 |
All Monsters Attack (1969)
| Company: Paramount/Gateway (1992) - United States |
In this
1992 release of All
Monsters Attack (1969) as Godzilla's Revenge,
Paramount once again employs its familiar "Godzilla
movie" design ethos seen on their other
releases. The pseudo-Asian text font (with "shadows")
remains the same, and the main image is a
father-son battle with the Kamacuras. Once again,
Godzilla is made very green on the cover, spitting
fire instead of his atomic ray. This particular design
doesn't appear to be closely based on the Son
of Godzilla (1967) suit, as he's
too skinny, sports prominent ears, and his nose looks
almost human. Godzilla's canines are also elongated,
which might infer some inspiration being taken from
the 1984 Godzilla suit. Minilla, meanwhile,
is also spuriously colored green and given more and
sharper teeth. His eyes are bright and menacing, unlike
the dorky look in the movies, and the "smoke
ring tube" effect emanating from his mouth is
similar to a number of depictions in promotional materials.
The Kamacuras monsters, for their part, look pretty
great, although too small. Along the bottom of the
image are gathered an unlikely group of people; none
of them appear in the movie as pictured here. On the
far right, looking up, is a Caucasian male who might
be Myron Healey from the American version of Varan (1958), but looks more like Jeff Morrow, the actor
from The Giant Claw (1957) and This Island
Earth (1955). Next to him looks to be Akira
Kubo in his parachute outfit from Son
of Godzilla (1967). Next to him (almost touching his cheek) is
an Xilien from Invasion
of Astro-Monster (1965), and then the distinctly
recognizable actor Jun Tazaki, hiding behind awkward
inventor Tetsuo Teri from Invasion
of Astro-Monster (1965), played by Akira
Kubo, who is getting some attention from his admirer
Haruno Fuji, played by Keiko Sawa. Whoever the artist
is, he does human faces very well -- even if he can't
put them in the right movies!
On the back is the usual Japan flag motif with
a green-colorized promotional image from Son
of Godzilla (1967), depicting Godzilla
and Minilla playing together in a scene that doesn't
exist in any movie. The text, as we've come to expect
from Paramount's Godzilla releases, is rather goofy
but good-natured, calling Godzilla's atomic ray
"the ol' zap breath" and nicknaming him
"Thunder Breath." The synopsis is mostly
accurate, if not very descriptive, but misspells
"praying mantis" (as "preying mantis")
and, understandably, uses the older spelling of
Godzilla's son's name ("Minya") before
it was standardized by Toho as "Minilla."
The cast and crew list below is respectable, although
once again misspelling the director's name as "Inoshiro."
Curiously, the Toho copyright is listed on the box
as 1986, and it gives the Japanese title as All
Kaiju Daishingeki instead of Gojira, Minira,
Gabara: Oru Kaiju Daishingeki. It makes sense
to render "Oru" as "All" however,
since "Oru" is the English word "All"
rendered in Japanese katakana and then Romanized
back into English; but either way, the title is
incomplete. |
