax dollars are paying for
your defense. Yeah, exactly. That is interesting
trivia, though. Yeah. But yeah, critical reviews
were positive at the time. They remain very positive.
At the 16th Japan Academy Awards, this movie
won for Newcomer of the Year. Well, two newcomers
of the year, Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa,
who I believe play the Cosmos. And then Akira
Ifukube's music and Takahiro Murata, who plays
Ando, I believe, were both nominated as well.
Yeah. Which I've... I think that's a really neat
contrast between the Japanese Film Academy and
the one here in the United States that does the
Oscars. Apparently in Japan, a movie like Godzilla
vs. Mothra can be dominated and win major awards.
And that would never happen here. It's such a
big deal when a monster movie, a horror movie,
makes waves at our Academy Awards. Totally, yeah.
I mean, I know I've talked about the substance
a little bit on this podcast. I was surprised
that that even got any nominations at all this
year. And of course, it didn't win anything.
But yeah, it's cool that Japan's, well, not Oscars,
Japan's Academy Awards, you know, maybe seem
a little bit more open -minded about that. Yeah,
interesting. Love it. Okay, here we go with our
sponsor break. Thank you, everybody, for bearing
with me. I feel like I'm getting more nasally
the longer we're recording here. I think it sounds
cool. You sound like you've been smoking a carton
of cigarettes a day for the past five years.
All right, here is our sponsor break. Cam Kaiju
is sponsored by Zach Linder and the Zach Pack,
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Links in the bio. We have media's mailbox. Now,
I did have a longer. email from a listener of
ours. I'm going to hold off on that one for a
future episode when we might have a little bit
more time to dig into some really good conversation
that that email will lead us to. So let me just
give you something short and sweet. On our Instagram,
camp underscore kaiju underscore podcast, actually,
I posted a question on our story about Godzilla
vs. Mothra, my question was, what's your history
with this movie? And we had Ken Tsukete, Sean
Childers, friend of the pod. He says, not seen.
Let's rectify that. My wife says, poop emoji.
So love that from her. Scathing review. And another
listener, Spickin' Spanish Show. It says, I saw
it for the first time on bootleg VHS in 1993.
Didn't like it then. Don't like it now. Womp
womp. It's too bad. But cool. You saw it on a
bootleg VHS in 93. That must have been a pretty
cool way to see this movie. Yeah. That's cool.
But honestly, folks on Instagram, thank you for
reaching out. If you're listening and you have
thoughts about this movie. Hit us up and we'd
love to feature your voice on the show. Matt,
have you heard of King of the Zombies? I've heard
of it, but I've never seen it. This movie, Poverty
Row horror film that Peter Lorre is going to
dish on. This movie, King of the Zombies. Let
me tell you what. It has some problematic depictions
of African -Americans as a zombie movie would
from the 30s and 40s. With that said, there are
some images that make it an interesting watch.
And this movie has a score that was nominated
for an Academy Award. Wow. Is it a worthy nomination?
Did you like the music? I did not notice the
music. Okay. But then I did read that factoid
about it. It's like a lot of jungle drums and
rhythmic beatings. Sounds highly questionable.
Yeah, you know, like how much more do I have
to say? But yeah, I think 1941 is also the year
that I walked with a zombie came out, which we
talked about on the podcast before, and which
I really love. There's some questionable stuff
in that movie, too. But I think the overall intention,
not to go on too much of a tangent, is to, you
know, condemn imperialism and slavery and kind
of depict the white. colonizers in that movie
as totally messed up and just like, like burdened
with guilt. And yeah, that's a fascinating movie.
I would imagine that King of the Zombies maybe
is not quite as complex as I walked with a zombie,
but I could be wrong. Maybe not. But Mr. Laurie,
let us turn it over to you. Welcome to Poverty
Row Studios on the other side of Hollywood. Where
the stars were dimmer and the red carpets dripped
with blood. Together we will watch the best of
the worst. Movies known for their limited budgets,
outlandish concepts, and questionable performances.
But with enough haunted houses, zombies, ape
men, and devil bats to keep you up at night.
This is the Poverty Row Picture Show. I dare
you to sleep through these nightmares. I am your
host, Peter Lorre. You may know me from such
horror pictures as Mad Love and Roger Corman's
The Raven. If only I had been cast in this week's
feature entitled King of the Zombies. After the
initial casting of Bela Lugosi fell through,
Monogram Studios reached out to me to play the
leading role. Alas, I had other obligations.
Oh, what could have been? I've always wanted
to play in a zombie picture, and the chance to
play opposite the wonderfully talented Man Dan
Moreland would have been an honor. Oh, but listeners,
I get ahead of myself. We must begin with a little
plot synopsis and... and... Hmm... No, sorry,
I don't mean to be distracted by those lilacs
that Pierre had gifted me last time on the show,
but... No, no, it couldn't be. Did they move?
