Nuclear disaster in Japan. Not a subject to joke about, but damned if it doesn’t put me in the mood to watch some Ishirō Honda films. I’ve got Matango (aka Attack Of The Mushroom People) and Godzilla: King Of The Monsters off the video shelf, and I’ve got The Godzilla Collection, which includes the original Gojira, on order. And Destroy All Planets (directed by Noriaki Yuasa) too boot.
It’s not joking about it if there’s a very real chance of a lizard or dolphin being irradiated and growing to the size of an average skyscraper. I say we should watch films like those to prepare.
Destroy All Planets (directed by Noriaki Yuasa, not Honda) came in the mail today.
IIRC, this is the one where Gamera flies off at the end and the kids are all shouting, ‘Goodbye, Gamera! Goodbye, Gamera!’
Roomie works Saturday night, so I expect her to be asleep all day. First up will be Honda’s Attack Of The Mushroom People.
I’ve just watched Matango. It’s not especially fast-moving; but that’s be cause, unlike* Kaiju* movies like Godzilla, it’s more about the interactions of the characters. I bought the DVD in 2007, and IIRC it was ‘remastered’. From my childhood, watching it periodically on KTLA, I remember it as being rather dark and murky. The image quality is much better than that of Destroy All Monsters, which I watched earlier today and whose images were quite faded, but it was still ‘dark’. See, the island on which the party of yachters landed was shrouded in fog. But I have to say it’s a good restoration.
Sadly, I can’t find THE MYSTERIANS anywhere. We went on a Honda binge a few months ago, and the absence of the THE MYSTERIANS was disappointing.
Ironically, having Godzilla around right now might actually help…he absorbs nuclear energy to fuel himself.
(Of course, then that means you have a stronger Godzilla hanging around. I didn’t say the plan didn’t have some—admittedly regrettable, but nonetheless manageable—drawbacks!)
Just watched The Mysterians. On now: Godzilla: King Of The Monsters.
Incidentally, Momoko Kōchi, who appeared in both of the above films, was a cutie.