Top 5 Japanese Monster Movies of All Time

Japanese monster movies have a life of their own. They are not just one sided, and they are not just based on Godzilla. Some are laughable, some are grand but no matter how you want to label them, you’ll find that the influence they have made on Hollywood is extraordinary. You may find that even today, the thrill of the mega monster movie is alive and well, and that’s not just because Godzilla just pulled $93 million at the box office over the weekend. Compiling this list was not easy, but hey, someone’s got to do it right? It’s with that in mind that I present to you the top 5 Japanese Monster Movies of all time! You can purchase these by visiting Amazon HERE, otherwise miss out on the biggest and the best.

King Kong Escapes (1967)

Dr. Who has created a mechanized monster that looks exactly like King Kong and is looking for Element X. It is found deep in the caverns of the North Pole, and fails due to the cold. At that point the mad scientist goes to Mondo Island to capture the beast known as Kong. The plot thickens and it’s like a poorly constructed version of the 1933 movie, only with robotic Kong as the villain and the Tokyo Tower playing as the backdrop for an epic battle. This one had me laughing, and I love the parody, even if it wasn’t intentional. This was just cool, I don’t know what else to say about it, and even the poster is cool. Watching Kong take on a metal counterfeit is pretty cool, and this one has a lot more appeal than just the poster, so watch out for it. I should've positioned it higher on my list, now that I think about it.

Matango (1963)

I saw this when I was a kid, thanks in large part to VHS and it’s awesome. A shipwreck lands a group of people on a far off island, and there they find wild mushrooms, but that’s not all, they discover Mushroom People! This iconic horror film is more comedic in nature, and on par with “Plan 9 From Outer Space”. There are some bleak tones, and themes that are beyond the imagination of average horror and fantasy movies. The weird science fiction elements play well with the mad scientist idea that comes at the beginning. This may not be the pinnacle of monster movies, nor is it going to sit well with many, but I think it’s a fine monster flick from Japan.

Goke (1968)

Goke is also known as Body Snatcher From Hell and other titles in the United States. The movie features a mix of vampire lore, and monster movie moments. Some people compare the movie to “Lost” but I find it more on par with a vampiristic type of horror movie. The survivors here face a fate worse than death, as they must fight to live amidst what very well maybe the best vampires coming out of Japan. There’s a lot of little things that make this one a classic, more than I can really talk about in a quick blurb here. Over time it has become one of the cult classics that has seen numerous releases, and lots of praise from more fans than just my pesky list.

Gamera 3 (1999)

I was in high school when I got a bootleg copy of this movie and it’s one fine monster movie. Gamera returns from the edges of lackluster film, and brings about one of the best comebacks ever. So much so that the critics and most fan boys agree that the special effects and story found in this one is top notch. Some critics even noted that the movie plays on an “X-Files” note, and it really does do more for the genre than most other movies that mimicked the success of Godzilla and the original Gamera. Some people don’t like this monster, but I’ve always liked the notion, perhaps it’s because I like turtles. Gamera is badass in this movie, just simply badass!


Godzilla (1954)

The mother of them all, right? Godzilla’s initial movie came out in 1954 and sparked incredible interest from all over the world. The movie presents a lot of science fiction tones, and can be seen as funny at times, but it’s quite the accomplishment for movie making. The plot involves a giant monster that ravages Tokyo with heavy devastation not unlike World War II. The special effects were top notch, the critical reception was grand, and it has changed the face of the monster movie in a lot of ways. Sure, King Kong from the 30s was grand, but compared to the rampage that Godzilla brings out, Kong is outmatched. This is the #1 monster movie from Japan, hands down.

There you have it, 5 of the best monster movies that have come out of Japan ever. If you are going to go back and see these iconic pieces of cinema, please purchase the dvd or stream them from Amazon here. It will help me get this site more reviews and possibly get a prize for you 3 or so readers still interested in what I do here.

