King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

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ShyGuyPal101
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King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by ShyGuyPal101 »

I was recently at the movie store and I picked up two movies: Terror of Mechagodzilla and King Kong Escapes.

Now I've been wanting to watch the Terror of Mechagodzilla for a long time. I never saw or heard much about King Kong Escapes. I never even saw Godzilla vs. King Kong. How is King Kong Escapes?

And what other movies are there that you'd suggest (Toho film or not)? I am kind of interested in The Best from 20,000 Fathoms, and perhaps Attack of the 50ft. Woman (don't know much about this one though but looks interesting).

Thanks!

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Dust_pan
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Re: King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by Dust_pan »

I think King Kong Escapes is an okay movie. It has a fun storyline, epic monster action, and some likable (though cheesy) characters. Not a bad choice at all.

I'm not sure what you have and have not seen, so I'll just toss in my list of essential Toho monster films right here. I'd suggest Gojira, Mothra, Rodan, Frankenstein Conquers the World, War of the Gargantuas, Matango, and The H-Man.
Last edited by Dust_pan on Tue Jul 23, 2013 3:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by 20th Century Boy »

It would probably be easier to tell us which movies you've already seen, but here are some of the giant monster essentials excluding Godzilla:

King Kong (1933 and 2005 versions)
Mothra
Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
Them
Pacific Rim
Frankenstein Conquers the World
War of the Gargantuas
Tremors
All the Gamera films
Rodan
The Mysterians

That's about it. I don't think the rest are "must-sees." I'd say you could live without seeing the rest, unless these ones really intrigued you. Also, this should probably go in the Media Center.

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Re: King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by Ligerzilla2014 »

Brace yourselves, 3+ pages of people saying "Gojira" and "Pacific Rim" are coming.

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ShyGuyPal101
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Re: King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by ShyGuyPal101 »

Thank you all for the help! I've seen the following so far:
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (never got to see the ending fight sadly)
Godzilla 2000
Godzilla (American remake)
King Kong (2005)
Cloverfield (if that counts)
Pacific Rim

Very brief list, but I wanted to not limit myself to just Godzilla. I am planning on seeing Gojira and King Kong (1933) when I get the chance! I also saw Gamera the Invincible at the store, but I wasn't familiar enough with Gamera to check it out.

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Re: King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by GotengoXGodzilla »

There are quite a few daikaiju films that I feel are essentials. Ones that are a must-watch in order to understand the best that the genre has to offer:

Godzilla
Mothra
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Mothra vs. Godzilla
Frankenstein Conquers The World
Ghidrah, The Three-Headed Monster
Invasion Of Astro-Monster
War Of The Gargantuas
Son Of Godzilla
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Terror Of MechaGodzilla
Return Of Godzilla
Godzilla vs. Biollante
The Heisei Gamera Trilogy
Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack

Those are the ones that come to mind at the moment.
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Re: King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by Dust_pan »

I wouldn't suggest all of the Gamera films, but just about any of them would be okay. Especially the Heisei trilogy.

For more Godzilla movies, I would suggest King Kong vs Godzilla, Mothra vs Godzilla, Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla vs Monster Zero, Godzilla vs Biollante, and GMK. Those movies, along with Gojira, seem to be the most well-loved among fans. I suppose Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs Megalon can be considered must-sees, even if they aren't the best.

For non-Toho giant monster films, I really can't list a whole lot. Mainly because there are just so many of them of varying quality. I'd stick with the Ray Harryhausen films, Them, Gorgo, and for shits and giggles, The X From Outer Space.
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Re: King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by MustafaDaisenso »

Godzilla films:

Godzilla Raids Again (underrated gem)

King Kong vs Godzilla (try to watch both the American and Japanese versions)

Monster Zero (Superior to Ghidorah the three headed monster imho)

Destroy All Monsters (Try to locate the japanese original or a copy of the AIP dub)

Godzilla vs Gigan (A LOT better than most people give it credit for; its one of the craziest and most fun Godzilla movies out there)

I don't want to start a flame war, but I think Hedorah is pretty wretched. It throws some interesting ideas out there, but it gets overwhelmed by its inescapable weirdness, in-your-face moral, and bipolar tone. I wouldn't recommend it at all, but it seems you've seen it already.
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Re: King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by GotengoXGodzilla »

I don't want to start a flame war, but I think Hedorah is pretty wretched. It throws some interesting ideas out there, but it gets overwhelmed by its inescapable weirdness, in-your-face moral, and bipolar tone. I wouldn't recommend it at all, but it seems you've seen it already.
See, the "weirdness" is the driving factor of the film. The tone and style is what drives Godzilla vs. Hedorah into being a one-of-a-kind monster movie. To me, the reasons you just stated are the reasons why the movie is so great.
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Re: King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by eabaker »

^They're certainly the reasons that it is, in my experience, one of the most accessible Godzilla flicks for non-fans. I've never shown anybody that movie and failed to get a positive reaction.
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Re: King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by Megalon7 »

GotengoXGodzilla wrote:
I don't want to start a flame war, but I think Hedorah is pretty wretched. It throws some interesting ideas out there, but it gets overwhelmed by its inescapable weirdness, in-your-face moral, and bipolar tone. I wouldn't recommend it at all, but it seems you've seen it already.
See, the "weirdness" is the driving factor of the film. The tone and style is what drives Godzilla vs. Hedorah into being a one-of-a-kind monster movie. To me, the reasons you just stated are the reasons why the movie is so great.
That's why I like Godzilla vs Hedorah so much. I love how weird and different it is from the other Godzilla movies.

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ShyGuyPal101
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Re: King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by ShyGuyPal101 »

Thank you all again! I'm considering all of your lists and will go through them as I catch myself up.

I just finished watching Terror of Mechagodzilla last night and I absolutely loved it! So much action and fighting! I can't even begin to describe how much I loved that movie! The story, although cliche and cheesy at times, was fairly well done. The fighting was long but well paced and well scripted. I liked how Titanosaurous got most of the spotlight in it, no wonder he's so well liked. Alright now that I got that out of my system..

I did enjoy Godzilla vs. Hedorah a lot but I never finished it because I was up late watching it. I almost fell asleep on one of those psychedelic parts and just called it a night. I'll have to go back and re-watch it sometime.

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Re: King Kong & Other Giant Monster Movie Essentials?

Post by DrBreakfastMachine »

Here's a list of what I'd call the essentials, from both sides of the Pacific:

From Toho:
The original Godzilla
Rodan
Mothra
Mothra vs. Godzilla AKA Godzilla vs. the Thing
Ghidorah the Three-headed Monster
Invasion of the Astro Monster AKA Godzilla vs. Monster Zero
Destroy all Monsters
Godzilla vs Gigan
Godzilla vs Biollante
Godzilla vs Destoroyah
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-out Attack

Other good Japanese films:
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion
Gamera 3: the Revenge of Iris
Negadon: Monster from Mars (animated short)
Gappa the Triphibian Monster AKA Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (good in a campy, cheesy way)
Any of the old Gamera movies (same appeal as Gappa)

American films:
The original King Kong and the 1976 remake
All films by visual effects master Ray Harryhausen (includes Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, It came from Beneath the Sea, 7th Voyage of Sinbad, etc)
Them!
Tarantula
All four Tremors films

Other:
The Host (South Korean film from a few years back, not the one based on Stephanie Meyer's book)
Dragon Wars (also South Korean, and funny in a so-bad-it's-good way)
Gorgo (an EXTREMELY underrated British monster classic)

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