The Most Obscure Kaiju Films
These days I’m working on a book about
the giant monster movies of Asia (known informally to fans as kaiju films), so
I’ve been trying to track down some of the most obscure examples of the
genre. Here some of the movies I’m looking for and what I’ve
found:
Wangmagwi (1967) is probably the holy grail of giant monster movies. It’s Korean, and was made around the same time as Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967). It’s about an alien invasion that uses a giant monster to terrorize Korea. The movie has apparently never been released on any video format in any country; the only place anyone sees it is at the occasional film festival in Asia. The picture above, the only one of the monster that anyone can find, is from the website of one of those film festivals.
A Giant Monster Appears in Tokyo (1998) is a movie I happened to come across last week; before that I’d never heard of it. It’s a comedy about a small town in that finds out via TV news that giant monsters are attacking Japan. The thing is, the monsters are never actually shown in the movie, which is probably why it’s so unknown. It was released a few years ago on DVD in Japan, and I could probably still get it, but there are no English subtitles. I don’t see much point to getting a film like this one without some translation.
Daigoro vs. Goliath (1972) is one I really need to make more of an effort to find. It’s a comic kiddie movie, but I’ve never seen it.
Garuda (2004) is a Thai monster movie. I doubt any American company will give it a release over here, but luckily the DVD is available from Thailand, so long as your DVD player converts PAL. Here’s the movie’s official site. It looks a lot like a made for Sci-Fi Channel feature, but I'll be able to judge for myself soon enough.
Dragon Wars (????) is a Korean movie from Hyun-Rae Shim, the former comedian who seems to have become obsessed with kaiju in recent years. He made the new Yongary film that was released as Reptilian (1999) in the U.S., and he announced that his next film would be called "Imoogi," which appears to have morphed into Dragon Wars. You can see the official site here, and you can download a copy of the trailer here. The site has been unchanged for years, which makes me wonder if the film will ever come out.
Thunder of Gigantic Serpent (1988?) is a Hong Kong monster movie from infamous cut ‘n’ paste producer Joseph Lai. It’s about a little girl who has a pet snake, and the snake grows to Godzilla size because of accidental exposure to a secret formula. Terrorists want the formula, so they kidnap the girl, and the snake destroys a goodly chunk of a city trying to rescue her. I don’t think Thunder was ever released in Hong Kong or the U.S., but it was released on tape in some European countries as Terror Serpent. I found a copy on eBay, apparently derived from a Greek VHS tape.
Super Monster (1980) is the “lost” Gamera film. It’s actually mostly stock footage, with few new scenes of Gamera. Most of the plot has to do with three female superheroes that never do much superheroic. I found a copy on eBay, complete with the dream sequence where Gamera encounters the Space Cruiser Yamato.
Voyage into Space (1970) is a TV feature compiled from episodes of Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot. Whenever someone posts on the BMMB wanting to know about a weird kaiju film they remember as a kid, this is usually it. I got a copy off eBay, though I wish it were better quality.
The Magic Serpent (1965) is another one people often have fuzzy childhood memories of. It’s more of a fantasy film than what I’m calling a kaiju film, but it does have a dragon and giant toad brought to life with Godzilla-style special effects knocking over a model castle, so I’m going to talk about it some. I was surprised to find out that Retromedia had released it on DVD as a double feature with the U.S. TV version of Gamera vs. Gyaos.
If you have any additional information on one of these films or can think of some movie I might have missed, feel free to leave a comment to this thread, or e-mail me. I’m also adding a link over to the right to my site Giant Monster Movies, a database that’s slowly growing.
Wangmagwi (1967) is probably the holy grail of giant monster movies. It’s Korean, and was made around the same time as Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967). It’s about an alien invasion that uses a giant monster to terrorize Korea. The movie has apparently never been released on any video format in any country; the only place anyone sees it is at the occasional film festival in Asia. The picture above, the only one of the monster that anyone can find, is from the website of one of those film festivals.
A Giant Monster Appears in Tokyo (1998) is a movie I happened to come across last week; before that I’d never heard of it. It’s a comedy about a small town in that finds out via TV news that giant monsters are attacking Japan. The thing is, the monsters are never actually shown in the movie, which is probably why it’s so unknown. It was released a few years ago on DVD in Japan, and I could probably still get it, but there are no English subtitles. I don’t see much point to getting a film like this one without some translation.
