Kaiju you may not have heard of

[Shin Mefilas]

After seeing the new Gamera trailer I started thinking about kaiju and some of the less well known among them. Please note they may be some spoilers.

 

The first is actually a Showa Era Toho movie Dogora the Space Monster (1964)

 

 

Dogora first appeared in space, feeding on radiation. It destroyed a television satellite, causing it to mutate. It came to Earth seeking carbon to feed upon and began eating diamonds and other jewels. Dogora has only made one appearance outside this movie in an episode of the Godzilla Island tv series which is a shame because it is easily the most beautiful and eerie of the classic Toho monsters.

 

Next we have Gezora the cuttlefish, Ganimes the stone crab and Kamoebas the rock turtle. 

 

 

The guys are created by the evil space ameba Yog. Other than their size (and they aren't really that big when compared to other kaiju) there is nothing special about them. I often think of them as the bottom feeders of the kaiju food chain. Kamoebas is the only one of these guys to make an appearance in another movie other then stock footage and that cameo was as a corpse left by Godzilla in Tokyo S.O.S. both Kamoebas and Gezora did make an appearance in the comic Godzilla: Rulers of Earth.

 

Then there is Maguma from Gorath (1962)

 

 

While  Gezora, Ganimes and Kamoebas may live at the bottom of the proverbial Toho kaiju barral, poor Maguma is the one you would find living under it. This giant walrus is easily Toho's worst looking "serious" monster and the english distributors of Gorath must have thought so to because he was cut completely from the american release of the film.

 

In the movie Maguma first appeared when it was awakened by the heat of  several enormous rocket boosters constructed in Antarctica and other parts of the world to push Earth out of the path of a  runaway star's path (oh I do miss the 60's). It attacks the base because the heat from the rockets is destroying its environment then returns to its home. It is then hunted down and unceremoniously killed with lasers from an air-transport.

 

The suit was only used once after this movie for the series Ultra Q. During the production the suit was damaged beyond repair.

 

Guilala, The X from Outer Space (1967) and The Return of Monster X (2008)

 

 

What can I say? Other then some Ultraman monsters this is the weirdest bloody kaiju I have ever laid eyes on! Formed from Guilalium spores and sent to earth by aliens for an unknown reason, able to run at 80 miles per hour (I'm not kidding), spite fireballs, absorb most forms of energy and able to into spores or a ball of energy for travel. Guilala is a powerful monster despite his looks.

 

Yonggary 1967 and 1999/Reptilian (2001)

 

 

At his core Yonggary is a Godzilla clone (one of many) but he stands out mainly because he's the only one I know of to get a remake. This remake did come to the west but everything apart from the cgi scenes was replaced with new material, the title change and the story heavily altered.

 

Gorgo (1961)

 

 

Literally the british Godzilla.

 

 

Gehara - The Dark Long-Haired Monster (2009)

 

 

Gehara is a homage/parody of classic monster movies. The film is about 20 minutes long and has all the campy tropes blown up to comedic levels. Gehara itself is a pretty cool looking kaiju with long black hair and glowing eyes. Infact its hair is so thick weapons can't penetrate it and if burned it releases toxic gases. Hard to find outside of japan and expensive, I managed to find the one and only copy on an english site with its title in japanese! It cost me a pretty penny but its worth it because it actually has english subtitle despite it never being marketed abroad.

 

 

The Giant Wolfman from the fan film Godzilla vs the Wolfman (1983)

 

 

 

Not much is known about this guy. The movie was once thought to be a lost Godzilla film but it was eventually revealed to be a fan film that had had ex-Toho staff helping to make it.

 

 

Reigo: The Deep-Sea Monster vs. the Battleship Yamato

 

 

 

 

One of the few kaiju I know of to truly wield electricity as its main weapon, this beast spends most of its time hunting prehistoric bone fish in the depths. Of all the kaiju I have mentioned Reigo has no official or unofficial dub or sub that I can find. Germany was the best thing I could find but I don't speak german either. However I'm not a fussy guy, I just want to watch a cool kaju movie.

 

And Finally we have The Deep Sea Monster Raiga the more evolved and more powerful sibling of Reigo!

 

 

Basicly Reigo/Godzilla this monster's power puts its predecessor to shame. As it grows stronger its electricity changes from blue to red. Unlike Reigo, Raigo's english sub can be found online. However the quality if the video is sub par. 

 

Their will also be a third installment in this series Deep Sea Monster Raiga vs. Lava Beast Ohga!

Edited November 25, 2015 by Prometheus Guyver

[Salkafar]

Those are pretty cool. And weird, especially Dogora.

