Godzilla (1954)

Godzilla (1954)
Rating: ★★★★
Dec 16, 2001Giant Atomic Monster
The very first Godzilla film. Essentially a copy of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, it has incredibly stark effect despite primitiveness effects. In it you can see Japanese nation struggling to expiate the pain of the Atomic Bomb.

The Mysterians (1957)

The Mysterians (1957)
Rating: ★★½
Dec 14, 2002Japanese Alien Invader Film
Ishiro Honda and Toho, the creators of Godzila, turn their attentions to the alien invasion film - the first Japanese entry in the great 1950s SF alien invader fad - and deliver all the same colourful mass destruction we expect

Varan the Unbelievable (1958)

Varan the Unbelievable (1958)
Rating:
Aug 2, 2013Japanese Monster Movie
Japanese monster movie from the same team that created the original Godzilla. The English-language version has simply kept the effects scenes and cut everything else, replacing it with scenes of the US military ordering the Japanese about

War of the Gargantuas (1966)

War of the Gargantuas (1966)
Rating: ★★
May 20, 2015Japanese Monster Bash
From Ishiro Honda, the creator of Godzilla, this bizarrely features two giant Frankenstein monsters battling it out. A fairly typical Japanese monster movie of its era featuring cheesily ridiculous rubber monsters, copious mass destruction and a largely irrelevant human element

Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Rating: ★★
Nov 16, 2000Japanese Monster Bash
The 20th Toho monster movie where the studio decided to gather Godzilla and all the other monsters under their roof together for a massive tag team brawl. Disappointingly, the monsters are upstaged by space opera elements for long sections

Terror of Mechagodzilla (1976)

Terror of Mechagodzilla (1976)
Rating: ★★★
Dec 16, 2000Japanese Monster Bash
The fifteenth Godzilla film, the last of the classic series, featuring a return of Mechagodzilla from the previous film. Original director Ishiro Honda returns to the series and reclaims it from the juvenile focus it had taken over the last few films to make the best entry of the 1970s