Destroy all Monsters (1968)

Originally reviewed on 8/27/23, last edited 9/7/23.

Poster of many Godzilla monsters all facing off. It includes Godzilla, Minilla, Anguirus, Mothra's larva, Kumonga, Baragon, Gorosaurus, Manda, King Ghidorah, Rodan, and Varan.

Classic campy goodness and pure dumb fun. There's a fuckload of monsters in this, including ones that hadn't yet crossed into the Godzillaverse just yet.

Last film we got an intro to the idea of a monster island and now we're full tilt into Monsterland, complete with quite the thorough explanation of how the monsters are contained, how they fare, and what they eat on said island. Hooray for following through and explaining things you establish!

It's always fun seeing sci-fi depict a distant future that is in the present day's past. Yeah they can rocket around the Earth and moon all they want, but the video call phones are still wired, because everything is wired isn't it?

The human plot is simple and easy for kids to understand, but it draws on a little too long. Simple should stay short and complex can be long, right?

Poor Ghidorah didn't stand a chance at all. Normally villains win a bit first and then get beaten, but no, Ghidorah got curbstomped instantly. Was this the first time we saw red blood in a Godzilla movie? It was really notable in this, oozing from one of Ghidorah's necks and spitting out of another's mouth as its neck is stomped on. Quite violent, but certainly that makes it quite exciting.

Also, were those... Metal worms aliens? I had no idea what I was looking at.

This marked the end of my August Godzillathon, and it was quite the nice send off even if my friends and I didn't get to watch the entire Criterion collection. Said friends live a few hours away, so if a part two of this ever occurs, it'll be awhile away.

★★☆☆☆