Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Originally reviewed on 8/26/23, last edited 9/7/23.

Poster of Ghidorah standing large and firing some form of movie-innacurate atomic breath out of all three heads while Godzilla fires his own atomic breath and Mothra spits silk at him.

I, too, am from Venus and I, too, have been heckled by being asked if I'm a man or woman. I feel represented by this film.

The Venusian princess / human plot was interesting but confusing. My friends thought she was possessed, but I swear she was a literal alien and it's just that Venus aliens just so happen to be identical to humans, just dressed differently.

The twin Mothra pixies, who used to be sort of mysterious entities, have gone full celebrity in this. They're straight up appearing in game shows and... Projecting visions of Mothra to human televisions??? Live your lives I guess, who am I to tell them what to do! I suppose the novelty of this stuff has faded for the people of this world considering people treated them more like celebrities than the reality-defying magical deities that they are... Until it comes to aliens, they all still doubted that the Venusian princess was actually from Venus, though. I can believe in pixies but aliens are just too far!

All that stuff with her sure dragged on with more and more characters piling up and up, though. Like, we get it, no one believes her and you're taking her here and there and everywhere and just god okay let's keep going now.

Onto the monsters, it's cool that Rodan looks and sounds like a fighter jet. Also, wait, Rodan? I won' spoil the ending of Rodan's debut film, but, uh, let's just say I'm not sure how he's just Here now. Makes up for the fact that he's completely immobile during flight scenes, makes it feel purposeful. Godzilla is growing less evil and is really becoming a brute who is sometimes helpful. And wihh Mothra, I'm not sure why they didn't re-use the old larvae puppets?

Ghidorah is one of my favorite daikaiju, if the shrine to him hadn't already made it obvious. I really adore the look he has in the Showa era, looking very much like an Eastern dragon with his fluffy mane and cat-like facial features. Plus, I love the sort of crescent moon on top of each head. Interestingly, in a lot of promotional posters (including the one above) he appears to be primary colors red, blue, and yellow. I don't think a suit that looks like that was ever made?

This movie is comedic, but still not as stupidly goofy as King Kong vs Godzilla. Godzilla gets zapped right in the dick and then in the ass, and the final fight is just all out shenanigans. The English dub even implies that Godzilla swears! Definitely one of the better Showa films.

★★★☆☆