Death Note Review

There are some movies that slip my memory because they are terrible. Then there are movies that I don’t ever want to relive because they are beyond the scope of terrible, and that’s what happened with this one, I totally forgot that I watched it, fell asleep, and then finished it later on. Death Note is a film that has an interesting premise, and is based on an anime of the same name. I will try my best to create some sort of review of this movie, but don’t blame me if I give up mid-way.

The film revolves around two students at a university, one of which receives a killer notebook. He writes a name in it, and they die. The other tries to stop the deaths by trying to reason with the student, while our killer goes insane with his list. The full motion devil character makes for one of the worst pieces of this film, and fully makes me cringe at the memory. Not since I saw the PBS Frankenstein film did I completely laugh at the screen in a horror film.



The film is boring, it offers a certain level of interest with a detective sub plot, but other than that, this film sucks. I got tired of it right away, and would rather not sit through another viewing or even the sequel. A notebook that upon writing in it kills people? Yeah, I would rather just read Goosebumps again. Sorry.

Another bad film to add to the pile of crap movies I’ve seen this year.

Throne of Blood Review

I thought that this film was a more straightforward horror film, just because of the name, but as it continued to display on screen, I realized that this film is nothing more than an adaptation of the Macbeth play. Throne of Blood is not necessarily a scary film, but it is a very good morality tale with lots of twists and turns, set in Feudal Japan.

The story revolves around a military battle. The battle ends up being played out often off screen with much dialogue coming through to tell of what has happened. Two warriors are trapped in a forest and amidst the density they find a woman who predicts great things for one and not so great things for the other. Meanwhile the two end up rising through separate areas, one of which is pushed to take over the Emperor, the other becoming the emperor and this film goes off the rails midway through.

The movie really is played out nicely by the actors and the screenplay, acted out with entertainment, yet with a nostalgia look that is uncanny, gripping the viewer with emotional swiftness, and making it quite intriguing to watch. There is no major gore, the black and white tone doesn’t really allow for much, but the use of fog, cold, shadow and more, really made for some spooky settings at times.

I found this film to be far better than other Shakespeare adaptations, and the dark themes really pushed the envelope to more of a scarier version than anything you might see stolen by Disney. While this is not a horror film, I found it horrific, in the way it juxtaposes emotional discord in ancient Japan with how modern thought is. If you can connect the dots of intellectual nuances, you will find this to be a thrilling piece of cinema, even if it does seem a bit slow at times. Sure it’s not horror, but man doe sit have a few moments that are so tense, you can feel it in your soul.

Robo Vampire Review

Can Kung fu and horror mix well? The answer is an emphatic YES! This classic take on the mythos of vampirism takes a whole new meaning when in the hands of a kung fu director. Mixing elements of both exploitation and kung fu genres, this film mash up creates quite the compelling entry into the reviews of this site. Robo Vampire might be the best thing I’ve seen in a long time, and that’s saying a lot, because I see so much it’s ridiculous.

Vampires are the focal point of the film, as a heroin trade is relying heavily on the undead zombie like creatures to transport the drugs. But when law enforcement teams up with vigilantes a Robotic Vampire is created and he’s badass. Think of Robocop but Asian and less graphically and mechanically designed.

The film is quite interesting with a wide variety of different themes. The majority of the film is spent going through different spots where drugs are being transported, and then mixed in are fight scenes with either zombie vampires or robots. The martial arts is not great, the editing is poor, and the dubbing? Well the dubbing is not a whole lot better.

The movie is presented in Widescreen and the transfer is not half bad. There are some comical moments, and some random scenes of swimming in a pond or lake for no apparent reason. The movie really has a lackluster sense of plotting, and really gest tiring after a while. Despite the second act being laughable and even close to soft-core, the rest of the film has enough merit to mention.