[jerrygoodman]

I think I may need to check these movies out.

[Guyver0]

yeah I managed to find and download most of these movies and Hulu has some on it as well that I enjoy from time to time.  I constantly watch War of the Gargantuas on it along with Frankenstein Conquors the World on my PC.

 

Also Gezora does make an appearance as an enemy on the old Nintendo game: Godzilla Monster of Monsters.  He along with the old Mogura(The Mysterians) are the first two enemies you encounter.  I also wish they would make a movie with Godzilla going up against Bagan, who was shown only once in the video game; Super Godzilla, loved that game.

[Shin Mefilas]

Ok a few more

 

Nemesis - Queen of the Monsters

 

Original a clone of a murdered girl that was injected with DNA taken from a giant corpse of unknown origin, she began to mutate and grow until she became Nemesis. This living goddess of vengeance is torn between her desire to punish the guilty and the spark of humanity that still burns within her. The glowing spots on her body, if peries, release a fluid that explodes on contact with the air. Her "Self-Immolation" attack involves her piercing her chest with her claws, creating an explosion equal to that of a nuclear bomb. She can also vomit up a membrane covered sphere of this fluid as a ranged attack. Her greatest attack however is the "Divine Judgement". She sheds her skin revealing a white, thinner form underneath that boasts beautiful crystal like wings. These are not for flying however, instead if they catch the sun's rays they focus it into a powerful beam of intense heat that can cut other kaiju in half!

 

Nemesis first appeared in the novel Project Nemesis but now has an entire series of novels (plus tie ins) and her own rogues gallery of kaiju foes. There is also a comic series that has just started.

 

Toho Frankenstein

 

 

This monster has a dark origin. During WWII the immortal heart of the Frankenstein Monster was transported to Japan for study. The lab it was taken to was located was in Hiroshima. After the bomb leveled the city the heart could not be found. Years later a feral child is found to be living in the ruins of the city unaffected by the radiation. It is discovered that the child grew from the Monsters heart after it absorbed large amounts of radiation. As time passess the boy grow to and incredible size and begins displaying incredible regenerative powers. Eventually he escapes confinement and continues to grow until he is the size of a small Kaiju. He eventually does battle with Baragon.   

 

The two Gargantua Sanda and Gaira were spawned from his cells and it was he who was going to face off against Godzilla until he was replaced by King Kong, hence why Toho Kong absorbs and channels electricity (they were too lazy to change the script).

 

Mechani-Kong

 

A robot created by the evil Doctor Hu based on King Kong, this robot featured in the movie King Kong Escapes along with Gorosaurus. this metal ape was the inspiration for MechaGodzilla!

 

Negadon: The Monster from Mars

In the year 2025, earth sends an expedition to Mars in the spaceship Izanami. A huge rock formation is discovered beneath the surface, and is transported back to earth. On the way back, the rock's temperature soars, causing the Izanami to explode and crash-land in Tokyo, leaving a large crater. The rock hatches into a colossal alien life form, which proceeds to attack Japan with bolts of energy from its many appendages and orifices. Missiles, tanks, and aircraft all attack but fail to destroy Negadon (the name of the creature, although it is never stated on screen), whose thick exoskeleton protects it from conventional weaponry.

 

At the same time, Ryûichi Narasaki, a downcast robotics constructor, is still devastated by the incident that cost him his left eye and the life of his only child, a young daughter. The incident was caused by the malfunctioning of his masterpiece, the giant prototype super-robot MI-6 2 Miroku. Because of the ominous threat of Negadon, Narasaki faces the painful choice of reactivating (and piloting) Miroku to destroy Negadon and save the world.

 

Demeking 

 

"In 1969, a young man finds an anonymous letter in a glass bottle which foretold of the apocalyptic arrival of a cosmic monster known as Demeking. Since then, he has physically prepared himself in a lone struggle for that fateful day when the monster will arrive." 

 

A good movie but the monster only appears in the guys vision.

 

 

Bulgasari

 

A rather well made North Korean Godzilla rip-off with a dark production. The director of this movie was, and I'm not kidding here, kidnapped in 1978 by North Korean intelligence on the orders of Kim Jong-il! He was then forced to make a number of films including this one. What was really shocking is that despite the danger he was in the director somehow turned the film into a propaganda metaphor for the effects of unchecked capitalism, the power of the collective and for Kim Il-sung betraying a people's revolution for his own purposes without ol' Kim catching on! The movie itself is also very good and worth a watch for more then just its production history.

Edited December 2, 2015 by Prometheus Guyver