No, it must have been a shadow. A trick of the
light. My rational brain clouded by paranoia.
No. No, I am positive these are just your everyday
Ronald O'Meal immobile flower cuttings. They
smell wonderful. Okay, anyways. Thank you for
bearing with me. So, King of the Zombies. tells
the tale of three Americans who are piloting
a reconnaissance plane over the Caribbean. The
two pilots are clearly buddies, and the third
is the valet, played by African -American comedian
Mandan Moreland. Naturally, the trio get lost.
crash land on an island, and run afoul of a mysterious
Nazi agent practicing voodoo to control a population
of native zombies for nefarious deeds. Along
the way, Mandan Moreland provides comic relief
that is problematic in its minstrel presentation,
and yet... You can't help but appreciate the
energy and the charm the actor brings to an otherwise
lifeless picture. Did you know King of the Zombies
was even nominated for an Academy Award? Yes,
it's true, for Best Original Score. As dubious
as it may seem, it adds an additional bit of
novelty to this movie. King of the Zombies is
a poverty row horror film that throws too many
wild ideas into the mix to be ignored. Check
this one out, friends, and let me know what you
think of Mr. Moreland's performance of the rhythmic
beating of the drums. And if I should have been
in this movie. You can be honest. I can take
it. I swear to all that is unholy. Next time
on the Poverty Row Picture Show. We will revisit
those East End kids as they get mixed up in a
haunted house stalked by none other than Bela
Lugosi and a dwarf assistant in a film called
Spooks Run Wild. In 1956. he first appeared on
motion picture screens across the country his
impact on audiences was instantaneous and unprecedented
his acting technique was revolutionary his presence
overwhelming he possessed more raw talent than
any performer of his generation he soon became
an international legend a giant who took the
world by storm then suddenly at the height of
his fame He retired from motion pictures. Now,
he is back. And he's more magnificent. More glamorous.
More devastating than ever. Prepare yourself.
The greatest star of all has returned. Godzilla
1985 Coming soon to a theater near you. Let's
get back to Godzilla vs. Mothra. What are some
themes that stand out to you, Matt? We're destroying
the planet, basically. Humans are not doing a
very good job of taking care of the planet that
we live on. The movie touches on climate change,
deforestation, in pretty preachy ways. There
are numerous explicit lines of dialogue about
how... The Earth is in peril, and it's because
of greed and human laziness, basically. Yeah,
so a very, very major theme. What did you think
about those themes or that theme's presentation
in this movie? I do think it's a fair criticism
to say that they are extremely heavy -handed.
I do think it's also fair to say that these are
themes evident in many Godzilla movies. especially
a Mothra movie, as Mothra kind of represents
more of that humanity, the relationship between
humanity and planet Earth. It didn't bother me,
though, the heavy handedness. I just kind of
took it in stride, especially when as soon as
I started to watch this movie, I understood very
quickly that this was more of a family film than
a previous Godzilla film. And for better or for
worse, just because I'm like, oh, this is clearly
meant more for children, the heavy -handedness
just kind of fits that tone a little bit easier
for me. Yeah. It's an easier pill for me to swallow.
I don't know if that's fair to children, but
I was like, okay. It's just like, you know, we
don't want the message to get lost in subtlety.
Yeah. Yeah, no, I totally agree with everything
you said, even though I said before that they're
heavy -handed and preachy, those themes. That's
definitely true, but I also am kind of okay with
that. I think it's kind of interesting to see
this movie from about 30 years ago that over
and over again is saying, like, climate change
is a thing. Like, please pay attention. But,
like, now, 30 years later, it's still obviously
a thing, and arguably people still aren't doing
a very good job of doing, you know, doing everything
they can to protect our planet and conserve the
environment and stuff like that. So I thought
that was actually kind of refreshing in a way.
And I think the ending of this movie, I don't
want to give away too many spoilers or whatever,
but it's surprisingly melancholy. Like the music
over the end credits is pretty sad. We see Mothra
flying into space and there's like another sort
of imminent threat to the planet. And, you know,
even though this movie is family friendly and
very whimsical and imaginative, I feel like it
ends on a pretty... sad note like just reminding
us like you know the earth is not in very good
shape right now so i kind of actually admire
that in a way 100 i i i totally dig that the
idea that it's it's like when we watch the blob
too and there's a there's a final bit of dialogue
about well we're safe as long as the arctic is
frozen and you're just like oh people have been
talking about climate change for decades We think
it's only a 21st century problem. Yeah. Big,
here we go. Big fossil fuel has known about it
forever. And some of the keener genre films have
clearly wanted us to get the message as well.
