a.k.a. INVASION OF ASTRO MONSTER / GODZILLA VS. MONSTER ZERO / KAIJU DAISENSO
Toho Co. Ltd [1965] 96′
country: Japan
director: ISHIRO HONDA
cast: AKIRA TAKARADA, NICK ADAMS,
cast: AKIRA KUBO, KUMI MIZUNO
It’s confession time here at Wtf-Film. When I was growing up in the late 80′s and early 90′s I saw all of the regularly syndicated Godzilla films, be it MEGALON or GIGAN making their rounds on the local UHF or the UPA editions of TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA and the film reviewed here today filling up time slots at TNT. As a youngster my quotient for wanton kaiju destruction seemed endless, but MONSTER ZERO tested it time and time again – I fell asleep more than my fair share of times while watching it, and can only claim to have seen it all the way through on a handful of occasions. More recently I had the opportunity to view it again, both via the ancient Simitar DVD release and the much newer Classic Media disc from last year – the results were, unfortunately, much the same.
Very recently, Toho, courtesy of the Japan Specialty Movie Channel, unveiled their brand new high definition restoration of this, as well as the other Godzilla films from 1954 to 1975 – effectively giving me an opportunity to make good and realize why this film proves to be the fan favorite it is, just in time for my first annual Kaiju Christmas Spectacular.
