What Non-Godzilla Toho Films Do You Still need to Watch?

[ScootaVaran]

The musical score for Varan is great; Ifukube never disappoints. The title theme, in particular, is pretty epic. Nuff said about that.

This

There was a time when I was no longer interested in these kind of movies anymore. That was until my wife (then girlfriend) bought Varan and Mysterians on DVD. Two movies we had yet to see. When I played the Varan dvd and that Theme song kicked in I was back in!! Same goes for The Mysterians. That battle music is amazing.

https://youtu.be/pholQl7L8A0

[Terasawa]

Absolutely agreed on Varan's score: one of Ifukube's finest. The monster is preposterous but visually interesting. But that's all I can give Varan.

It has the least interesting, most useless, and all-around worst characters in any of these movies. I'm struggling to think of any other tokusatsu film, at least from Toho, where the characters are so inconsequential and one-dimensional. Yuriko is ostensibly a reporter but she's only interested in investigating because her brother died, although that's quickly forgotten: it's just an excuse to get her near Varan. Her photographer friend is the typical bumbling comic relief. Yu Fujiki would play similar roles in '60s kaiju movies, but he always gave those characters more depth than "he's funny because he's a coward." This character exists solely to get cheap laughs from the audience. Kenji, the lead, is completely off-putting because of the way he talks down to the "ignorant" villagers who ultimately turn out to be right. None of the performers provide any sort of pathos to their characters. Even the usually good character actors like Yoshio Tsuchiya and Akihiko Hirata merely play the parts as they were written.

The first act sets up a science vs. superstition angle that goes nowhere and is forgotten once Varan takes flight. It also sets up a mystery which is quickly resolved (and which isn't much of a mystery since we know going in it's a giant monster). And with the monster now the only thing of interest, Sekizawa drops the ball by showing us too much of Varan in the first act. He plays all his cards and has Varan destroy a village and outlast the JSDF. Compare this to other Toho monster movies where each monster sequence escalates the drama by significantly building off of what had come before. The remaining two-thirds of Varan is just more monster vs. military stuff that we've already seen. This could have been OK if the characters had been allowed to affect the narrative. Instead, these sequences go on and on to the point of tedium.

This is also some of Tsuburaya's least satisfactory work for Toho.

It's nearly plotless and the even the special effects are mostly a letdown. It's easily the worst of Honda's tokusatsu films.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

It has the least interesting, most useless, and all-around worst characters in any of these movies. I'm struggling to think of any other tokusatsu film, at least from Toho, where the characters are so inconsequential and one-dimensional.

I can think of six off the top of my head:
- Battle in Outer Space
- Gorath
- Godzilla vs. Megalon
- Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla
- Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
- Godzilla: Tokyo SOS

It's nearly plotless and the even the special effects are mostly a letdown. It's easily the worst of Honda's tokusatsu films.

I disagree. I think it's a better movie than BIOS, Gorath, Dogora, King Kong Escapes, Godzilla's Revenge and maybe Space Amoeba.

[Terasawa]

It has the least interesting, most useless, and all-around worst characters in any of these movies. I'm struggling to think of any other tokusatsu film, at least from Toho, where the characters are so inconsequential and one-dimensional.

I can think of six off the top of my head:
- Battle in Outer Space
- Gorath
- Godzilla vs. Megalon
- Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla
- Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
- Godzilla: Tokyo SOS

Characters in BIOS and Gorath directly affect the plots of either movie. Yoshio Tsuchiya's character in BIOS is more complex than anyone in Varan. Likewise for even the dull characters in Gorath. I'll even say the characters in the other films you mentioned are more tolerable than the Varan group.

Please show me what I'm missing about the characters in Varan. What aspects of those performances am I missing that give those characters any sort of depth?

It's nearly plotless and the even the special effects are mostly a letdown. It's easily the worst of Honda's tokusatsu films.

I disagree. I think it's a better movie than BIOS, Gorath, Dogora, King Kong Escapes, Godzilla's Revenge and maybe Space Amoeba.

Each of those is fundamentally stronger than Varan. For one thing, they all have a plot with characters that propel the narrative in some fashion. Varan is merely an excuse for various monster shenanigans. It's probably the worst screenplay Toho ever filmed.

[eabaker]

Each of those is fundamentally stronger than Varan. For one thing, they all have a plot with characters that propel the narrative in some fashion. Varan is merely an excuse for various monster shenanigans. It's probably the worst screenplay Toho ever filmed.