So yeah, I don't, I don't think it's, I don't
think it's a bad thing that it's that we're,
we're yelling to the back row here. Right. Stop
strip mining. The planet. Totally agree. Yeah.
And to your point, like that is, you know, a
theme throughout so many Godzilla movies and
throughout so many kaiju movies in general. And
that's one of many reasons I love genre films
so much because. You know, if you have like a
preachy message movie or drama, maybe even arguably
an inconvenient truth, a movie like that, maybe
people resist that a little bit. But I think
if you kind of have this like fun, exciting kaiju
movie that also over and over again is like,
hey, take care of the planet, please. Like maybe
it's a little bit easier to accept that way,
you know? Yeah. Yep, yep, yep. Beyond that, I
didn't get any other themes from this movie.
No. Yeah, there's not much going on beneath the
surface, but maybe that's okay. Yeah. Tied into
the environmentalism theme is this theme of corporate
greed, because the main villainous corporation,
which several of the characters work for, has
destroyed much of the forests on Infant Island,
which makes another appearance in this movie.
And that's pretty much a direct echo of Mothra
vs. Godzilla from 1964. So I like that kind of
repeated theme. Or, you know, updated riff on
the theme, I guess you could say. But, you know,
I mean, that theme of, like, corporate greed
is always going to be relevant, unfortunately.
And I think is certainly relevant in Japan and,
like, the latter half of the 20th century in
particular. Yeah, I was just thinking about the
similarities between this film and Mothra vs.
Godzilla. You have the rich businessman, the
greedy corporate... People who just want to use
Mothra for profit. And they do get theirs in
the end. I forget what happens to the guy in
this one. Like the greedy corporate individual.
He has a scene where he's on the floor. That
doesn't help. Oh, yeah, but that's an interesting
scene, though. I remember what you're talking
about. I feel like that's the last time that
we see him in this movie, so I don't know if
we really know his fate. I think he's in a building
that Mothra, the larval Mothra, does destroy.
I think you're right. Did we even watch this
movie? Honestly, with Mothra versus Godzilla
and some of the other ones, they do kind of...
Don't hate me, kaiju fans. They do sort of blur
together a little bit sometimes. So it's kind
of hard to remember. Well, it's the scene with
Takahiro Murata. Because he's kind of the admin
assistant. He's like the secretary to this guy.
And they have a blow up in the office. And Murata
says something like, this is the earth getting
its revenge. And then he storms out. Yeah. Earning
that Academy Award nomination. Yeah, exactly.
But then there is that interesting moment that
you just referenced where the greedy boss, I
forget his name. You know, he says another thing
as the other character is leaving. He's like,
oh, the Earth's life force. What a ridiculous
concept or something like that. But then he like
falls to his knees and like seems to bury his
head in his hands or something. So it's a very
brief moment where you're like, whoa, is there
like a shade of depth to this character? Where
did this come from? Yeah, this otherwise mustache
twirling. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Man, you
remember that moment in Mothra versus Godzilla
when the main antagonist, he gets killed. They
like see the they see Mothra out the window and
then someone gets shot right in the head. Whoa.
I honestly don't remember that. No. Yeah, I know.
It's graphic. Huh? Someone gets murdered right
in the thick of it. One of the bad guys? Yeah.
Now I feel like I need to rewatch that movie
too. It's been a couple years. There was another,
sorry, I'm trying to think there was another
Godzilla movie where there's like a big subplot
about like a highway that they're building and
there are a bunch of protesters. And now, of
course, I can't remember what movie that was.
I feel like it was from the 70s, maybe late 60s.
You know what I think you're thinking of? is
Gamera versus Gauss. Oh, yeah, I think you're
right. Yeah. This just kind of proves the point
that not just Godzilla movies, but kaiju in general,
it's a very common theme. Yeah. So if any other
themes come up, let's definitely talk about them.
But I think we can get to our breakdowns. Yeah,
for sure. That sounds good. I have some form
and aesthetic stuff, but I'll wrap that up in
my breakdowns. Okay, sounds good. Cool. All right.
What's good about this movie to you? I mean,
it looks really beautiful. There are several
striking visual moments throughout, sorry, throughout.
That's a hard word to say, apparently. My favorite
example is when the larval Mothra is like building
a cocoon around herself on some building. I think
it's like the National Diet Building, which I
don't understand what that is. But there's a
really gorgeous moment where it's like dusk and
she's like spinning a silk cocoon around herself.
the cocoon in her imago stage and ifa kube's
beautiful score is playing it's just a gorgeous
moment and it's kind of slow paced i feel like
the movie slows down to let us enjoy that for
a little bit and i really loved that there are
some really great kaiju battles i think all the
underwater stuff especially the first battle
underwater between godzilla and batra is really
gorgeous and like some really good underwater
effects in there as well Let's see here. The
like urban destruction scene of Mothra, like
annihilating, I believe it's Yokohama. It's like
the first kind of monster attack scene in this
movie. Looks really gorgeous. I love the model
effect in this model effects in this movie. Yeah,
I, you know, I guess maybe I'll just leave it
at that. Like aesthetically, it's a really striking,
beautiful, well -made movie. Yeah, I'll save
some other stuff for my later breakdowns. Okay.
