What monster movie are you currently watching?

For the discussion of non-Toho monster media, tokusatsu franchises, and also for mixed discussion of Toho and non-Toho kaiju media.
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edgaguirus
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

Post by edgaguirus »

The last one I saw as The Killer Shrews. It's a fun movie, and the third section of the film delivers on the suspense.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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I kept my christmas spirit going last night with 'Gremlins'.

Added in 2 days 2 hours 42 minutes 41 seconds:
In celebration of its 30th anniversary, I'll be watching 'Godzilla vs. Biollante' (a.k.a . one of the greatest Godzilla movies of all time) tonight.

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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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It was Sound of Horror. This is an interesting film, and has certainly has an unique monster. In most dinosaur films you can see the dinosaur, but this one is invisible. The film also makes the most of the "trapped in a house" plotline.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

Post by Terasawa »

Crosspost from Monster Zero because I'm lazy:

Gamera vs. Zigra

And you know, it's not nearly as bad as I've previously thought, although at times it's hard to watch as an adult because it's pretty infantile. As far as the production is concerned, it's astep up from the previous few Gameras (except Jiger). The film's scale is larger than that of Viras or Guiron and was filmed mostly on location. There's a large cast for one of these movies, and the characters feel mostly real because they're not all reporters, scientists, and military men. The special effects sequences rely on virtually no stock footage (if not at all) and the miniatures, while limited, are acceptable. Having Gamera and Zigra fight mostly underwater allows for Yuasa's crew to continue breaking physical laws as they always did, but without those sequences now seeming so insane. (Although, of course, the climactic Gamera xylophone solo is as absurd as anything they ever did.)

Where the movie suffers though is in its pacing. This is a long movie compared to most of the others in the series, and it really feels it. This time, although I had the movie on in the background, I tried to absorb some of the film's slowest and most baffling scenes from a child's viewpoint: no, the infamous seafood ownership argument doesn't make any more sense this way, nor does it advance the narrative, but I suppose some kids might find it funny. It seems to have been a showcase for two comic-actors, although I think (as an adult) it really missed the mark. There are a lot of comic bits in the movie that fall flat, but I'm also not 6 years old anymore.

Usually fans will complain that the kids in these movies are really annoying, and they tested my patience a little here, but for the most part I think Ken and Helen's roles make sense. It's arguably unforgivable that they stowaway into harm's way twice, but at least this time there's a rationale for why they are able to outwit the alien villain (as "Lora Lee" says, children can sometimes perceive fantastic things where adults cannot). I found myself buying into the logic here simply because the film made a case for it. It doesn't have to reflect the way the world really works, it's a Gamera movie. To that point, Zigra's reason for attacking Earth is poorly conceived, but it's acceptable for children: giant monster fish wants to conquer the Earth, and by so doing, he will avenge the Earth sea creatures that have died by man's environmental mayhem.

I don't know if Yuasa deserved much credit as an artist, but I do enjoy how the introduction of Ken is juxtaposed with the dolphin show. For example, the film cuts between Ken brushing his teeth and the dolphin trainer brushing the dolphin's, etc. This is high art for a late Gamera sequel! It's a clever way to introduce the characters and the setting all at once.

I'm not sure that my appreciation of the movie today will hold, however, and I still think it's very near the bottom of the series. In the end, it's just not as entertaining as most of the other entries: it may be more competently produced than Viras but it's not as insane. Even with the lengthy stock footage montage in Viras, that film never slows down as much as this one does once the bathysphere is launched.

Also, I watched the dubbed version: I'm aware that the Zigra henchwoman is an astronaut in the Japanese version, but I like that the dubbers tried to account for her fame by making her a film star. However, I don't recall that they gave an adequate (if any) explanation as to why an actress would be manning a scientific vehicle on the moon, d'oh!
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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I just saw Matango a little while ago and it was great, as usual!

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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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My annual New Year's Eve movie marathon tonight will include (the theme being 1985) 'A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge' and 'Godzilla 1985'.

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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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For New Years Eve, I watched The Monolith Monsters. This film has the strangest alien threat you'll ever see.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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I just watched Reptilicus. I got the Blu-ray today, bought it from eBay with a winning bid of $16.50, which with tax and shipping came to just under $22. Cheaper than what people are asking for on Amazon. Seriously, some folks are asking for over twice that!

Not the best kaiju flick in the world, but it was fun. My western world giant monster collection is almost complete!
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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In the first two weeks of my three-week Christmas vacation, I've seen four great Toho films in their Japanese versions with English subtitles:

*Godzilla vs. Biollante,
*Mothra,
*Matango,
*Battle in Outer Space.

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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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I just watched 28 Days Later for the first time in years (my packages came in the mail, and yes, packages because they shipped them both separately), it's still as great as I remember. One thing that stands out to me all these years later is that there's less focus on the gore/zombie carnage compared to other zombie films (it's definitely less rampant than either iteration of Dawn of the Dead or Zombieland) as it really takes the time to flesh out each of the characters while still offering it when needed. Everything, from characters, suspense, story, pacing was top notch in this. It's easily one of, if not my top favorite zombie movie of all time.

My one issue with the movie, if you can call it that is that, for a film that was released in 2003, it looks rather "dated". I say that because the Dawn of the Dead remake, which came out less than a year later, looks quite new by comparison and could easily pass for a 2010's movie. I know several other horror movies released around that time also had the "dated" 90's aesthetic, but my point remains.