Daigoro vs. Goliath (1972) is one I really need to make more of an effort to find. It’s a comic kiddie movie, but I’ve never seen it.
Garuda (2004) is a Thai monster movie. I doubt any American company will give it a release over here, but luckily the DVD is available from Thailand, so long as your DVD player converts PAL. Here’s the movie’s official site. It looks a lot like a made for Sci-Fi Channel feature, but I'll be able to judge for myself soon enough.
Dragon Wars (????) is a Korean movie from Hyun-Rae Shim, the former comedian who seems to have become obsessed with kaiju in recent years. He made the new Yongary film that was released as Reptilian (1999) in the U.S., and he announced that his next film would be called "Imoogi," which appears to have morphed into Dragon Wars. You can see the official site here, and you can download a copy of the trailer here. The site has been unchanged for years, which makes me wonder if the film will ever come out.
Thunder of Gigantic Serpent (1988?) is a Hong Kong monster movie from infamous cut ‘n’ paste producer Joseph Lai. It’s about a little girl who has a pet snake, and the snake grows to Godzilla size because of accidental exposure to a secret formula. Terrorists want the formula, so they kidnap the girl, and the snake destroys a goodly chunk of a city trying to rescue her. I don’t think Thunder was ever released in Hong Kong or the U.S., but it was released on tape in some European countries as Terror Serpent. I found a copy on eBay, apparently derived from a Greek VHS tape.
Super Monster (1980) is the “lost” Gamera film. It’s actually mostly stock footage, with few new scenes of Gamera. Most of the plot has to do with three female superheroes that never do much superheroic. I found a copy on eBay, complete with the dream sequence where Gamera encounters the Space Cruiser Yamato.
Voyage into Space (1970) is a TV feature compiled from episodes of Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot. Whenever someone posts on the BMMB wanting to know about a weird kaiju film they remember as a kid, this is usually it. I got a copy off eBay, though I wish it were better quality.
The Magic Serpent (1965) is another one people often have fuzzy childhood memories of. It’s more of a fantasy film than what I’m calling a kaiju film, but it does have a dragon and giant toad brought to life with Godzilla-style special effects knocking over a model castle, so I’m going to talk about it some. I was surprised to find out that Retromedia had released it on DVD as a double feature with the U.S. TV version of Gamera vs. Gyaos.
If you have any additional information on one of these films or can think of some movie I might have missed, feel free to leave a comment to this thread, or e-mail me. I’m also adding a link over to the right to my site Giant Monster Movies, a database that’s slowly growing.
Posted: Wed - July 21, 2004 at
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My name is Scott Hamilton and I live in St. Petersburg, Florida. My e-mail is Scott (at) stomptokyo.com.
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Stomp Tokyo Video Reviews - My website, all about cult movies. Created by myself and Chris Holland.
Giant Monster Movies - My site devoted to a database of giant monster movies.
Cult DVD Zone - Stomp Tokyo's store full of rare movies and TV shows on DVD-R.
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Reel Shame - About the book I co-wrote.
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Giant Monster Movies - My site devoted to a database of giant monster movies.
Cult DVD Zone - Stomp Tokyo's store full of rare movies and TV shows on DVD-R.
B-Movie Message Board - Message board for Stomp Tokyo.
Blue Glow - Chris Holland's weblog, mostly about TV.
Reel Shame - About the book I co-wrote.
My .Mac Homepage - Movies that I'm sharing.
My Flickr Page - Pictures that I'm sharing.
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Blue Glow - Chris Holland's weblog, mostly about TV.
FilmBuffStuff - Stomp Tokyo's shopping blog.
Prawn Bites - Ask him about kung fu movies.
Tachyon-City - Nathan of Cold Fusion Video Reveiw's blog.
Yes, I Know - Freex of The Bad Movie Report's blog.
Background Radiati0n - The inane ramblings of a Brit living in the USA.
Make Friends the Joe Bannerman Way - "Maria Ford Forever", indeed.
FilmBuffStuff - Stomp Tokyo's shopping blog.
Prawn Bites - Ask him about kung fu movies.
Tachyon-City - Nathan of Cold Fusion Video Reveiw's blog.
Yes, I Know - Freex of The Bad Movie Report's blog.
Background Radiati0n - The inane ramblings of a Brit living in the USA.
Make Friends the Joe Bannerman Way - "Maria Ford Forever", indeed.
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