Happy sixth anniversary to Godzilla: King of the Monsters! Man, what a time to be a Godzilla fan that was...

So, we all know by now that Sam Neil is going to be in GxK.

And he posted on his TikTok a video of him standing next to a Transformer-ish statue that shares color palettes with Jet Jaguar, saying that it’s his co-star.

Could this mean JJ is making a debut in the MonsterVerse? Or is it simply a different project he’s working on - G.I. Joe? Or, as one of the hashtags may imply, is it fake news? (One of the hashtags literally states “Fakenews” followed by a question mark.)

Either way, Sam Neil will always make a film 10x better.

Making a series like this because why not.

Godzilla is kind of a big deal here, and in the West is no exception. If you see a dinosaur with big spikes on it, that's Godzilla. He's a cultural phenomenon. And people love him, so why wouldn't others get in on the action?

This list doesn't cover Gamera.

List of films covered in order:

Gogola

Gorgo

Gappa: The Tryphibian Monster

Bulgasari at the End of Songdo

Pulgasari

The Great Monster Yongary

Yonggary

Spoilers are ahead, so if you plan on viewing one of these, I recommend watching them first.

Gogola (1966)

Gogola is an Indian-Hindu kaiju film lost to time, made as India's answer to "every country needs one Godzilla." The film is now considered lost media, with the only things left being the music and a promotional poster.

The whole plot is that Gogola appears, is chased by the military, and Gogola disappears into the ocean. One of the character's fathers creates something to kill Gogola, and this father has a rival who wants to kill him, for some reason. Gogola returns and destroys some landmarks, floods the streets, and is defeated.

The film is believed to be the only Indian giant monster film, which is a real shame. More films released in India under the Kaiju genre could have been amazing, even if cheesy. As said before, what's left of the film are some stills and promotional material, including the soundtrack which includes a song titled "Nacho, Nacho, Gogola". You can find the song on YouTube, and I recommend checking it out if you're interested in this kind of stuff.

Gorgo (1961)

Gorgo is possibly the most popular Godzilla solo ripoff to date, recently getting himself an official figure and plushie made of the her. Yes, Gorgo is a female, or rather the Gorgo we think of. The real Gorgo is the baby. Rather, the mother is named Ogra. The film follows a mystery of 'who's that Pokemon?" Gorgo is captured and sold off to a circus in London. Ogra attacks an island in search of her child, sinks a destroyer, and goes back into the ocean. Once again, Ogra makes landfall, this time in London, and is unaffected by the military's attempts to stop her. Eventually she reunites with her child and they return to the sea.

The film is generally considered mid by critics, one calling it "a sad waste, not of talent, but of opportunity." Others have said that the film was "designed for juvenile adults" and that it was "entirely routine". Game magazine White Wolf Inphobia game it a 3 1/2 out of 5.

Despite being a cheesy film, many remember it fondly. I think the film is definitely a interesting one out there.

Gappa: The Triphibian Monster

Gappa: The Triphian Monster (or Gappa) is a Japanese kaiju film made to capitalize on the success Godzilla had taken throughout the mid-Showa Era.

Gappa follows the story of people who take a baby 'bird-lizard' monster, much to the dismay of the natives who live there. Gappa's parents (yes, PARENTS.) search for their child, destroying cities in the process. As the military try, and fail, to stop the two parents, the characters get the man who held Gappa to let the baby go, which he finally does. Gappa returns to its parents and they go back to the island they came from.

The film takes a lot from Mothra vs. Godzilla, which had released three years prior. Surprisingly, the film was given praise, including the special effects. Despite this, there were criticisms. One man said that it was an unauthorized remake of Gorgo, that the characters were lackluster, and that the special effects were okay but didn't get close to Eiji Tsuburaya's work.

Bulgasari at the End of Songdo (1962)

Another lost film, Bulgasari at the End of Songdo (or simply Bulgasari) is a South Korean Kaiju film. Because it is lost media, not much is known about it.

According to the Korean Film Archive, Bulgasari takes place in Songdo during the late Goryeo Dynasty. Experienced martial artist Nam Hyeong is murdered, his hatred resurrecting himself into the iron-eating monster Bulgasari to seek revenge.

The film was panned by critics and is believed to have vanished shortly after release. This makes it along the likes of kaiju lost media such as Wasei Kingu Kongu, The Great Buddha Arrival, and The King Kong That Appeared in Edo.

Interestingly enough, the screenplay for the film is preserved at the Korean Film Archive, though it isn't available to the public.