The first thing that comes to mind with this
movie that I love is Fukube's score, particularly
in that moment with the larval Mothra spinning
her cocoon. What he does with that, it's beautiful,
it's poetic, and coupled with the lighting of
this film in that moment, there's like a sunset.
It's, again, poetry is what came to my mind.
And the final battle at an amusement park. Just
the use of lighting. It's a nighttime sequence.
Lighting is done really effectively with smoke
effects. And I was impressed with that aspect
of the film. I love Batra as an antagonist. I
love the design of Mothra in this movie. I think
that all works really well. Those are my big
takeaways for the positives of this film. Yeah,
totally agree. Sorry, I guess I would just repeat,
I do kind of like how direct and sincere the
environmental themes are, even though they are
preachy and heavy -handed. Again, I'm kind of
okay with that. Yeah. What are you not okay with?
As usual, the human characters are not very interesting.
And I think that's especially glaring in this
movie. I feel like... It might have been interesting
because like the two. You know, there's like
this archaeologist, Indiana Jones -like character,
and then his ex -wife who works for the kind
of evil, greedy corporation. And they're forced
to reunite on this project. But, you know, that
could have been a compelling theme, but like
those characters are introduced so poorly. And
like the fact that they used to be married is
like told to the audience by like a totally different
character. It's like, well, why don't we should
see that? We shouldn't be told about that, you
know? So that's one example where like the human
relationships are not very well conveyed. I do
think like the Indiana Jones stuff, not to make
too big of a deal about it, but it is very blatantly
just like trying to rip off a very successful
franchise. So that's not great. And then like
it kind of in a way, the human stuff, I think
it's even worse because like at a certain point,
they don't have anything to do with this movie
at all. Like it's just all about the monsters.
But like we still have repeated cutaways to the
human characters just looking at the fight scenes
and like reacting, which are sort of fun. But
at the same time, it's like we don't need this
at all. Like it has nothing to do with the movie.
So, yeah, as usual, the human stuff is not. Not
very interesting, and it could have been more
interesting, but it's just very poorly done.
Totally agree. I think that leads into my biggest
criticism of the film is not just the script,
but the way relations are fleshed out with the
monsters themselves, even. I don't think Godzilla
is needed in this movie, and I love seeing him,
but I think... This is my take. I think this
is a good Mothra movie and not a great Godzilla
movie. Yeah. I don't know why Godzilla's there.
I also don't know really why Mothra and Batra
become friends at the end. Right. Other than
just like the script needs them then to fight
Godzilla. Maybe Mothra. it looks like to give
credit to where the film is doing. I do think
Mothra, it is, it is, it is visually told to
us that Mothra sees that Batra is hurt. And because
Mothra is a force for good, God bless her. She,
she heals Batra because she is, you know, an
all forgiving character. So like, I do understand
maybe where we were trying to go, but I'm watching
this fight going. I'm just ping -ponging between
relationships, and I didn't care for it. It sounded
really harsh just then. That was garbage. No,
it wasn't. It wasn't that bad. I imagined you
shifting your monocle when you said that and
twirling your mustache. Oh, but one more thing.
I'm really getting into it now. I think... Mothra
and Batra are fighting. And I think the effects
are really great. The flying effects through
the night sky and this and that. And Batra is
firing off these laser beams. And Mothra's not
doing anything to fight back. It's kind of a
really one -sided fight. And this is where my
criticism of Mothra comes into this movie. In
this moment, why didn't Mothra fight Batra? Maybe
there was backstory. But it wasn't obvious enough
for me. And then Mothra does use her laser beams
against Godzilla. And I kind of flipped the table.
I was like, you had these the whole time? Yeah.
Right. And why is Mothra so mad at Godzilla,
like you alluded to before? Godzilla is being
destructive as usual, but that seems to be the
only reason for this animosity between them,
you know? Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree. There
are some things I liked about that. Like I think
it's, and I didn't, if you had anything else
to say, I didn't mean to cut you off there. Well,
I think like with Mothra and Batra, it's kind
of interesting in like a metaphysical way is
like the good and evil destructive forces of
like the same figure or entity or person, you
know, like, like. considering that Mothra and
Batra are like alter egos, it's kind of interesting
to think that like they both are here to protect
the planet, but one does so through peace and
love and the other does so through like utter
destruction. Like that's kind of a cool idea
to me, but it's not well conveyed in this movie
at all. You kind of have to come up with that
yourself, you know, like, or you kind of have
to like fill in some things that the movie doesn't,
I don't think really intended. You know what
I mean? Right. Yeah. That's just it. Like, I
feel like, There's that movie in here somewhere.
