DVD Title
 Godzilla vs. Megalon
International Title
 Godzilla vs. Megalon
Movie Length: 77 minutes Original Length: 81 minutes
Company: Alpha Video Release: 2001
Aspect Ratio: 1:33:1 Anamorphic: No
Region: 1 Discs: 1
  
Language/Sound:  
English (1.0 Mono)
Subtitles:
None
Extras
· Menus (English)
· Chapters (4)
Captures
Review
Anthony Romero

One of the earliest unlicensed region 1 releases of a Toho film, this DVD from Alpha Video of Godzilla vs. Megalon is easily one of the more infamous titles to ever grace the site. "Boasting" some of the worst video and audio quality around, while featuring no real extras to speak of, this disc pretty much establishes the bottom parameters of the site's scoring system in every field.


 Video:

One must commend Alpha Video here, as I imagine they had to go through quite a bit of work to acquire a source print for the film that was truly as awful as this. One look at a screen capture, and its crystal clear that they would have been far better off just doing a VHS to DVD transfer from one of the numerous unlicensed tape releases that came before it. However, the screen captures really don't do it justice, as seeing it in motion brings to the fore the DVD's daunting number of problems. Beyond the countless scratches and thick layer of dirt over the source, the frame is also incredibly unstable and shifts frequently during the movie. The film has also been cropped, zooming in even further on the source and losing even more image than one is used to on previous pan and scan releases; something that is painfully obvious during the main title sequence. The colors are also fairly washed out, while the entire film is faded to a ugly brown hue. Compression is also noticeable, causing for the movie to look very soft while ghosting also looks to be a problem, although how that would be introduced is hard to say unless they used a PAL source.


 Audio:

This disc comes with a single audio track, which is a mono presentation of the film dubbed into English. Expectedly, the quality isn't too hot, as the dialogue sounds very harsh and scratchy, while sometimes muddled as well. Pops are also occasionally heard in the track, while the disc features no subtitle option.


 Extras:

Nothing quite like a generic main menu that has a blue cloud background and a shot of the DVD cover to get one excited about a release... The menus aside, the only thing one could even tout about this release is the lazily applied four chapter breaks.


 Overview:

Long since discounted and incredibly awful in quality, this disc is best left to obscurity, unless one is smitten by the concept of $4 coasters with Godzilla vs. Megalon printed on the front.