The film was the first in South Korea to use special effects, furthering its special status.

Interestingly enough, Bulgasari is inspired by the mythological monster of the same name.

Pulgasari (1985)

Pulgasari is a North Korean kaiju film, the only North Korean kaiju film, and the most infamous, but we'll get to that later.

During the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, a king controls the land with his iron will. Takse, a blacksmith, is imprisoned for defending his people and starved to death. Before Takse dies, he makes a rice figurine of a monster and asks the gods to make it into a living creature to protect the oppresed. Takse's daughter, Ami, is delivered the figure which she brings to life when her blood made contact with it, turning it into what she dubbed Pulgasari, a monster her father used to tell her about.

The peasants become enraged at the king and, with the help of Pulgasari, launch a rebellion. Imperial generals kidnap Ami and threaten to kill her if Pulgasari doesn't surrender himself. Pulgasari traps itself and is set ablaze, only to be unharmed. The king learns of the rebellion and Pulgasari, and sends an army to fight it, only for Pulgasari to eat their weapons.

Eventually, the army buries Pulgasari, seemingly killing him, executes the rebellion's leader, and threatens to kill Ami once again if the rebels don't stop. Ami escapes and drops blood on the burial of Pulgasari, which revives him and makes him stronger. After the king is defeated, Pulgasari continues eating metal, including the tools of the rebels, though they see it as helping out their savior. Ami sees that Pulgasari is inadvertently oppressing the rebels, and so she hides herself inside a bell and lets herself be eaten, which results in Pulgasari roaring out in anguish and turning to stone.

The film was given praise in Japan, saying that it's not perfect but has a charm like that of Godzilla 1998.

According to legend Kenpachiro Satsuma, who played as Pulgasari, he fondly remembered acting in the film, saying it was one of his favorite acting careers and that it was better then Godzilla 1998.

Kim Jong-Il, the previous leader of North Korea, said it was a masterpiece.

People say the film had symbolism for the people of North Korea to rise up against Kim Jong-Il, though the director said it had nothing to do with that.

Now why is this film so infamous?

In 1978, Kim Jong-Il, a huge fan of movies across the world, abducted husband and wife film duo Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee, intending to have them make North Korean film propaganda and make North Korean film big. Shin was imprisoned for trying to flee, but was released and told to make films for North Korea. Pulgasari was Shin's fifth film of 1985 and his last North Korean production before he and Choi escaped.

The film was a collaboration between multiple studios, including Toho themselves. It's said that Kim Jong-Il loved The Return of Godzilla and that's why Pulgasari was made. Kim had reportedly loved Satsuma's portrayal in The Return of Godzilla and demanded he play Pulgasari.

Satsuma and multiple others were deceived into flying over to North Korea under the premise of a Hollywood production.

Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967) (대괴수 용가리/Daekoesu Yonggari)

The Great Monster Yongary, known in the west as Yongary, Monster from the Deep and simply Yongary is a 1967 South Korean kaiju film.

Despite the fact the English Version can be enjoyed (through legal means or not), the South Korean version is partly lost.

A nuclear test in the Middle East awakens a monster, mortally wounding a photographer who shares photos of this monster to authorities, who dub it 'Yongary'. As South Korea is evacuated, the military attempts to stop the monster, which fails. Yongary reaches the city of Seoul. The military decides to use guided missiles, and Yongary makes his way to a oil refinery where he feasts on the oil and gasoline, but he goes back to a rampage when Icho turns off the supply, resulting in Yongary destroying a tank which triggers a chemical reaction causing him to itch.

The characters learn about the military's plan to send guided missiles and try to tell the authorities not to as it would give Yongary energy, but they brush it off. Il-Woo concoct a precipitate involving ammonia to kill Yongary which, with the help of missiles, puts Yongary to sleep. Icho wakes up Yongary, who dances and then goes back to a rampage. Il-Woo, with his finalized formula, dumps the precipitate onto Yongary in the Han River, where the monster dies of blood loss. In the end, Il-Woo is called a hero, but he gives the credit to Icho who says that Yongary was only looking for food.

According to historian Steve Ryfle, the reviews at the time of the films release were rather positive. Many praised the special effects, others saying it was one of the "better Godzilla-rip offs," and one noting its similarities to Gamera, the Giant Monster which had released 2 years earlier.

The film, while obscure, took on it's own life when the 1999 English-language South Korean film 'Yonggary' released, which leads us to the next, and final film of the list.

