← Back to Reviews
in
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, 1964
Princess Salno (Akiko Wababayashi) is nearly assassinated en route to a conference about UFOs. She emerges later in disguise as a mysterious psychic who predicts great destruction on the horizon. Reporter Naoko (Yuriko Hoshi) and her detective brother (Yosuke Natsuki) become involved in the situation, trying to keep the mysterious woman from being assassinated by the diabolical Malmess (Hisaya Ito). But assassins are small change compared to the danger of the alien dragon creature Ghidorah who soon arrives on Earth.
Excellent monster action and an endearingly bonkers storyline make this a delightful film.
Sometimes movies that have a thousand and one plot elements can feel scattershot, confusing, and grating to watch. But this movie is an example of an avalanche of characters and set pieces working through force of its own momentum.
I really loved the world-building in this film. I haven’t seen all of the big monster movies, so I’m not sure how much of what I was seeing was just confirming established dynamics and how much was actually new. This was my first time seeing the characters of the Shobijin (twins Yumi and Emi Ito), tiny women (fairies?) who come from Infant Island, home to Mothra. I loved the idea of this strange woman, who might be human or might also be an alien?, just wandering around and making ominous predictions.
But the real magic in this film is the monsters, and specifically Mothra. Mothra, where have you been all my life?!!??! I cannot overstate how completely smitten, delighted, and just enchanted I was with this benevolent larva/moth goddess monster. While I generally appreciate the fact that several monster movies don’t cast the monsters as evil, it was so fun seeing just a straight-up good and kind monster. For me, peek adorability came in a scene where Mothra basically did a therapy session with Godzilla and Rodan to get them to help defeat Ghidorah. When the two of them refuse, she bravely sets out on her own to fight a foe much too powerful for her. Because Mothra is dope, and Mothra gets things done. (Naturally, the whole dialogue is done in monster talk, with the Shobijin translating).
Now, does the film get a little silly at times? Yes. At one point one of the monsters is struck on the head and his eyes roll around in different directions like an actual cartoon character. But even the occasional missteps in tone didn’t really ding the film for me.
This is the kind of movie that I could easily see rewatching over and over. The monster fights look really good. The whole look of the film is interesting and strange in the right ways. This is probably a close second to the original Godzilla film in terms of how much I enjoyed it.
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, 1964
Princess Salno (Akiko Wababayashi) is nearly assassinated en route to a conference about UFOs. She emerges later in disguise as a mysterious psychic who predicts great destruction on the horizon. Reporter Naoko (Yuriko Hoshi) and her detective brother (Yosuke Natsuki) become involved in the situation, trying to keep the mysterious woman from being assassinated by the diabolical Malmess (Hisaya Ito). But assassins are small change compared to the danger of the alien dragon creature Ghidorah who soon arrives on Earth.
Excellent monster action and an endearingly bonkers storyline make this a delightful film.
Sometimes movies that have a thousand and one plot elements can feel scattershot, confusing, and grating to watch. But this movie is an example of an avalanche of characters and set pieces working through force of its own momentum.
I really loved the world-building in this film. I haven’t seen all of the big monster movies, so I’m not sure how much of what I was seeing was just confirming established dynamics and how much was actually new. This was my first time seeing the characters of the Shobijin (twins Yumi and Emi Ito), tiny women (fairies?) who come from Infant Island, home to Mothra. I loved the idea of this strange woman, who might be human or might also be an alien?, just wandering around and making ominous predictions.
But the real magic in this film is the monsters, and specifically Mothra. Mothra, where have you been all my life?!!??! I cannot overstate how completely smitten, delighted, and just enchanted I was with this benevolent larva/moth goddess monster. While I generally appreciate the fact that several monster movies don’t cast the monsters as evil, it was so fun seeing just a straight-up good and kind monster. For me, peek adorability came in a scene where Mothra basically did a therapy session with Godzilla and Rodan to get them to help defeat Ghidorah. When the two of them refuse, she bravely sets out on her own to fight a foe much too powerful for her. Because Mothra is dope, and Mothra gets things done. (Naturally, the whole dialogue is done in monster talk, with the Shobijin translating).
Now, does the film get a little silly at times? Yes. At one point one of the monsters is struck on the head and his eyes roll around in different directions like an actual cartoon character. But even the occasional missteps in tone didn’t really ding the film for me.
This is the kind of movie that I could easily see rewatching over and over. The monster fights look really good. The whole look of the film is interesting and strange in the right ways. This is probably a close second to the original Godzilla film in terms of how much I enjoyed it.