Yeah. But it is what we get. And I'm not complaining
about a killer kaiju movie with some great action
set pieces. I'm just looking at the script and
thinking this needs another pass. Yeah. We need
another rewrite here. For sure. I feel like you
can tell that, like, Atomi, I believe is his
name, the screenwriter, Kazumi Atomi, is that
his name? Omori. Mori, sorry. You know, he had
the initial scripts, like the Mothra versus Bagan.
And then they really rushed this into production
after the success of Godzilla versus King Ghidorah.
And I feel like there were just too many producers
who were like, we got to throw in Godzilla. Like,
we got to do this. We got to make it more family
friendly, all this stuff. And it's like, yeah,
to your point, they should have spent a lot more
time on pre -production. Yeah, yeah. So campy
things. I don't know. What do you got? Well,
there are a lot of specific moments in the kaiju
battles that I thought were really fun. Like
at the end when I think it's Mothra, but it might
be Batra who like lifts up an entire Ferris wheel
and like throws it into Godzilla. Really love
that. I was laughing a lot at that part. So that's
a little campy. And then like the way that Mothra
and Batra at the end, like carry Godzilla, they
like, like one takes the head and one takes the
tail. I just thought that was kind of fun and
silly in terms of. maybe a little more campy
than just like fun i think like the daughter
character that the you know estranged husband
and wife have together is just so so blatantly
like just kind of like a concession to like young
audiences you know and it's kind of like not
very convincing in this movie and has some pretty
clunky lines of dialogue just about you know
saving earth and stuff like that that character
in general is just yeah i don't know if campy's
the right word but just like over the top far
-fetched pretty it feels pretty fake yeah yeah
i think it's so funny i i think i was taking
this movie a little more seriously than i should
have when i first began so it really with me
this film didn't stand a chance but by the end
i i i allowed myself to lighten up a little bit
As I think one needs to do when watching this
movie, not like not take it too seriously, you
know? And there was a moment that happened in
the final fight between Godzilla, Mothra and
Batra. As soon as Mothra and Batra become allies,
the movie, the camera cuts to Godzilla. And to
me, Godzilla gave a reaction like, ah, crap.
Yeah. right yeah there is like a surprising amount
of like expression from Godzilla in this movie
even though it's just one suit so maybe it's
more you know just like the magic of editing
that makes you believe that but like it seems
like a human character yeah no I think the suit
mechanics animatronics on Godzilla's face are
incredible yeah like that's that's like so so
ingenuity and such ingenuity and craftsmanship
to make this rubber suit as expression as full
of expression as it is. Yeah. And there's a similar
moment with the larval Mothra towards the beginning
where she is like swimming through the water
and just the movement of Mothra, like, which
seems to be kind of like going up and down as
like a worm might actually do in water is like
really impressive. It's very well done. Yeah.
Yeah. I like that fight too in the, in the, in
the ocean. between Mothra and Godzilla when Mothra
first hatches out of the egg. Yeah, hadn't seen
that too often before. So I thought that was
new and interesting. I like that a lot as well,
yeah. And again, just like a very beautiful scene.
You have like bright blue skies and like the
wide open ocean and all that. It's very, very
nice to look at. Yeah. I'm trying to think of
other things. Otherwise, I'm okay wrapping this
up. I had to say... You know, back to our mustache
twirling villain. It's the same. I just thought
he's so determined to kidnap and enslave the
cosmos. I'm like, you can't just do that. Right.
Which is like the same exact thing that happens
in Mothra versus Godzilla. The same operation
takes them. Just because they're, you know, 12
inches tall doesn't mean they don't have agency.
They're still like. I guess humans, I don't know,
but like you can't enslave them for your own
gain. Yeah. Another example of an extremely obvious
heavy handed theme, but yeah. Like what, what
are they even going to use the cosmos for? Like
there's one moment where it's like, Oh, we can
use them for publicity. It's like, is that the
entire reason you're doing this? That seems like
a terrible idea. And for how long? Right. What's
the board going to say? What's Becky at accounting
going to say? Like this has, this can't. You
can't get away with this. Yeah. Their stock prices
are going to plummet. Yeah. There's kind of a
lot of campy stuff with the cosmos. Like there's
one moment where they're sleeping inside of a
shirt pocket. I thought that was kind of cute.
And yeah, just, I don't know. I can't really
think of too many other examples, but with both
the show being or the show regime and the cosmos
in this movie, I like those characters a lot.
