The best of the Kraken Releasing Godzilla titles, this Blu-ray of the 1966 Godzilla film makes for a worthy addition into fan's collections. It might be bare bones, but has good audio quality and one of the better video presentations of the Showa films released in the US so far.
| Video: |
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The video track on this Blu-ray really exceeded my expectations. The most impressive aspect are the vibrant colors. They aren't quite on par with the Tristar Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster DVD, but are pretty close and look great on an HD TV. Things like the bright red life jackets for example really pop, as do the blue bars where the Infant Island natives are being captive. The print used for the transfer is also in incredible shape given the age of the movie. There is very little print damage, although there is a sequence with Mothra flying that has some obvious print damage. The print version used appears to be the exact same one that Sony used for their 2004 release, as it had the same print damage during that sequence and is also complete with the new "Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster" title card.
While the video track excels, it does lack a little in terms of the overall sharpness and detail present for a 1080p presentation. The disc does have some minor edge enhancement, but done in moderation where scenes like this one with Godzilla against the rocks look very detailed. Film grain is also minor, pointing to some noise reduction, although this doesn't seem to be at the expense of the sharpness to the video track.
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is presented in its
original aspect ratio of 2.35:1.
| Audio: |
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There are two audio tracks on this disc, with both the Japanese and the International English dub. The two tracks are presented in their original mono format and sound pretty good considering. The dub track lacks a little in clarity, but neither has any notable discrepancies in the audio.
Alongside the two audio tracks are two different, removable subtitle tracks. The first is a on screen text only version, for example translating the "Marathon Rally Dance Competition" poster into English. The second translates the Japanese dialogue into English. Sadly, the track borders on translating and using dubtitles, as some lines are translated while others just use the lines from the English dub. In the case of this movie, the English dubbing is pretty close to the actual source, so there are no infamous sequences where the meaning is twisted at least.
| Extras: |
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The disc is pretty bare bones, containing only the original Japanese trailer. The trailer features subtitles that translate both the dialogue and text into English. Oddly enough, the subtitles translate the movie title as "Godzilla - Ebirah - Mothra: Godzilla Versus the Sea Monster", a hybrid of the original Japanese title (Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Seas) and the US title. Sadly, the trailer has the brightness on the video cranked way up, washing out some of the colors a little in the process and really destroying the black levels.
| Overview: |
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This disc is one of the better Godzilla Blu-rays currently on the market. As more and more titles are released, that statement might be overturned, but right now it features better video quality than the norm for these titles with some basic audio options and a minimal amount of extras to at least limp across the finish line. This release is recommended for both people who don't own the film yet and even for those who might own the Tristar release and are looking to enjoy the film in high definition.
As a side note, the international title for this release has long plagued distributors. "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep" doesn't have any marquee value. In this day and age, Toho has a habit of insisting that their preferred English title for the movie be used in markets outside of Japan. In Australia, Madman came up with a solution by calling their release "Godzilla: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep". Sony had enough muscle that they were able to release the film under their Tristar label with "Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster". Section 23/Kraken Releasing choose a different strategy, combining the two names into Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster! Ebirah - Horror of the Deep.
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