Kennelco Film Diary

(1974) dir. Jun Fukuda
viewed: 10/12/07

Part two of our Godzilla double feature, I selected this film as an alternate because of its popularity among Godzilla buffs.  I was originally introduced to the film via its re-release as Godzilla vs. the Bionic Monster, which shows my age, I suppose.  My first Godzilla film in the theater was Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) so I dunno, I thought this one looked pretty good.

It’s the preferable film to the earlier feature of the night, Son of Godzilla (1967).  There’s a lot more weirdness going on, what with the “space men” who turn into gorillas when injured or killed (with a mildly entertaining effect of transition, though a weird and impossible to explain end result in a cheap gorilla mask).  Mechagodzilla is brought by the “space men” but is also the presaged destiny of Okinawan myth, which includes defeat at the hands of Godzilla, who gets pumped up by lightning after an initial defeat, and King Shisa, the dog-lion image of Okinawa.

The Okinawa aspect of the film is interesting.  Perhaps it was a hope for marketing a new monster hero to Okinawa or something or maybe there is something more about Japan and its relationship with Okinawa in general.  But you’ve really got me with the “space men” and their gorilla hands and faces.  Subtext for these films only goes so far.

Mechagodzilla is pretty cool.  He shoots things out of every feature of his anatomy (okay, this is a kids film): fingers, mouth, stomache, eyes…and his head spins around like a giant mechanized Linda Blair, creating a force field.  Godzilla, of course, does get him in the end.  But as far as these films go, this was actually a pretty bloody affair.  Godzilla bleeds a lot and the “space men” bleed black blood quite profusely themselves.

Actually, the funniest statement of the night came from my son after watching the first one, which he didn’t know how he felt about.  He told me toward the end of the first film that he thought that he would enjoy the 2nd one better because, “This one is more violent.”  Little did he know.  Of course, maybe he meant “scary”.  I don’t think he really understands what “violence” means, per se. 

That said, my initial inspiration for showing him these films was because he keeps talking about Power Rangers, which I refuse to show him, and somehow I wound up on the topic of how derivative they are…(yeah, I know he doesn’t know what I mean)…anyways…we went to the originals of Japonese guys in rubber suits duking it out in the name of…well,…in the name of Godzilla.

They’ve been talking about it all day, so it’s made a bit of an impact.