Yonggary (1999) (용가리) (Reptilian)

If you haven't hear of this film, you may have heard of it under it's American title: Reptilian.

Two archaeologists in Southeast Asia, Dr. Campbell and Dr. Hughes, are separated. Hughes discovers an alien corpse with a diamond inside while Campbell discovers a fossilized dinosaur.

Two years later, an alien mothership arrives near Earth, getting the attention of the "United National Defense Agency" (UNDA).

The alien ship starts reanimating the fossil, killing people at the dig site, not including Campbell and his assistant, Holly. Hughes, who was presumed dead, tells Holly of the mythological story of 'Yonggary', including information about the fossil, hieroglyphics relating to the story, and that he was held hostage by the government for two years- wait what.

Hughes and Holly arrive to stop Campbell, but are too late as the reviving process finishes and Campbell is killed.

Yonggary is dematerialized as Holly and Hughes are taken in for questioning. Yonggary is brought before them and destroys a few helicoptors. The National Space Investigation Agency (NSIA) have a man exposition dump about how these aliens had visited Earth 200 million years ago, and somehow destroyed information needed to defeat them (who wrote that information???) Yonggary is brought to Los Angeles and attacks.

It is learned that Hughes had stolen data from the NSIA, to which the exposition dumper is detained. The President of the US gets involved immediately and tells the UNDA that they have 5 hours to defeat Yonggary before they launch a nuclear missile. Hughes and Holly learn that Yonggary is being controlled by a diamond-shaped object on his forehead after they decoded the hieroglyphs. The President launches a nuclear missile after the UNDA fails to defeat Yonggary.

Yonggary's crystal is destroyed and the aliens send a new monster, Cycor, to fight him. Yonggary defeats Cycor, the aliens flee, and the bombers are stopped. The next day, Yonggary is taken to a desserted island to live in peace.

The film's original release in 1999 is lost, but the 2001 special edition isn't. The film has been given negative response from critics. Chuck Arrington said the dialogue and acting was "painful", StompTokyo.com said the film was cartoonish. The film is a blight on the original Yongary, and definitely rips off on Emmerich's 1998 Godzilla.

And that's all I'm covering today. And of course there are more, who could forget Ape vs Monster? But these are just some films I wanted to cover. Thank you for taking your time to read this if you did.

Pings:

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@Average Behemoth Enjoyer

@Crimson king godzilla

Yeah, this is the hottest take ever. And I’m not saying “oh it's just mid” I mean I think that the film is bad.

Half of the film is a bunch of people talking about random stuff that has little relation to Godzilla. Yeah, I know people aren’t there for that, but it’s abysmally long for a Godzilla film. And they play 45 different versions of “Decisive Battle” from Evangelion.

Is Godzilla cool in this film? Yes.

Is the film outside of the talk enjoyable? I’d say so.

But I draw the line at you guys.

The fandom (mostly children) have come to say “Shin Godzilla is the most powerful thing ever!!!” when no? It took him DAYS to evolve and adapt to an anti-air defensive system. They glaze him like “he can just evolve” when pitted against somebody super strong, when in reality it would take days. And he still isn’t perfect at it. He is STILL an awkward fighter. “But his precision!!” His back beams were aimed at multiple large planes, and he had multiple of them.

Legitimately, the fandom ruined this film.

The Reiwa Era is bad. I’ve already addressed Shin Godzilla, then there is the AniGoji trilogy, and then Singular Point took both and shoved it into a confusing show about nothing.

So. The movie that introduced Godzilla's nemesis, the mean lean slaughter machine...who was beaten after getting stoned, bullied, silked, and dropped off of a cliff.

This image here is essentially a spoiler buffer. If you have not seen the movie and are seeing this image, it is telling you to go and watch it first unless you don't mind spoilers.

If you are still reading, great.

We kick off with a bunch of UFO scientists complaining about the lack of UFOs and how one of the main characters' BRAIN WAVES scared them off. Real scientific. Anyways, we find out that even though it's January, it's hot enough to go get a tan.

Apparently, the Earth is out of whack. Anyways, a police guy, related to the lady (they're siblings) gets an assignment to go protect the princess of a small nation undergoing political issues. Some kaiju-sized butt wipes want to put the princess down there with Goji '54, who got dusted after a run-in with a metal cylinder (this is just me rabbling, no one here mentions 1954's events in the movie). She has a run-in with a UFO/meteor, and it tells her to get the hell outta the plane, and fast. Her closest companions enter her room on the jet they're on, see her about to jump from the plane, and immediately get exploded. Don't worry, she's important later. Actually, she shows up later, with amnesia and telling everyone something bad is about to go down, only to be asked for a strip show. In public. Listen, Japan's cool, and I know that this was scripted (hopefully), but come on!