The vampires, zombies and robotic elements create a unique spin on the classic vampire tale. Voodoo is introduced at one point, which is mixed with a magic set of kung fu weapons. The third act is confusing, and at one point the main characters are flying around, and just starting to throw out all the stops. I didn’t mind it, I liked being mindlessly entertained, and this film has a little bit of everything. It’s two movies with separate plots thrown together to make an interesting title somewhat feasible. I don’t know if I would recommend this film to everyone, but for my money, Robo Vampire is the best of both horror and kung fu…even if it does lack in the pacing, and editing, and well…plot. Who cares, I loved it.

P.S. Yes, I am well aware that this 1980's film is a complete rip off of Robo Cop, but do I care? Nope!

Shutter Review

There is a great deal of horror and science fiction coming out of Asia. Specifically Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and others. It's interesting to note that the good ones from those lands are repackaged, remade, and recreated at around pg-13, then getting an “Unrated” dvd release. This is no different, and while the first time I saw it, I was bored, this time around I actually liked it; some of it.

The film Shutter is relatively easy to follow and is relatively formulaic. The film follows a photographer to Japan, his wife and himself are enjoying the city and working out well, but as the film progresses our main character starts to feel odd things, and in his photographs appears someone from his past, little does he know, she is going to haunt him to death!

The movie oddly enough starts with a car accident. The couple runs over a woman, and that sets the tone for the film. The rest of the film plays out like an episode of the “Twilight Zone” and the ending is exactly what you would see from the popular series.

A majority of the film is spent looking for “ghosts” and “paranormal activity” among “experts” in the Tokyo area. They even visit with a magazine that specializes in photography that features ghosts and much more. This whole thing throws you off, and when bad things start happening, after a good amount of set up, you start to believe that the woman they ran over, didn't die, at least not all the way.

The gore effects, despite being pg-13 are higher than some of the rated R films I've seen in the past few years. I did enjoy the kills, even if they were only two, and understood the plotting, especially at the end when the whole film starts to unravel in terms of story. Joshua Jackson does a good enough job being that loveable loser at first only to turn into a conceited, stubborn idiot.

I didn't like that there was no way out. Sure, the main character and his cronies might be perverted and caused the rape of a woman, but she's killing them all? She's so obsessed with the American that she's haunting him? Really?

The film does look good, and I appreciated the overviews of the Japanese areas. The lights, the urban setting, and Roy from “The Office” was definitely cool for me to check out. I think there were moments that made me want to visit the area, and if I were given a chance, work there, but I snapped out of it when the crap hit the fan.

On a side note, I can't get the picture of Charlie Conway out of my head. You know, Joshua Jackson in the Mighty Ducks series. Speaking of which, what happened with The Mighty Ducks 4? I wish they'd do that one.



Is Shutter Scary? : No.

This film has some creepy moments, and I admit, I often wonder about photography and motion blurs. I've seen paranormal photographs, strange lights, and all sorts of weird things, but to the point of fear? Not really. This film does give off a weird notion, the idea of haunting spirits that literally weigh you down and punish you for your sins.

The remake is obviously “lighter” in a lot of ways than the original. I'll watch the original and confirm my thought, but overall, this remake is on par with the rest of the Asian horror remakes. It's watered down, it gets tedious at times, and you really have to throw out the rule book to enjoy it. While the visuals are nice, the story isn't nearly “horrific” enough in American terms to justify the remake.

I would recommend Shutter if you like the other Asian horror remakes, and if you're a horror movie blogger. Otherwise, I'm not so quick to give my whole hearted recommendation. However, I did buy the film, so maybe I'm an idiot and this film is better than I'm giving it credit for. Shutter is definitely watchable, but not necessarily a must see.

Battle Royale Review

I’ve been hearing about this movie since I was working in Los Angeles, as a casket store salesman. I never really got around to watching it, mainly because I had put it aside for some time now. However, with being unemployed, bored and tired, I was able to garner a copy of this film and finally saw what the hype was all about. This 2000 Japanese film is an interesting take on a lot of different intellectual factors, but to really consider those things, would be a disservice to the horror fans that seem to like to read this blog…all two of them.