I agree completely. It is a movie that is generic to the point of near-pointlessness, barely even checking off the most basic narrative boxes. It has to its advantage a cool monster design (which is true of every Toho kaiju movie of the Showa era) and some dramatic shots of characters making their way through the forests (also something one can find in other Honda productions), and... That's all I've got.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

It's nearly plotless and the even the special effects are mostly a letdown. It's easily the worst of Honda's tokusatsu films.

I disagree. I think it's a better movie than BIOS, Gorath, Dogora, King Kong Escapes, Godzilla's Revenge and maybe Space Amoeba.

Each of those is fundamentally stronger than Varan. For one thing, they all have a plot with characters that propel the narrative in some fashion. Varan is merely an excuse for various monster shenanigans. It's probably the worst screenplay Toho ever filmed.

I think BIOS might be the worst screenplay Toho ever filmed. The set-up for that movie is just awful; we don't even figure out who our protagonists are supposed to be until almost a third of the way in, and even then they're only important during the film's second act. The thinly-constructed plot all dissolves into an overly long battle sequence in the end. Aside from having more impressive effects work, I think BIOS is an all-around worse movie than Varan. Even Varan's protagonists have more of a role in the plot by initially discovering the creature and later joining in the effort to kill it.

Gorath is another contender for Toho's worst screenplay. We're thrown into the film's central problem immediately with no build-up whatsoever, and Jun Tazaki's character, seemingly the protagonist, is killed off five minutes in. Beyond this, the film is just a series of discussions about what to do about Gorath. A conclusion is reached pretty quickly and the plan to move the Earth is pulled off without much of a hitch (minus a short-lived and inconsequential appearance by a certain giant walrus). The characters really don't move the plot forward at all and the guy I think we're supposed to be rooting for is an immature douche.

Dogora is two different movies in one, and both are bad. We have a bland cops and robbers story and an even more bland kaiju story which don't mesh together effectively. Even the effects work in Dogora is some of the worst of Tsuburaya's career. The actual Dogora prop is well-made, but it only shows up once. The cartoon tentacles, glowing blue goo and floating spores all look exceedingly fake. Even the music is some of Ifukube's weakest.

King Kong Escapes is just... bad. Say what you will about Varan's bland protagonists, but I'll take them any day over Susan Watson. The only redeeming factors of this movie are Mechanikong and Hideyo Amamoto's scenery-chewing villainy.

I've already explained why I think Godzilla's Revenge is a terrible film, I don't want to get into that one again.

Space Amoeba is very comparable to Varan; both start off strong, with a monster terrorizing the natives of a remote location and the skeptical outsiders who show up unwelcomed. But both lose steam about halfway through and devolve into slightly tedious movies.

Now, do I think Varan is one of Honda's best films or one of the best kaiju films out there? Hell no. I just don't think it's one of the worst either. To me it's a middling film in the same vein as Godzilla Raids Again.

[eabaker]

We're thrown into the film's central problem immediately with no build-up whatsoever, and Jun Tazaki's character, seemingly the protagonist, is killed off five minutes in.

Yeah, and these are among the best and most compelling aspects of what's otherwise a largely lackluster narrative.

[Terasawa]

Just gonna have to disagree on Varan. The films you mention are far from perfect too but they at least offer characterization. There are emotional cores that Varan completely lacks.

Added in 20 minutes 15 seconds:

I agree completely. It is a movie that is generic to the point of near-pointlessness, barely even checking off the most basic narrative boxes. It has to its advantage a cool monster design (which is true of every Toho kaiju movie of the Showa era) and some dramatic shots of characters making their way through the forests (also something one can find in other Honda productions), and... That's all I've got.

Normally I'm not one to advise skipping something like this but Varan is one of the few Toho tokusatsu movies I'd recommend only to the most hardcore fans, and even then only after acknowledging that it's a dismal film. It's strictly by the numbers. I wonder if Sekizawa was instructed to deliver such a perfunctory script because Toho anticipated it would all be heavily Americanized for TV anyway. Even the final episode of the abandoned TV version is essentially Varan vs. the JSDF with minimal exposition.

[eabaker]

Normally I'm not one to advise skipping something like this but Varan is one of the few Toho tokusatsu movies I'd recommend only to the most hardcore fans, and even then only after acknowledging that it's a dismal film. It's strictly by the numbers. I wonder if Sekizawa was instructed to deliver such a perfunctory script because Toho anticipated it would all be heavily Americanized for TV anyway. Even the final episode of the abandoned TV version is essentially Varan vs. the JSDF with minimal exposition.