They're a lot of fun. Yeah. I wish they would
come back in the same way. In the newer movies.
In the Monsterverse. Legendary movies. They're
not really a part of Mothra's story. And I really
wish they would be. Yeah. That's too bad. I was
also hoping that there would be more appearances
of Batra. In future movies. But I don't think
that is the case. No it's not sadly. Maybe someday.
Someday who knows. Well then. Let's give this.
Bad boy, a rating. Should I go through our ratings
as usual? It wouldn't be an episode without it.
Exactly. Yeah. So our top rating is it's a timeless
classic. It definitely stands the test of time.
Our second rating, 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. Number four, it is not worth
revisiting. It definitely does not stand the
test of time. I, I think I've seen this movie
a few times now. I think it has a lot of potential
to be more compelling than it is. I like the
family friendly things. I can't wait to show
my kid this movie. But for me, that's not exactly
the tone I'm always in the mood for. So it's
very hard for me to keep my attention. glued
to what's happening, especially when the relationships
and the human characters are as lifeless as they
are or confusing. So for me, I think this movie
has a lot of great moments. I think the visual
effects are great. The Fukube score is a masterpiece,
and I don't use that word lightly. However, I
don't think it stands the test of time, but it
has a lot of great individual elements. That's
great. Objectively, I do totally agree with that,
but you're right that I am going to overrate
this movie. I know I'm overrating it, but for
me, I have to give it our second highest rating.
To me, it did stand the test of time. This was
the first time I saw it, but I really like these
Heisei Godzilla movies so far. put a little bit
too much stock in visual style and aesthetic
form. Soundtrack, the Ifukube soundtrack. But
this movie just looks so beautiful. And in almost
every scene, there's something striking to look
at. Maybe not almost every scene, but there's
a lot of visually spectacular stuff. You know,
I do actually like the kind of preachy, heavy
-handed themes. I kind of, you know, if you're
not going to stick up for the... health of our
planet what are you going to stick up for you
know so it's it's charming it's and like you
said before vincent like i think if it's trying
to sort of like get young audience members like
kids to sort of like believe very passionately
about that i think that's ultimately a really
good thing you know i think the kaiju battles
are really fun to watch you're right that a lot
of the time they don't make a lot of sense with
godzilla it's Like he seems to just be mad that
he like now is back on earth. Like, cause he
like, there's a meteorite that strikes earth
in the first scene, which is kind of a continuation
of the previous movie. And that seems to be the
only reason that he's here and that he's mad,
which I, in a way is kind of fun to me. Like
it's just here and he's doing his thing. Like
it's, it's a flaw and it's, I wish there had
been more to it, but at the same time I just
found that kind of funny. Yeah. So yeah, a very
flawed movie. Could have been a lot better. But
as it is, I still found it really entertaining
and beautiful. And I'm excited to watch more
of these Heisei movies because I'm really liking
them a lot. I love that. I mean, you asked me
my favorite era of Godzilla films. This is my
favorite time period. The next film, Godzilla
vs. Mechagodzilla 2. I love that movie. Then
you have Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. Which kind
of gets a bad rap, but it's a guilty pleasure
of mine. And then the final one is Godzilla vs.
Destoroyah. Very Japanese name. Yeah. But that's
regarded as one of the best Godzilla movies ever
made. Wow. So, I mean, Godzilla vs. Mothra may
not be my favorite of this bunch, but it's still
a pretty high bar to everything you were saying.
Yeah, and that makes me very excited to continue
with this era of Godzilla films. And I yeah,
like after I see some more, maybe I'll think
a little bit less of Godzilla versus Mothra knowing
like we've seen a couple of really great ones.
But like, I think over time, it'll become apparent
that this maybe is not the best of this era.
But, you know, maybe that kind of goes to show
that even the subpar Heisei era Godzilla movies
still have a lot of pleasure to them. And maybe
next time I watch this movie, I'll watch the
subtitled version. Maybe it's maybe the. the
pictures cleared up to over my VHS, which is
clearly a, a transfer from the VHS or sorry,
my DVD, which is a transfer of the VHS from the
nineties. So maybe you just watched a better
quality film. Yeah, it's, it's certainly possible.
I mean, again, it's, it is strikingly beautiful.
So I think probably like a sharper transfer might
help some of that stuff as well. Yeah. Yeah.
Cool. Well, everybody, please let us know your
thoughts. Before you do that, remember that Dracula's
Daughter, we have some cut -for -time bonus content
you can enjoy after this. And before we get into
our outro here, we may be coming at you a little
bit later than two weeks with The Island of Dr.
Moreau. Just some scheduling stuff on our end.
But we will have an episode in two weeks. It
may be some more bonus content. An old episode
that we repackage and make all shiny for you.
