Ok, I know it’s not Halloween anymore. But these things take time.
This epic can more properly be described as a Monster Movie, or kaiju film as they call it in Japan, rather than a horror movie. It is a sort of mashup of kaiju, Planet of the Apes, and kung fu, with a three-minute serenade to a monster.
Everyone knows who Godzilla is. But Mechagodzilla? He is, of course, “a robot designed by aliens to conquer Earth, [an] enduringly popular villain”, as The Criterion Collection folks describe him in the notes accompanying their release of the film.
Now all you cineastes can feel relieved. I mean, if the freaking Criterion Collection has gone to the trouble of “curating” this multi-monster fight-fest, then there’s no need to hide your adoration of it from your Truffaut-loving friends.
Here’s the real guy and the pretender facing off:
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is the 14th Godzilla film (out of 38) and was the penultimate film of the Shōwa era, named after the historical era associated with the reign of Emperor Hirohito. All Japanese monster movies (kaiju eiga) are grouped into four eras, of which Shōwa is the first.
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