Battle Royale starts with a simple premise, and an interesting visual. A young girl survives some sort of horrific game, she smiles, and the news reporter and fans seem to be going nuts. This is where we start our journey, and boy is it a journey.

The prologue to the film starts:

"At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence, and fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act—AKA: The BR Act..."

With this in mind, a group of students are taken and put into a room, they begin the game. The rules? They must kill each other until 1 is left! They are put on an island and good luck and good night!

If you’ve seen the movie “The Condemned” then you have the right sort of idea in regards to this film.

This is quite the film, it’s not direct to dvd quality, it’s “film” quality. This thing packs one hell of a punch, it features the most gore I’ve seen in a movie in some time. When I say gore for a Japanese film, I usually mean “Tokyo Gore Police” stylized gore, but not this time. There’s some legitimate use of gore. For instance, in the beginning of the film, a kid’s necklace (which everyone is wearing) explodes and a shower of blood comes out, but not to the extent of cartoon violence.

After the initial rules, the kids start to ask questions, and the game seriously begins.

Battle Royale was originally a Novel by Koushun Takami. The novel wasn’t critically well received, and later on became a best seller, and of course a film adaptation, which we are reviewing here. It was later turned into a bestselling manga comic, and translated into several different languages. You can find it if you look hard enough, and it's essentially similar to this movie, only more graphic...if that's at all possible.

This film, despite not being dubbed, is a great piece of exploitation film. It breaks several taboos, the main one being killing children. Children are not usually seen explicitly being killed on film, but in this film we not only get the complete horror of the situation, we also get explicit killing sequences involving adolescents which is not something normal in horror at all.

Is Battle Royale a scary film? : No.

Battle Royale is a good example of modern day exploitation film. I found the film to be quite good, but I don’t think that it’s a scary film. The story takes place on an alternative plane of existence, so right from the start we get a science fiction edge to it. However, being an adult and not living in Japan, and not knowing the school system, I found it hard to visualize this sort of deadly game.

However, using our imaginations, we can place ourselves in the shoes of the characters and then formulate the horrors that could be possible. For the most part, I didn’t really think this movie was too scary on its own.

This film does a great job showing desperation, and the will to live. It makes you ask some serious questions if you dwell on the scenario.

Battle Royale might frighten those with a weak stomach. However, you must realize that the true horror exhibited here is the human heart. It has been said that the Human Heart is the most wicked and deceitful thing, well, here is a showcase of the heart. A heart condition where you must kill to survive, and the question that this film left me and others with is definitely a simple one with a complicated answer.

Would you kill to survive?

I don’t know. Battle Royale is a good Japanese exploitation film that relies heavily on frenetic, stylized fight sequences, without romanticizing the style (ala kung fu film), and packs a serious punch. Whether you read the political undertones or not, this is a good overall example of exploitation, imagination, and horror all rolled into one package.

An American version was being worked on, but has been halted since some idiots decided to profess their love for this film and kill a bunch of innocent people. Will it be remade one day? Maybe. Until then, you’ve got an English Subtitled version to placate your bloodlust. Battle Royale is an easy target for being one of my favorite Japanese horror/exploitation films of the modern era.



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REWIND: Mirrors Review

I'm still unpacking my dvd's and I have a ton of things to review. However, with no job, and a little depression setting in, I'm lacking the passion to finish off my move. However, I will definitely be back in action sooner than later, please...please stay with me while I make this transition.



Alex Aja comes through once again, putting together a very scary and enjoyable remake of “Into The Mirror”, creating a very easy to watch film of paranoia, ghosts, religion, and death. Mirrors, is not a cult classic by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s not a bad movie, and despite what critics are going to say about this film, this was actually quite good.

The initial thing that I caught in this film was definitely great. I’m talking about typography. The typography in the beginning of the film came out backwards, as if they were in a mirror, then they flipped right side up. It was a really nice touch, and alongside the typographic effects, they used a cool (albeit beginner technique) mirror technique to display a vast city. It really was cool to see my schooling used on a real professional level.