Who knows? But stay with us. We appreciate it.
And let us know what you think. Please rate and
review Camp Kaiju wherever you listen to podcasts.
Subscribe to Camp Kaiju. campkaijupodcast .com
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Again, that number is in the show notes. Camp
Kaiju is recorded in Minneapolis, St. Paul with
Media's Mailbox by Ben Cook -Felts. Thank you,
friends. And until next time, stay campy. Camp
Kaiju is sponsored by Zach Linder and the Zach
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opportunities. Links in the show notes. This
Friday on the Sony Movie Channel, turn down the
lights and get some hot buttered sushi. What
could it be? It's Godzilla time. Godzilla is
back. Oh, no. It's Godzilla versus Mothra. Okay,
China monster checklist. Planet in peril? I'm
afraid it looks like we may be headed for doomsday.
Oh, no. Check. Men in rubber suits? Check. Monsters
who only attack Japan? Check. It should reach
Japan tomorrow afternoon. Oh, no! So, a meteor
crashes on Earth, waking Godzilla and unearthing
Mothra's egg. But none of that matters. What
is all this? It's all about giant monsters doing
what they do best. What could possibly happen
next? Destroying Tokyo. Oh, no! Join us for a
night of monster movie mayhem. That's huge. Check
out Godzilla vs. Mothra. Batra and Mothra are
joining forces again, Godzilla. Boy, what a day.
This Friday at 10 p .m. Eastern, 7 p .m. Pacific
on the Sony Movie Channel. Films with benefits.
What could possibly stop all of them? Hey, Vincent.
How are you doing tonight? I'm excited to talk
about this movie. We have Naomi on, which I'm
always excited about. Yeah. Thank you for having
me. Yeah. How are you doing? I'm doing great.
I was super excited that you guys wanted me on
this episode because I have never seen this movie
and good friends show you good movies. And that
is what happened. So thank you for having me.
Very happy to be here. Well, thank you, as always,
for joining us. We really love having you on
the show. Really appreciate your unique perspective
on movies, just how many movies you've seen.
It boggles the mind how many movies you watch.
And always a pleasure to talk with you about
movies. So thanks again for joining us. Of course,
of course. Dracula's Daughter actually was my
130th film that I've watched in 2025. So it was
kind of satisfying to have a nice number on that
one. That makes me think I'm going to check out
my letterbox right now. And not the Camp Kaiju
profile, shameless plug, but my personal one
where I watched non -monster movies. This year,
I've watched 21 movies. Well, that's reasonable.
You know, 130 is just bonkers. And I'm aware
of that. It's high even for me. I thought it
would be higher, though. Yeah. January is cold
and long and as is February. So, you know, you
gotta, gotta do something. Something that's been
keeping me though is, or I've been making it,
my tally go up is watching all the Oscar, trying
to watch as many Oscar noms as I can. My friends
and I have kind of taken it to a new level this
year. We already sort of treat it like our Superbowl
or something. But we have made special effort
to see a lot of the shorts, which I don't normally
see, but the Lagoon screens them. So that was
really cool. But yeah, each of those, you know,
gets added as part of that 130. So short films
too. Yeah, I always kind of forget about the
short films. Like I've seen some of them at the
Lagoon and I believe the Riverview plays them
as well. So I try to make it out, but I haven't
been able to this year, unfortunately. Yeah,
I did a double feature on Sunday, the animated
shorts followed by the just like narrative, you
know, live action shorts. It was three hours,
I think. That's awesome. So impressive that you've
seen 130 movies so far this year. I try to aim
for like a movie a day, which is about where
I'm at. I've seen maybe like 60 or so. Nowhere
close to 130. That's the level that I aspire
to. Well, I'm lucky I work from home. So I always
have a movie on in the background. It's a good
life. Yeah. That's awesome. I was thinking probably
the only Oscar nominated movie. That's really
a monster movie in terms of the features. Anyway,
it's probably the substance, unless you count,
you know, like wicked, maybe Nosferatu is nominated
for some of the like technical categories. Yeah.
I guess I'm kind of rooting for the substance
by default, just because it has that monster
movie sort of grossness to it, you know? Absolutely.
I would love to see The Substance win. And if
you would have asked me before Parasite won if
it was possible, I would have said no, you know?
And so there's a glimmer of hope, but I don't
know who it'll be. But I don't think it'll be
The Substance, but I would love it if that happens.
Totally, yeah. And Vincent, you have a lot of
reasons for only seeing 21 movies this year.
You have a lot going on. So, you know, you shouldn't
feel too bad about that. I feel terrible about
it. Shame. I bring shame to my movie podcast.
