Godzilla vs. Ghidora (1964) Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Ghidora, the Three Headed Monster
Year: 1964
Director: Ishiro Honda
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese

Hold on to your pants, the real name of the film is Ghidora, the Three Headed Monster but lets not kid ourselves, Godzilla is gonna slap the shit out of Ghidora. I saw this picture on a television channel called "drive-in movies" when I was younger and I was absolutely enthralled by it. It wasn't my introduction to the Godzilla franchise, that was...(sigh) the American 1998 version of Godzilla but it DID introduce me to Toho Studios.

After a meteorite unleashes a three-headed beast upon Tokyo, Mothra tries to unite with Godzilla and Rodan to battle the extraterrestrial threat.

After botching their first two face-off flicks—55’s Godzilla Raids Again and 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla—Toho returned to form with 1964’s Mothra vs. Godzilla, a smart and satisfying smack down. Later that same year, Toho came out with Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster and shook kaiju cinema to its very core. The costume for Ghidorah is pretty kickass.

This film has not one, not two, not five but FOUR towering monsters that shake the city's citizens to their very cores. We have Godzilla (a nuclear lizard), Mothra (a nuclear moth), Rodan (a giant pterodactyl) and Ghidora (three headed hell beast) all heading towards an epic confrontation. You might think that's too much (three's company, four is a crowd) but it's all so satisfying to watch on screen.

One could write this off as merely spectacle for spectacle's sake...and they would be right! It's not only one of the weirdest films in the Godzilla franchise, but also one of the most charming. In just a decade Gojira has been far removed from its origins, but if it must change then this was a decent way to go.