I'm not familair with any of Sekizawa's pre-Varan work, but looking at that movie and Battle in Outer Space, I've always wondered if he only really started to find his voice - or at least his approach to sci-fi/fantasy subjects - with Mothra and/or through ongoing collaboration with Honda.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Varan also loses points to being vastly inferior to everything surrounding it. Varan came out off the heels of Rodan and Godzilla.

With Gorath and some of the other films, they're at least trying to be different.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

I finally watched Half Human tonight, meaning I've now seen all of Ishiro Honda's sci-fi films. Yay! Half Human is probably one of the director's more unusual films, for better or for worse. All in all, I found it rather mediocre but not uninteresting. Both the design and the portrayal of the yeti are superb; this just makes me wonder all the more how Toho managed to build an atrocious suit for King Kong twice in a row, when they created a perfectly convincing ape-man suit in 1955! Unfortunately, the plot is poorly paced and sometimes confusing, and a talented cast really wasn't given much to work with. I think Half Human has the makings of a great monster movie, but the end result is nothing to write home about. In comparison to the other two Honda films I just watched for the first time, I prefer Half Human to Gorath, but The Human Vapor is miles better than both.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I finally watched Half Human tonight, meaning I've now seen all of Ishiro Honda's sci-fi films. Yay! Half Human is probably one of the director's more unusual films, for better or for worse. All in all, I found it rather mediocre but not uninteresting. Both the design and the portrayal of the yeti are superb; this just makes me wonder all the more how Toho managed to build an atrocious suit for King Kong twice in a row, when they created a perfectly convincing ape-man suit in 1955! Unfortunately, the plot is poorly paced and sometimes confusing, and a talented cast really wasn't given much to work with. I think Half Human has the makings of a great monster movie, but the end result is nothing to write home about. In comparison to the other two Honda films I just watched for the first time, I prefer Half Human to Gorath, but The Human Vapor is miles better than both.

I have not seen Half-Human since I finished college, do you think it's worth revising or?...

I remember the feeling after watching it be like,"That's it?..."

[Spuro]

Submersion of Japan doesn't happen to have a Region 1 DVD release, does it? Or is it in the same boat as the Three Treasures – an unavailable Japanese-only movie?

[Terasawa]

Submersion of Japan doesn't happen to have a Region 1 DVD release, does it? Or is it in the same boat as the Three Treasures – an unavailable Japanese-only movie?

Both have been subtitled and bootlegged, but correct, they aren’t legally available in our region.

[KaijusHunter]

Two movies on which Eiji Tsuburaya provided a hand on the special effects: The Paradise Island Story (1957) and Blood in the Sky (1962). I am currently unable to get my hands on copies, but I wish they'll air on Japanese television at some point. Paradise is the most interesting to me, as it apparently features an exploding volcano in the climax.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

I have not seen Half-Human since I finished college, do you think it's worth revising or?...

I remember the feeling after watching it be like,"That's it?..."

I had pretty much the same reaction when the credits rolled. Like I said above, I do think Half Human could have been a good movie; it has a sympathetic monster, a good cast, a remote setting and one interesting character (Chika, the village girl). As it stands, though, I doubt a second viewing would improve your perception of the film much.

I'm hoping to watch Prophecies of Nostradamus and The Last War in the coming weeks, maybe even tonight, if I have time. All this coronavirus hysteria has put me in the mood for some doomsday movies. I'd also like to ask what people think of Secret of the Telegian. Is it worth checking out? I know very little about it, but I like a lot of the people who worked on it.

[Terasawa]

I'd also like to ask what people think of Secret of the Telegian. Is it worth checking out? I know very little about it, but I like a lot of the people who worked on it.

If you like The H-Man and/or Jun Fukuda's films then you'll also like Telegian. Think of it as a combination of the best of Honda's mutant films and the best of Fukuda's action-emphasized direction. It's undeservedly obscure.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

I'd also like to ask what people think of Secret of the Telegian. Is it worth checking out? I know very little about it, but I like a lot of the people who worked on it.

If you like The H-Man and/or Jun Fukuda's films then you'll also like Telegian. Think of it as a combination of the best of Honda's mutant films and the best of Fukuda's action-emphasized direction. It's undeservedly obscure.

Well, I love H-Man (planning to give it a rewatch soon) and I enjoy Fukuda's Godzilla films, so I'm definitely gonna have to check Telegian out. Thank Godzilla that the Internet gives us all such easy access to these movies that have never seen a proper American release.

[Terasawa]

Well, to be fair, it did see a proper American release. That just happened back in the 1960s.

[Gigantis]

Soo i completely forgot about the original Showa version of Yamato Takeru. Consider that on the list!