Well, it's something to work on, you know, but
we all have things we strive for. Now, I will
say, just briefly, I have been on a kick lately
of modern monster movies, which is really good
for me. I am trying to watch more contemporary
stuff. Have you all seen Late Night with the
Devil? Yeah, I did see that one. Let me look
it up. I forgot. I think it's pretty solid for
what it is. Matt, I think you'd like it. The
one with the talk show guy. David Goshmalin.
I saw him at New York Comic Con. He did a talk
as part of a shutter panel for the streamer shutter.
Very cool. And then I saw Night Bitch with Amy
Adams. which I really, I found enjoyable and
a real thinker. I also liked that one. I was
surprised because it has such a, you know, arresting
name, but I don't know. I was just surprised,
but I enjoyed that one as well. And then one
more that I I'll just plug. I it's not new, but
it's from the early nineties. It's called brain
dead, but it's not the Peter Jackson dead alive.
It's brain space dead. And I was looking for
Dead Alive, like on Tubi. And I searched Dead
Alive. Nothing came up. I searched Brain Dead.
And this movie came up. And I thought, this isn't
that movie. But it stars Bill Paxton and Bill
Pullman. And I thought, well, you have my attention
now. So I watched it, which I never do really
just like watch a movie that I know nothing about.
It's weird. It's trippy. It's got a really interesting
backstory, but it's like you basically go into
Bill Pullman's mind and it gets really surreal
and there's some body horror. I don't know. Go
check it out. That sounds cool. Yeah, that sounds
cool. I had a similar thing where I think I had
torrented, was trying to get the Peter Jackson
film and got that one and started and I was like,
wait, wait, this is a minute, but I didn't watch
it, but it sounds good. I will check it out.
Yeah. Not bad. That does sound great. Yeah. I
would like to see all three of those. I like
late night with the devil, especially was on
my radar and just never got around to it, but
I'm, I'm pretty bad at watching newer movies.
Like I try to stay up on stuff, but old movies
are where it's at. I mean, that's my sweet spot,
you know, but I should work on that. I don't
know, but good to hear. Glad that you liked it,
Vincent. I did see the first omen recently, which
I liked quite a bit more than I thought I would.
So that's my semi recent movie plug of tonight.
Don't you love that scene with the glass that
cuts the guy? Yeah, right at the beginning. Amazing.
There's one moment where the main character,
a nun, is walking around a statue and she's moving
really slowly and the camera inches around and
there's something staring at her behind the statue.
It's just blood -curdling. It's amazing. That's
my favorite part of the movie. I won't ruin it
anymore, though. So what has happened in the
world of monster movies since the last time we
talked? I wanted to ask both of you, have you
seen the movie The Monkey yet? It's on my radar.
I have not, but I'm really excited to see it
because that's Osgood Perkins, right? Yeah. Is
that his latest? It's his latest, yeah. Yeah.
No, I'm excited to see that and just see another
one from him. His career has been developing
nicely. But yeah, I'm excited. I just have not
had the chance to see it, but I'll probably see
it after the Oscars. Yeah. Oscar movies take
precedence, probably. Yeah, the clock's ticking.
Yeah, yeah. I don't know what to, you know, what
to feel about the monkey. It's another strange
thing to say, but... Just cover your nuts and
bolts, all right? Yeah. Cover your nuts and bolts.
We're about to talk about the monkey. Yeah, I
didn't really love Long Legs all that much, which
was Osgood Perkins' previous movie. I know it
kind of was a word -of -mouth success. There
is some stuff that I liked about it, maybe some
overrated stuff in there as well, but the trailer
for The Monkey is just so fun and entertaining.
It looks like a blast, so hopefully we'll all
see it soon and share our thoughts on the next
episode. Yeah. It's so funny because when I first
saw the marketing for that, I assumed it was
a remake of Monkey Shines. Have you all seen
that movie? And I was just like, wait, what?
Oh, so it's not. But I'm excited to see it. It
does kind of look like a much gorier version
of that movie. I thought, yeah, I've never actually
seen Monkey Shines, but I do have like an awareness
of it. And that was my first thought as well.
But probably very different. Yeah. just a couple
days ago to... A character actor who was featured
in a lot of great monster movies, horror and
sci -fi movies, who worked very often with John
Carpenter, passed away. So I wanted to say rest
in peace to Peter Jason. I read that name and
didn't recognize it, and then I saw a picture
of him, and I was like, oh yeah, that guy. He
has been in They Live, Village of the Damned,
Ghosts of Mars, Arachnophobia, the Jurassic World
movies, Prince of Darkness, and then what I presume
to be some lesser monster movies with names like
Alien Nation, Planet Raptor. Alien Apocalypse.
I kind of just want to watch his entire filmography
now. But he's very recognizable. He's been in
a lot of great horror movies as well. So rest
in peace to Peter Jason. Yeah. Rest in peace.