Meanwhile, a bunch of scientists found a meteorite that did a hell of a lot of damage (probably put King Ghidorah on the Lorax's hitlist) in a crater from the night before. Turns out, gravity fluctuations made their pickaxes fly towards it. Nobody knew there was a three-headed dragon in there, just that it was a funny looking rock. Cut to a game show with two guys, who let two kids onto stage. The kids say they want to see Mothra, because apparently a giant magical sparklebug is cooler than a giant carnivorous dinosaur that shoots lasers. I digress. They essentially get laughed at before the game show guys just- introduce the Shobijin (are they the Elias? Is the tribe the Elias and they're the Shobijin? Is it just a Gotengo/Atragon situation?) who casually come on stage and sing to everyone, telling them to close their eyes. Sure enough, magic song, we get to see the Infant Islanders praising Moth Jesus. Apparently, Moshu-Moshu's alone now because Moshuu-Moshuu passed away. (Idfk anymore, just assume I'm stupid)

Blah blah blah, the princess (who's been calling herself Venusian) appears on the mountain she said something bad was going to happen at. As usual, she gets ignored, and one guy's hat falls into the volcanic hazard zone. For two dollars, some other guy goes in and gets it, only to find out she was right. So, back in Rodan, the standalone film, Rodan and Mrs. Rodan supposedly died with their egg(s?) in a volcano. Well, Daddy survived (probably depressed af because his family was taken from him) and wakes up, scaring the literal piss out of everyone EXCEPT the princess who said it was going to happen.

Yada yada, Godzilla shows up in the harbor, sees Rodan, gets pissed, Rodan ignores him and flies away. Godzilla, royally pissed, goes inland just to catch up. They're throwing down, and the governments of the world ask their Shobijin in the Box to talk with Mothra (after King Ghidorah hatches and begins blowing stuff up as one does). They say that Moshu-Moshu's a literal child, but maybe Rodan and Godzilla will team up with her and stop the three-headed monster.

Conclusion? After watching Godzilla stone Rodan, then watching them play volleyball with a boulder, silking them, and having a serious political debate, they tell her "go fukc yurself bich (spelling intentional)" and send her to fight the alien alone. Although, they do secretly watch her as she approaches. *insert Oh, You're Approaching Me? joke* Long story short, in three hits, Mothra gets absolutely dunked on, which makes Godzilla and Rodan kinda pissed that the newcomer (who smells bad) just slapped their child friend with no hesitation (he was also laughing pretty damn hard as he beat her) and immediately get into the action.

Because I neglected much of the human based plot, I decided to go and wrap all of it up here. Essentially, angry butt wipe sends slightly-incompetent butt wipes to go kill her. He fails at a hotel where main character (the cop/bodyguard) thwarts him and fails at a lab, where the doctors thwart him. He pursued the princess into a ravine and shot her in the head (it grazed her, don't worry), which snapped her out of her amnesia. Cop appears, they have a shoot off, and he rescues her. Kinda. Butt wipes shoots him in his gun hand, then in the opposite arm. As one can imagine, it's a bloody mess. Before he can go pwn them and put #ikilledtheprincess on Twitter, he hugs a falling rock and gets buried under tons of rolling stones.

Meanwhile, Rodan, Godzilla, and Moshu-Moshu are getting their butts handed to them by Ghidorah (who also struck Godzilla [no joke] straight between the legs at one point with lightning). However, Moshu-Moshu, using her expansive brain, gets an idea. She hops on Rodan's back and spews a very impressive amount of silk all over King Ghidorah, who understandably recoils out of shock. Godzilla begins tugging on his tails, but Ghidorah's feet remain planted. After a few minutes and thousands of gallons of Liquid Moth Silk (TM), Ghidorah's heads are webbed together. Godzilla proceeds to succeed in dragging them over to a cliff, and chucks him down it. The good kaiju feel great about this victory, so they taunt and jeer while Godzilla stones Ghidorah as he flies away, probably so that he can stop getting harassed.

That's where I stopped watching because the monster action was over. Princess gets asked questions and thanks cop, movie over.

Not bad. It was pretty good. Could definitely be done better today, but it's the 60s movie, I'll let it slide. personally, 8.5/10, solid movie. A lot of stoning though.

Just how exactly did they get the war paint? Let alone colour themselves in it?