10 Underrated Kaiju Movies, Where Godzilla Doesn’t Appear

Godzilla may be the king of the monsters, but there are plenty of giant monster movies that are able to get by just fine without him. With a staggering legacy of many decades, the giant monster movie genre is dominated by Godzilla’s many films, from the Shōwa era of rubber suits to the modern spectacle of the Monsterverse. Though he’s easily the most famous giant monster, Godzilla isn’t the only game in town when it comes to great kaiju movies.

Granted, a few more famous kaiju movies sans Godzilla have managed to break into mainstream success, including the history of King Kong and one-off darlings like Pacific Rim. However, escaping the radioactive lizard’s shadow is easier said than done, and a great number of underrated kaiju films have come and gone over the years. From ancient black-and-white creature features with stop-motion beasts to clever modern monsters created with digital effects, there are plenty of kaiju that deserve more recognition in the cinematic landscape.

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10

Daimajin

A rare kaiju period piece

Sometimes it isn’t just individual films that get overshadowed by the more famous kaiju’s overwhelming presence, but entire series. A great example of this is the Daimajin franchise, which began with the movie of the same name. Taking place in feudal Japan, the film tells the story of a tyrannical local lord whose vile activities awaken the wrath of the titular Daimajin, a giant statue brought to life by the spirit trapped within. After taking on the lord’s army, Daimajin turns his rage on anyone it sees.

Originally, Daimajin was considered as an enemy for the more famous kaiju Gamera, but ended up existing in his own film instead. The concept of a living statue is a creative one for a kaiju, and it’s fascinating to see a giant monster movie that takes place in the distant past. It’s no wonder Daimajin spawned a modestly successful trilogy of sequels.

9

The Mysterians

Pure space age fun

The 50s and 60s science fiction B-movies may have been famous in Hollywood, but the United States weren’t the only country dreaming up far-fetched atomic futures in this era. Enter Japan’s The Mysterians, a sci-fi classic competing with the likes of Forbidden Planet and First Spaceship on Venus. The plot centers on the invasion of an alien race wishing to colonize the Earth, intermarrying with human women and resupplying their population. To fight against them, the world’s militaries unite in solidarity.

The giant monster aspect of The Mysterians comes into play when the Mysterians unleash the giant robot Moguera, a destructive yet oddly adorable penguin-looking machine with drills for hands. Famously, Mogeura would later go on to join Godzilla’s long list of enemies and allies in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. However, his debut appearance deserves more credit as a creative early take on a fully mechanized kaiju.

8

Space Amoeba

Turned regular animals into terrifying beasts

It’s important to note that while the legendary Toho production studio was famous for Godzilla, the king of the monsters was far from the only film they made featuring kaiju or alien invaders. Case in point, Space Amoeba is a charming standalone giant monster flick released in the Shōwa era. The film was also known under a variety of different titles, including Yog: Monster from Space and the exhaustingly long Gezora, Ganimes, and Kamoebas: Decisive Battle! Giant Monsters of the South Seas.

The plot concerns on yet another alien invasion from Toho, though they crash-land this time around. Landing in the Pacific Ocean, the aliens end up mutating sea life, turning a cuttlefish, a crab, and a suspiciously familiar-looking turtle into giant hulking beasts which ravage the planet in hopes of world domination. Like Moguera, one of the monsters, Kamoebas, made it into the mainline Godzilla movies, getting a brief cameo as a monster that was slain off-screen in Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

7

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The Host

A dire warning on the dangers of pollution

The films of South Korean director Bong Joon-ho might be world-renowned now, but there was a time when the visionary creative was still making a name for himself with lesser-known features. One of these earlier works from Bong is The Host, a kaiju movie set in South Korea featuring a slimy amphibious beast. The Host is created when an American military base dumps hazardous chemicals into a river, mutating one of the creatures living within into the terrifying tadpole-like monstrosity.

The Host is far from the typical disaster movie that most kaiju films default to, taking special care to examine human drama along the way. Of course, the titular creature itself is an especially frightening beast, even if it is smaller than the average kaiju simply due to how realistically the panic it incites is depicted from a boots-on-the-ground perspective. In the end, the film offers some valuable insights into the dangers of mother nature and the wanton pollution of the environment.

6

The Giant Claw

Quietly one of the best American kaiju ever created

King Kong might get the lion’s share of recognition when it comes to kaiju hailing from the United States, but the massive simian is far from the only giant monster worthy of praise to originally come out of Hollywood. The Giant Claw is a little-known B-movie about a series of unexplained disappearances of planes, seemingly caused by a massive UFO. Rather than a flying saucer, the culprit turns out to be a massive airborne kaiju, The Claw, described multiple times throughout the film as “a bird as big as a battleship“.