The gore level was huge at the beginning. There is definitely a great introduction to the overall film, and it was great. However, the gore levels really just stop there for the most part. You might remember Amy Smart ripping her jaw off, but that was also in the first third of the film. It was incredible, but I think it might have been CG instead of make up techniques that I was expecting.



Here is a trailer for the movie Mirrors:



The rest of the film played out like an episode of 24. This movie really had some pacing problems, and like a lot of horror movies, I was ready to throw the towel in. However, right when I was ready to give up on this film, I really was in for a shock. The movie started to unravel, and I started to get a tense cold spike, and this film was insane. There were a lot of mirror effects that was top notch.

I didn’t like the wife’s acting. I thought she was horrible. However, the movie isn’t terrible at all. This movie was really tense at times, and besides the jump scenes, they had some great juxtaposition of religion, skepticism and reality.

For those of you that are now lost by this, I’ll take a moment to explain the film. The plot surrounds an old hotel with these indestructible mirrors. These mirrors are high, and massive. Inside the mirrors the dead seem to come alive, but in the real world there is nothing happening. The idea of dimensions is expressed in this film. Take a mirror and put it in front of another mirror slightly askew and you’ll see an infinite array of reflections. There is a theory of infinite universe and proof of God that hinges on the idea that in two mirrors you see infinite reflections. Therefore, infinite planes of existence, beyond 3-D. Math sometimes can talk of a fourth dimension, and if you are familiar with that, this film hinges on those ideas. The movie takes themes from “The Grudge”, and even “The Exorcist” and mashes them together into a relatively creepy film.



I’m not sure if I enjoyed the ending to this film, but for what it was, it was definitely better than I thought. I would recommend watching the Korean original “Into The Mirrors” but American audiences will enjoy this one for sure. It wasn’t half bad and I liked the intensity that Aja brought to this film. He’s definitely a worthwhile director. For those of you scratching your head about who Aja is, I reviewed his film P2 and High Tension!

Too bad that the studio's didn't push this one. Maybe it's because it was panned by most critics. But you know what? I liked it. I thought it was good for what it is. I paid five bucks and saw the first showing on a Saturday. My wife, who doesn't really have my taste in movies thought this was creepy, and so did my sister. Meanwhile I liked Tropic Thunder and they didn't think it was all that great. So there's definitely an audience for this, and to consider the deeper meanings of infinite universes, and transitional mirror dimensions, really makes for a creepy thing.

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Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl Trailer

The Japanese are consistently making better gore films than America. I'm almost ashamed at the American horror movie scene because while people praise new films like "Drag Me To Hell" with its pg-13 glory, the Japanese are pushing films like this one. Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl looks like a hybrid of Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police. Both of those films are a bukkake fest of blood and this one is beyond that.

I also find some of the scenes racist.

The film is going to be a cult and I do mean cult classic.

However, I wonder if there is a social merit to these films beyond laughable scenarios. I am assuming that by watching this film you admit that you're so desensitized that normal horror films no longer apply to your thirst for gore. Is this the natural progression for us?

Consider what we were watching as kids, here is a clip:



Within the first few seconds of this clip we have Tom shooting a shotgun at a flock of ducks, striking a young one in the arm and creating a plot point for the rest of the episode.

My problem with grown up horror and gore is not that it seems gratuitous at all, it seems to be that people forget that it's a natural progression of our own psyche. Maybe the point of the cartoons were that the progression in each episode Tom never really caught Jerry and killed him.

However, there is absurd violence in these stories, and furthermore in the stories of Coyote and Roadrunner. It's made "childish" because Coyote doesn't die due to his various infractions.

Maybe I'm just pushing tin here, but come on, we have grown up in such violent imagery. G.I. Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, Inspector Gadget, Batman, and so much more have images and themes of violence yet we don't realize them.

Is this the natural progression into gore and violence?

Maybe.

Maybe I'm just trying to over compensate for forgetting to watch a horror movie last night. Just saying....here's the trailer:



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