Aside from a few Godzilla movies I haven't really seen very many of the movies that these toys come from, so out of a desire to learn more about their origins and just to watch some entertaining movies I was hoping you guys would share some of your favorite monster movies.
Alot of the best kaiju come from television series like Ultraman and Ultra Q. Ultraseven and Kamen Rider are a personal faves.. As far as movies go try Frankenstein vs. Baragon.
Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People Godzilla vs. Hedorah Monster Zero (aka Invasion of Astro Monster) Godzilla vs. Mothra Entire first season of Ultraman The Mysterians Showgirls
There's so many good things I could say about War of the Gargantuas but... the words get stuck in my throat.
Hah, ... filling in the blank for Roger's veiled reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGkh2UtPeLY And here is the WOG trailer for ready reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKwczMtLYXE
Favorite series for me is Ultra Q by far, all those monsters made history. Kamen Rider Black is up there too. As for movies, War of the Gargantuas and Frankenstein VS Baragon are tops. Everyone should really see The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra... its not kaiju but its worth its weight in gold to me. The last of the 90s Gamera(G3) films really set the standard of what a kaiju film should be.
Toy = Rat Bat Spider Movie = "Angry Red Planet" http://youtube.com/watch?v=pFdfcMzbVXw The SFX in this 1960 film was called Cinemagic - the movie was shot in color but the scenes on Mars were as shown in the clip to emulate the eeriness and foreboding of the angry red planet.
Lol....I love Showgirls. It has one of the best one-liners ever... "It doesn't suck..." It was a great comedy...lol
Obviously I was just being flippant by throwing that one into the mix but I love that monster of a movie too in the "so bad it's great" way. When I first saw it, I was really sick. A friend loaned it to me and it made me laugh so hard, it helped me get better. It's not kaiju but I'm watching the original "Frankenstein" tonight. I'm excited! Haven't seen it in years. A truly great early movie.
.....my daughters love watching mothra vs godzilla and sing along to the mothra song, which is great, driving down the road hearing mothra's song come out of two little dudetes....way too funny. The original japanese version of Godzilla is pretty cool too....no lame raymond burr another trippy one is called warning from space, marmit made a toy of the star shaped creatures, you could use them as weapons... goji vs hedorah rocks...love the fishhead bar scene....but even better is the child playing with the vintage kaiju at the beginning.....
Quartemass and the pit (5 Million Years to Earth) 'The Quatermass Experiment', 'Quatermass II' and 'Quatermass and the Pit' Q and the pit is one of the greatest tv/films made, I miss Hammer films....
The Frankenstein Conquers the World, War of the Gargantuas, Matango, Dogora, Monster Zero, and Godzilla vs. Hedorah recommendations are all excellent. I would add: all 3 Daimajin movies, Gamera '95, '96, and '99, King Kong Escapes, GMK (Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora, Giant Monsters All Out Attack), and Yokai Monsters.
creature from the black lagoon destroy all monsters (you get them all, even manda) day of the triffids war of the worlds the giant claw and episode of the old Outer Limits or any good old Doctor Who these are just off the top of my head, there are so many others my answer should probably read "ANY movie with a monster"
I have seen hardly any of the films people have been mentioning. I did get to see Godzilla: Final Wars on the big screen in booming 6.1 digital sound at my cinema last week. What a crazy ass film that was. I laughed a lot, especially with the brief scene of the hedorah. Oh, and I did like The Fly.
I loved Final Wars, that Gigan is just awesome, and Monster X was a cool Kaiju! The most recent Gamera, Gamera the Brave is very cool. When it comes to TV there are a TON: Kamen Rider Black, Kuuga, and Blade are a very cool (and Hibiki, though not everyones favorite). Ultraseven, Ultraman, Ultraman Nexus and Max (which had two Takashi Miike directed episodes!!) I highly recommend Ultraman Moebius though because it has a many of the original monsters in it, with guest appearences by a most of the 60's and 70's Ultras! It is also very recent so the FX look really good. Ultraseven X is an update of the original Ultraseven that is currently airing. It is alot like Joss Whedon's Angel series meets Kaiju, dark and gloomy. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehPKEogGiPk
I hope that the Quatermass films get re-released. I have been looking for these, but they are either available only in the "wrong" region to play on my DVD player, or they are outrageously priced because not currently available in the Hammer Region 1 version. I have the BBC TV version of Quatermass and the Pit, but would really love to see the others.
Spanish discs are the best way to go on these in my opinion, but then those wouldn't work in your DVD player either. but you are correct, the 2 films released here are OOP and there was never a R1 release of The Quatermass Experiment