Also, I read rumors that they're finally working on a 28 Months Later with some of the original cast from 28 Days possibly returning, including Cillian Murphy's character (Jim). Awesome, huh?
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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Son of Kong. Oddly makes me want a giant bear movie.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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I enjoyed a triple b&w universal feature last night that consisted of:

'The Mummy's Tomb'
'Tarantula'
'Revenge Of The Creature'

Added in 14 days 2 hours 35 minutes 31 seconds:
On top of watching one of my birthday gifts/guilty pleasures, 'Dinosaurus' on Monday, my Showa Godzilla themed double feature last night consisted of 'Mothra vs. Godzilla' and 'Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla'.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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Currently bouncing back and forth between the Classic Universal Monsters and the Alien franchise. I've had the complete Universal Legacy Collection for sometime now, but haven't gone through it all. Currently on Son of Frankenstein and going through everything in chronological order (except the Abbott and Costello ones, which I'll do separately). I'm somewhat ashamed to say that as a huge horror/monster movie fan, this is the first time I have watched the Invisible Man and classic Mummy movies. I had the separate collections of Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman and Creature before. I loved The Invisible Man, however. Much better than I was expecting, though I still struggle to really call the Invisible Man a TRUE "monster" but it is what it is.

The Mummy was ok. Not my favorite of the classics by any means, but it sounds like Lon Chaney Jr. does a much better job at the role than Karloff. Haven't gotten to the Mummy or Invisible Man sequels yet.

And, of course... Alien franchise. Seen it a hundred times. Will see it a hundred times more before I die. Just now I got the whole franchise in Blu-Ray. Now I just need to grab up Blu-Rays for the Predator and AvP films before they get locked away by Disney.


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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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MM Raids Again wrote:Currently bouncing back and forth between the Classic Universal Monsters and the Alien franchise. I've had the complete Universal Legacy Collection for sometime now, but haven't gone through it all. Currently on Son of Frankenstein and going through everything in chronological order (except the Abbott and Costello ones, which I'll do separately). I'm somewhat ashamed to say that as a huge horror/monster movie fan, this is the first time I have watched the Invisible Man and classic Mummy movies. I had the separate collections of Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman and Creature before. I loved The Invisible Man, however. Much better than I was expecting, though I still struggle to really call the Invisible Man a TRUE "monster" but it is what it is.

The Mummy was ok. Not my favorite of the classics by any means, but it sounds like Lon Chaney Jr. does a much better job at the role than Karloff. Haven't gotten to the Mummy or Invisible Man sequels yet.

And, of course... Alien franchise. Seen it a hundred times. Will see it a hundred times more before I die. Just now I got the whole franchise in Blu-Ray. Now I just need to grab up Blu-Rays for the Predator and AvP films before they get locked away by Disney.
The Invisible Man is magnificent. All four of James Whale's horror movies are absolute classics; I hope you'll seek out The Old Dark House, which is not part of the Legacy Collection.

The Chaney Mummy movies (as well as The Mummy's Hand, with Tom Tyler in the title role) are a completely different beast than the original; they are absolutely sequels in name only. Tyler/Chaney, frankly, have nothing to do besides shuffle around in very heavy costume/make-up, and no opportunity to give any kind of real performances. The movies are generally entertaining, but there's very little to them.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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I enjoyed a kaiju/tokusatsu themed double feature last night that consisted of 'Gamera 2: Attack Of The Legion' and 'Godzilla 2000'. In regards to the former, I'm definitely in the camp that considers RegionGame the best of the three Heisei Gamera designs, and the latter is special to me in that it was (like many other G fans) the first true Godzilla movie I saw in theaters.

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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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I watched the first few minutes of the one of the Invisible Man movies on TV once and I turned it off after the first few minutes. The overacting was starting to grate on my nerves.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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Tyrant_Lizard_King wrote:I watched the first few minutes of the one of the Invisible Man movies on TV once and I turned it off after the first few minutes. The overacting was starting to grate on my nerves.
:shock:

Tyrant, I have tolerated you disdain for LPG for years, but this? THIS?

We can now never be friends. :(
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

Post by Tyrant_Lizard_King »

Hey now I only have intense disdain for Gareth and G14. Everything else is just "meh". :twisted:
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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Demons III: The Ogre (Italy, 1988: Lamberto Bava) - Huh. This is probably the tamest Italian horror film I've yet seen. There's practically no violence and gore, or any real sleaze at that. It's also not very interesting, although *that* has more to do with the fact that Lamberto Bava is not a very good director, and not for the lack of exploitive elements.

A female horror author goes on holiday with her husband and son to an Italian castle. Come to find out, it's the same castle that frequently showed up in the woman's dreams when she was a little girl. She starts having the same dreams, which involves an ogre coming out of a cocoon(!) and pursuing her. Also, as she starts writing a book based on those dreams and her current fears in the castle--why don't they just go on vacation somewhere else?--her grip of what's real and what's not begins to slip.

I'm guessing that without Dario Argento hanging around the set, Lamberto Bava was left to his own devices and thus is always botching his own scare scenes with bad decisions about when to show the monster, how much of the monster to show, how the monster should be portrayed, not to mention other things like how nobody ever notices a giant glowing cocoon hanging from ceiling of the cellar. In the end, nothing but meh.

For the record, LA CHIESA (THE CHURCH) was also known as DEMONS 3 and is my favorite Italian horror film.

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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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H-Man wrote:For the record, LA CHIESA (THE CHURCH) was also known as DEMONS 3 and is my favorite Italian horror film.
I haven't seen that one in many years. Of the four Michele Soavi horror films I've seen, it's probably the one that did the least for me on first viewing, but I have been meaning to give it another chance for awhile.

Of Soavi's, my favorite is easily Cemetery Man. For Italian supernatural horror as a whole, I'd probably go with a top four of:

Black Sabbath
Kill, Baby... Kill!
Suspiria
Cemetery Man
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