Amazingly, The Claw is explained to come from a universe made entirely out of antimatter, having its own antimatter shield that both protects it and allows it to instantly destroy whatever it touches. The Giant Claw might be hilarious for its endearingly bad special effects, with The Claw looking like a cheap dangling puppet of a parrot at times. However, a solid performance from Jeff Morrow and a shockingly effective sense of tension manages to leave it underrated as a whole.

5

Deep Rising

A thrilling genre mashup with a creative monster

Few movies manage to juggle as many different genres at once as Deep Rising, being at once a heist movie, a disaster movie, a giant monster movie and a seafaring horror film. The film begins on the luxury ocean liner, the Argonautica, which is separately raided at the same time by a dangerous crew of pirates and a lone cat burglar. But as the criminals board looking for a big score, the ship is also attacked by a series of serpentine sea monsters, piercing the hull and wreaking havoc on sailors and thieves alike.

Deep Rising amazingly reveals that it was secretly a kaiju movie all along towards the end, when it turns out that each of the slithering eel-like monsters are actually tentacles all connected to the same gargantuan leviathan called the Octalus. Deep Rising was criticaly panned at the time of its release, but has since developed a deserved cult following. The film needs more recognition not just as an effective horror movie, but as a great giant monster story with a unique premise.

4

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

May have actually inspired Godzilla

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Despite getting so much credit for establishing the kaiju genre and popularizing the very idea of giant monsters, Godzilla himself may have actually been derivative of an earlier monster. Enter The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, a giant monster movie out of Hollywood that actually came out one year before the original Godzilla. Here, a quadruped reptilian beast is accidentally unearthed from its slumber deep within the ice of the Arctic Circle due to nuclear testing. Sound familiar?

Before long, the titular monster is rampaging through New York City, seemingly invulnerable to any traditional forms of attack the military can muster. The major difference between it and Godzilla is how they’re portrayed, with Godzilla always having been a man in a suit whereas The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is rendered in brilliant stop-motion created by the famous Ray Harryhausen. Considering Godzilla very likely wouldn’t exist without it, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms needs more name recognition.

3

D-War

An underrated blockbuster of epic proportions

The Host isn’t the only South Korean monster movie sorely lacking in fame despite the efficacy with which it wields its massive kaiju. Though an English-language film starring Western actors, D-War is a South Korean production centering on the return of titanic serpentine dragons who arrive to ravage the Earth, laying waste to modern society. It’s up to a lone reporter, who is the prophesied reincarnation of an ancient warrior, to tap into his destiny and defeat the creatures.

D-War has gone puzzlingly overlooked in modern pop culture despite its modest success at the box office. Something about the bombastic, explosive action scenes, giant monsters, and early 2000s sensibilities places it in the same cultural echelon as the Michael Bay Transformers movies. A sequel, D-War II: Mysteries of the Dragon, was promised in 2016, but the project seems to have sadly fallen by the wayside with no new news to speak of in years.

2

Colossal

A clever twist on the typical kaiju formula

It’s rare that kaiju movies are able to focus effectively on human drama, with half-baked human characters typically serving as filler in between the action-oriented premises of the films. However, Colossal manages to strike an interesting balance between human drama and giant monster spectacle like few other movies have. The story follows an alcoholic unemployed writer who moves back to her childhood home after a rough breakup, only to learn that when she walks in a local park at a certain time of day, she manifests and controls the movements of a kaiju in South Korea.

Before long, her childhood friend also manages to manifest another kaiju, this time a giant robot, using the threat of its violence to manipulate her. Colossal uses entertaining giant monsters to dissect very real subjects like manipulative relationships and alcoholism, somehow marrying the two thanks to a great performance by Anne Hathaway. It might be an odd film, but Colossal‘s pop culture profile deserves to match its critical appeal.

1

Gamera 3: Revenge Of Iris

The best of a legacy franchise deserving of more kudos

Godzilla might be the name-brand giant monster to come out of Japan, but his plucky competitor Gamera deserves more credit. Debuting not too long after the first Godzilla movie, Gamera’s many films showcase the best of the tusked turtle while emphasizing his differences to Godzilla, being more of a heroic and benevolent protector of children as well as a dangerous beast. The best of them is arguably Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, the last installment of the Heisei-era trilogy.

Here, Gamera becomes increasingly detached from humanity as his telepathic bond with the child Asagi begins to wane and as civilization begins to fear him more. Meanwhile, a new evil monster, Iris, forms a telepathic bond with another, more bitter and cynical child, kicking off a battle of good vs evil. As Iris feeds of its host’s hatred, Gamera is in for the fight of his career, matching or even outdoing the best of Godzilla’s own Hesei crop of movies.

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Category: Entertainment