Trailers From Hell - FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD (1966)

Dana Gould displays his love for this blast of kaiju awesomness! 

GORATH (1962) Poster Art and Lobby Cards

The walrus lives! 

GORATH (1962) - Where Is The Walrus?

Because of the conversation in Bloody Pit # 63 with Steve Sullivan I was persuaded to finally see GORATH (1962). He told me that the Doctor Who story we covered in that episode had a similar plot point to one in this Toho film and I was intrigued. Of course, the plot point he was talking about involves destroying or removing the core of the planet for some strange alien purpose - pure pulp science fiction madness! That turns out to not be exactly what happens in GORATH but it is just as insane and as scientifically implausible / impossible.

It seems GORATH is the name given to a small star or comet detected on the outer edge of our solar system on a collision course with Earth. Although it is only half the physical size of our planet it is 6000 times as dense ( an info tidbit the film beats to death!) so a way must be found to either divert it or get Earth out of its path. The rather innovative idea (and I'm being generous here) that the scientists come up with is to move our planet out of its orbit so as to avoid the collision with the fast approaching comet. That's right. Everyone intelligent person in the world decides that the right path forward is to shove our own planet closer to the Sun. Now, one might pause at the very idea and hold up a hand - perhaps like a petitioner student in a classroom - and point out that they are at least two major problems with this idea.

ONE - any force strong enough to actually divert something the size and mass of a planet from its orbit would be enough force to probably break it apart / destroy it.

TWO - moving the Earth closer to the Sun would completely change not just the weather patterns but the entire climate of the planet in such a way as to pretty much destroy all life on this muddy blue ball.

But hey - this is a Toho science-fiction film from the early 60s primarily aimed at a science fiction loving audience (i. e. kids) so it's best to just go along for the ride, I guess. Unfortunately, going along for the ride with this film was a little more difficult in the version I was watching. All I could find was the slightly shorter English dub version and I have to say the English dubbing does not help this film. Besides belaboring the density of Gorath it's also a very dumbed down translation of things and seems to be oversimplifying both events and relationships. All that would be terrible enough but after watching the film I learned from several friends that there was a giant monster trimmed from the English language version! What the Hell? A Toho SF epic from the 1960's complete with a rampaging giant creature and it was CUT OUT? What in the world were these idiots thinking?

Needless to say I was happy when a kind buddy linked me to the excised footage on YouTube -

- and now I just need to sit down and watch the Japanese version (with subtitles) and discover if the film plays better in it's original form WITH the giant walrus. Why would anyone want to deprive me of seeing a giant walrus destroying a polar base? 

Brief Thoughts - THE RETURN OF GODZILLA (1984)

For decades the only way American Godzilla fans could see the Japanese version of what became GODZILLA 1985 was through the bootleg market. Eventually Americans were able to buy Japanese DVDs of the film but it wasn't until just this past year that we finally got an actual legal release of THE RETURN OF GODZILLA (1984) here in the United States. Being a geeky bastard I, of course, had already seen this film via bootleg and knew that it was much different and much better than what was served up to American audiences in 1985. But I have to say that revisiting it now via the Kraken Blu-ray was revelatory in several ways.

I've always thought it was a good film but I honestly now consider it to be one of the best of the post Showa series of Godzilla films. Fashioned as a direct sequel to the original 1954 film and completely ignoring every movie that came along in the decades after it does what last year's SHIN GODZILLA did. That is to say it reinvents the creature for a new age bringing both seriousness and a sharp focus to what made the original classic such a great film. The two reboot films share more than they don't with both emphasizing the dangers of slow government bureaucracy as well as the fear of the potentially world ending dangers of human fallibility and gigantic mistakes that can't be altered. Both films are excellent and I find it difficult to decide which I like better.

G-Fest 2017 Image Dump!

And I only bought a small portion of this stuff! Sometimes my willpower amazes me. 

The Bloody Pit #51 - Godzilla Talk!

A few months ago our regular correspondent Jason Spear wrote in and, among other things, started a chat about fandom. This conversation became a much larger thing than we thought it would and expanded with other listeners chiming in to add their opinions to an already heated topic. When Jason realized that his off-the-cuff remarks had spawned a discussion that painted his comments in a dark light he felt the need to clarify what he meant. So, we decided to craft an entire episode around a discussion of fandom, Godzilla and just what it means to be wary of disrespectful filmgoers.

This is an odd show for us as there is no single film that we talk about for the length of the episode even if we do spend a long time on SHIN GODZILLA (2016). Indeed, there is a lot of Godzilla talk (hence the title) with much love expressed for the Big G and his costars. Of course, this being a show with Rod and Troy hosting there are a number of tangents starting with general bitching about late-era Bruno Mattei films. And there are few things funnier (or sadder, really) than Jason's tales of bad luck with crappy audiences in movie theaters. But, happily, he also has many stories of his journeys to Japan and his visits to a number of cultural landmarks that only genre fans or small  children would give the first damn about! Giant Gundam suits should be stationed everywhere, in my opinion.

If you want to add your voice to the conversation about what we discuss or anything else please write us at thebloodypit@gmail.com or join us over on the FaceBook page for the show. Thanks for downloading and listening. 

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The Bloody Pit #50 - GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH (1991)

Until now we have danced around the 1990's Godzilla films in our series of shows focused on Kaiju films but we have only briefly discussed them. That is over!

