...maybe that's only with mirrors...

Anyway, the back cover has a particularly ugly picture of the main vampire from later in the film. And of all the Toho films released by Paramount, the synopsis printed here is definitely the corniest. "A delivery truck pulls up, the driver steps out, then removes the cargo: a coffin. Addressed to you. Do you accept it?" The third paragraph states that the main vampire is "an heir of you-know-who", though I don't remember this being stated in the film at all.

Still, with this film not available on R1 DVD, this is the only official way to see the film in English, so it should make a worthwhile addition to any serious fan's collection.

As usual, one side of the box features a section of Anchor Bay's multi-VHS Godzilla 1985 poster. The other side of the box simply features the title of the film, the word "Godzilla" in a rather cool looking font, and a small portrait of Godzilla's head (again taken from the Godzilla 1985 poster).

The back features a mostly accurate summary of the film, although the home planet of the Nebulans is simply referred to as "Space-M" when it should really be "Nebula Space Hunter M" (although it's nothing to raise a fuss about). Also, on the back, there is an incredibly ugly picture of a bright green Godzilla firing an orange heat ray at a (once again) brown Gigan (who doesn't seem to be doing anything) while a wall of flames surround them.

For the most part, the descriptions on the back of the slip cover are accurate and to the point. The only obvious errors are the misconceptions about Mechagodzilla made by StarMaker, but these are forgivable, given their proclivity to exaggerate the facts.

The back continues the same boring red/gray/filmstrip theme. The plot synopsis is pretty bad, beginning with the tag line "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..." which makes no sense whatsoever because, last time I checked, this wasn't Godzilla vs. Jaws. While it gets the storyline of Seatopia being sick of humanity's continual atomic tests right, it says "We'll (their typo, not mine), we can't let this happen, so out of his resting place in Tokyo Bay comes Godzilla, but this time, to save Japan," completely ignoring Jet Jaguar and his summoning of Godzilla from Monster Island. In fact, Jet Jaguar isn't referred to by name at all, and is merely called "a Robot" once near the very end. Gigan isn't mentioned once, not even as Borodan, unless he was included in the "Megalon and his friends" comment. The synopsis ends with the humorous line, "The world is safe again for atomic testing."

On the back cover, there is a still of Godzilla from his original movie. It is baffling as to why a picture from another film is present. In fact, if a passerby neglects to read the summary, this cover more than inaccurately portrays Godzilla as the villain! Concerning the blurb, there is little to be said. It simply states, "Godzilla once again proves that evil cannot prevail in this clash with super villain Megalon". That’s it and nothing else! Detail is sorely lacking...

On each side of the box is a small drawing of a circle, in which the words "Horror Mania" are written in a horrific style (partially dark red and partially light red, with blood dripping from the letters). There are also black spider webs in the vicinity, and ghoulish yellow eyes flashing through the night. It seems to connote that this is in fact a horror movie, which anyone who has seen the film will vociferously deny. The blurb on the back is surprisingly accurate.

Megalon stands ominously amidst lapping flames, against the usual false-color stillshot from The Return of Godzilla (1984) (a clone of Anchor Bay's trademark style). There is not much to note when comparing this to other VHS releases of Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973); although there is one thing worth mentioning: the blurb calls Gigan a "flying metal creature", which paints a somewhat inaccurate mental picture of the space cyborg.

The first thing you'll notice about this Anchor Bay "double feature" 2-pack is the effort taken to colorize the enlarged image of the 1984 Godzilla to a dark shade of green. Alongside this somewhat blurred image of a green Godzilla are two small images of textless posters of the included films.

On the back, the cover contains a small, ambitious synopsis of Godzilla's history as well as descriptions for the two featured films. There are no noticeable errors in way of the synopses. As per the theme of the front of the cover, the back is cascaded with a particular image of the 1984 Godzilla, standing amidst nighttime Tokyo while a news chopper hovers above. The image is well-placed, as the darkness fits in well with the backdrop for the film descriptions.

This is the 1986 GoodTimes double feature release of Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) and The Snow Creature (1954). The box art features the upper half of the famous teaser poster, while the bottom half features the mysterious outline of the "snow creature" atop the Himalayas. The Snow Creature (1954), while not a Toho movie, is quite enjoyable nonetheless. All in all, it is an interesting combination that somehow fits.

On the spines, one sees the title with a small version of the cover as a border. The back cover follows the "Japanese flag" motif Paramount and Gateway used in their many Toho releases of the early '90s. The synopsis is, as usual, very cheesy, detailing some of Nostradamus's predictions and also noticeably not mentioning the film is Japanese.

It should be noted that this particular copy of the cassette is a distributor screener copy released to retail chains as a tape to preview on tv screens throughout the store. It doesn't affect the film at all except for copyright notices appearing once in a while on the bottom of the screen.

The front cover depicts a very cartoony Godzilla facing off against the titular cosmic monster, who is only shown from behind. The color scheme is bland and the title is rendered rather poorly, but it still has its charm. The spines feature the title twice per side with a small picture of the front cover, as was typical for home video cassettes. The back cover has another small version of the front cover at the bottom and title again at the top. There is a quote from Leonard Maltin, some generic slogans (eg. "Godzilla battles his cyborg double to the death!"), and the synopsis, which is mostly accurate, except for the probable typo "Kingseesar."

Also, UAV released Godzilla vs. Megalon (1974) (featuring very similar artwork and layout) at the same time... but they could have at least used a screen capture from the film inside the box! Here, Godzilla is seen shaking hands with Jet Jaguar! Casual fans might think that THIS is the "cosmic monster", leading certainly to some confusion.

A composite shot of Titanosaurus and Mechagodzilla grace the front cover of this release, although curiously, the film's archosaurian protagonist is nowhere to be seen! Only on the back does Godzilla appear, in a publicity shot with Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus. This publicity photo does pose a bit of a posing problem, however. Due to the way they're all standing, it looks as though Titanosaurus is the antagonist while Mechagodzilla has joined sides with Godzilla! The blurb text is very revealing, with spoilers including (but not limited to) who won the battle. The color scheme for this release is very appealing, especially with the vibrant color explosion in the background. Overall, it's another nice entry from Vision.

For the most part, the synopsis detailed on the back of the cover is correct except for some profound errors. One, Mechagodzilla is described as being 400-foot tall (a commonplace Western Godzilla stereotype); and two, Doctor Mafune is now referred to as "Professor Mafuni". Aside from these errors, the layout is quite nice, boasting images from the film itself along with an appropriate description. One thing to note is that this video contains "bonus" features such as homemade trailers for other Simitar Entertainment Godzilla releases and a montage of the various Simitar video art for the Godzilla films backed-up by a repeated track of Godzilla's roars and sound effects from previous films.

On the back of the box, the background image shows a scene from the climax of the picture, with Mei and Satsuki waving goodbye to the bizarre Catbus. I like the art on the back even more than the front because it captures a sense of dream-like wonder so prevalent in the actual movie. The synopsis for the film is accurate without spoiling anything, and it is punched up with several adoring quotes from such respected sources as Roger Ebert, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.