Closing out our Ghidorah Files series we come to 1991's GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH and it is a joyous time. The Heisei films are special to both Troy and myself for several reasons. I explain my discovery of this movie through the VHS gray market and the awakening of Big G love it inspired. Luckily this film and the entire seven film Heisei Godzilla series is now available on Blu-Ray so you no longer have to take the dark path of underground dupes and sleazy bootleggers. Unless you want to, that is.

As you might expect, this film sports some amazing monster battle action with locations in both the countryside and among the modern skyscrapers of Tokyo getting the worst of these two creature's destructive power. But the movie also has some great human characters that lead us through the often complicated time travel storyline and add some texture to the villainy. Of course, the 1990's Godzilla films had much worse luck with casting Caucasian actors than they did in the 1960's so we also have some pretty terrible acting in a few scenes. Nick Adams, oh, how we miss you!

So join us as we talk about this incredibly fun science fiction monster adventure. We touch on the controversy about the film's supposedly anti-American sequences as well as obvious TERMINATOR steals and the towering brilliance of Akira Ifukube's score. We also discuss the just below the surface metaphors and often hidden societal commentary with which the movie is laced. And then, courtesy of writer Keith Aiken's excellent article entitled GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH: Time Travel and the Origins of Godzilla we dig into the timeline of the Heisei films and talk about just how many Big G's there were!

Thank you for downloading and listening to us tackle this film. If you want to let us know what you think about the podcast, this movie or any other film you can contact us at thebloodypit@gmail.com or over on The Bloody Pit's FaceBook page. As we say near the end of this show we are casting about for ideas on what movies to cover in the near future and would love to hear your opinion. 

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The Bloody Pit #44 - GODZILLA VS GIGAN (1972)

The 1970's were a rough period for the cinematic stars of Toho's stable of giant monsters - budgets were being cut, plots were being recycled, wardrobe was becoming shabby and craft services was even cutting back on the amount of gin in the drinks! What's a crew of oversized reptiles, dragons and other assorted creatures to do? Bear down and just run with that crazy script, that's what! I feel the Big G held out hope for years that Kurasawa would eventually return his calls, but it was not to be.

So, 1972 saw the Japanese release of GODZILLA VS GIGAN but the film didn't appear in the US until five years later under the title of GODZILLA ON MONSTER ISLAND. If this is an indicator of the film's quality or just that the series was no longer seen as a sure money maker it certainly shows that interest in the giant monster stomps was on the wane. Your intrepid hosts dive into this one trying to determine whether the film holds real allure for any but the diehard fans. Since Troy falls into that category you can bet he has some kind words but what about that other guy?

As with most kaiju films many joys can found and this one does have its share. We talk about the movie's genesis as a reaction to the dark tone of the previous film in the series and the multiple scripts that were merged together to build the final story. Much complaining about certain acting choices are chewed over and Troy drops an odd theory or two about the film. The 'phallic food' discussion may be a make or break moment for our podcasting future! The film's recycled 'Aliens Attempting To Take Over the World' plotline lurches and stumbles into view to much eye rolling from both hosts but there is interest in the various stages of the mad scheme to destroy and replace the various monsters. It all has something to do with very difficult math but eventually becomes a case of Bumbling Heroes vs. Ineffectual Villains. And that's before the new monster Gigan shows up with his buddy Ghidorah to kick the crap out of Tokyo, so there are some good things here!

We end the show with a lengthy email from a listener just like you! This email does its level best to goad Troy and myself into a rage fueled fanboy rant but we just don't have it in us. But, when is a rant NOT a rant? That is the question! If you'd like to let us know what you think about this film or anything else in the world write us at thebloodypit@gmail.com and we'll be happy to hear from you.

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GODZILLA VS GIGAN (1972) Trailers

The Bloody Pit #40 - DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968)

We return to the land of the giant monsters for a surprising and impressive entry in Toho's Godzilla series. This was the ninth outing for the Big G and his crowd of monster cohorts. It was also the last time that the core group of creators responsible for bringing the original 1954 classic GOJIRA to the screen were to work together on a kaiju film. The studio increased the budget for this outing (for reasons we'll discuss in the show) and the extra money shows in ways both big and small. The use of pretty much every giant monster character that Toho had created up to this point meant that the special effects technicians were working overtime to build and shoot the numerous battles and scenes of city destruction. Oh, man- the monster fights in this film are so great!

Adding to the general excellence of this movie are the wonderful directorial touches of the great Ishirô Honda. Always a man with a keen eye for framing he also gets a chance in this film to give us several unexpected visually gorgeous images that verge on the surreal. Rarely has wet sand, high heeled shoes, a low sun and the sound of crashing surf been combined to such charged effect in a G rated film.

Since Troy just returned from his annual visit to Chicago's G-Fest I question him about the highlights of the convention. He has a little info on the new Japanese Godzilla film but we still await news of North American distribution. He relates tales of meeting numerous celebrities over the weekend and even has photographic evidence to back up his claims of glory. I really have to attend G-Fest one of the days! As the episode swings into gear we talk about the film's colorful set design, it's familiar and talented cast, the two different English dubs available and a host of other details we can't stop ourselves from gabbing about. I even spend a while complaining about the tease of seeing certain creatures who are given only seconds of screen time. I love you, Varan!

Thank you for downloading and listening to the show. We can be contacted at thebloodypit@gmail.com if you have any comments or suggestions. 

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DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968) Trailer

Concentrating pretty hard on this film for the past few days in preparation of the next Bloody Pit episode. If you have any comments on the film leave them in the comments below and we'll respond in the podcast!

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968) Poster Art and Lobby Cards