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M3GAN: Embrace the Madness

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By Catherine Erskine

She’s got style! She’s got flare! She’ll have you questioning the very fabric of reality! It’s M3GAN! 

There is much to say about this “horror” sci-fi movie. (And, personally, I prefer the term ‘thriller’ over horror in this case) But let’s start with the facts and then get into my feelings about it.

From the minds of Blumhouse Productions and Atomic Monster, M3GAN is the very latest of AI technology, wrapped into a doll. (“The only toy you will ever need” M3GAN is referred to in the movie.) When Cady (Violet McGraw) loses both her parents in a car accident, her workaholic, tech whiz aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), who also the creator of M3GAN, takes her in. 

Gemma is struggling to deal with a major deadline at the company where she works to get out the newest, money-making machine. Looking to push the boundaries of AI technology in toys, Gemma has been secretly working on M3GAN with her tech sidekicks. Swamped with work, she decides to test the doll out on her niece in order to give her a friend to hang out (and a much needed distraction for Cady). (Because when a kids parents die, an AI robot who learns at a rapid pace and slowly becomes murderous is always the way to go!) Cady quickly “pairs” with M3GAN and the two become completely attached to one another. Cady sees M3GAN as her best friend and a distraction from her grief and M3GAN develops the an obsession with her owner (and a willingness to destroy anything that comes between them).

What could go wrong?!

A lot apparently. After unveiling M3GAN to her boss, Gemma becomes even busier. By the time she can see the destructive turn that this relationship is taking, it is already too late. M3GAN has danced and sang (yes, you read that right) and murdered her way to the point of having her own free will. And no one will get in between her and Cady. 

There are several key points addressed in M3GAN that make it interesting. These AI beings have come so close to being a reality that one wonders if they’ll eventually remove all need for human interaction. (Hopefully, without the murder/dancey part.) The truth is that these things are already a reality in our homes, looking to make our lives “easier” with mixed results. (I, for one, argue with Google home all the time when it can’t understand to turn off the light!) But, as our reliance on technology grows, it also seems to be removing our relationships from each other and impressionable kids who are now leaning on virtual reality are using screens to distract them from real feelings or emotional support. Though it’s also understandable that parents need to give their kids screen time to get a meal cooked or just get five minutes of silence, too much of a good thing can turn evil real quick.

In the end, humanity, love, and connection win out in an epic battle between aunt, niece and sassy murder robot. 

While I appreciated the themes of M3GAN, I also felt the acting was as it should be. McGraw and Williams work well together as the traumatized child and workaholic aunt while the supporting cast handle the comedy and poignant one liners to steer the stars in the right direction. But, if you are looking for true horror, you will not find it here. Featuring some jump scares, a doll that runs creepy and kills people with a sassy attitude, sure. (Think when Chucky got super cheesy.) But, ironically, that’s what makes the film work. The good thing is this movie seems to know that it is being ridiculous, and fully leans into it as it goes off the rails.

If you have seen the trailer, you get the gist of the film. M3GAN made me want to sleep with one eye open, and trust the AI in my cell phone even less than I already did. But it has also reminded me to check in with the youth that I work with one-on-one, off our electronics, which if anything is what is most worth taking away from it.

If you still want to watch M3GAN after reading this, fair enough! Just go in wanting a laugh with a couple moments of murder. We laughed quiet a few times I will give it that.  My advice, save your money, wait, and stream it. After all, I hear Cocaine Bear comes out in February, that could be an interesting watch….

M3GAN is in theatres on Friday, January 6th, 2023.

Monster Mondays – Godzilla 2000: Millenium (1999)

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By Ben Dower

Yuji Shinoda (Takehiro Murata), with the help of his daughter Io (Mayu Suzuki), heads up the Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN), an independent group of researchers who track Godzilla.  While chasing Godzilla through Nemuro one evening, they are joined by reporter Yuki Ichinose (Naomi Nishida).

A meteorite has been discovered at the bottom of the sea.  Shiro Miyasaka (Shiro Sano) of the Crisis Control Intelligence Agency (CCI) works to have the meteorite brought to the surface, but it turns out to be an alien spacecraft which takes flight after the sun rises.

Godzilla appears at the Tokai Nuclear Power Plant.  Mitsuo Katagiri (Hiroshi Abe), head of the CCI, wants to kill Godzilla and has the JSDF confront the monster with their new armour piercing Full Metal Missile.  The battle is interupted by the UFO, which blasts Godzilla back into the sea and then lands nearby.  Yuji Shinoda and Shiro Miyasaka, who are old friends, study a fragment of Godzilla’s flesh and uncover the secret of Godzilla’s regeration abilities, which they name Organizer G1.  

Despite attempts by CCI to anchor the UFO to the ground with wire, the object eventually breaks free and heads to Tokyo.  The spacecraft lands on the Tokyo Opera City Tower and hacks computers across the city, collecting all the data it can on Godzilla.  CCI has the top of Tokyo Opera City Tower blown up, but the UFO remains unscathed.  The spacecraft then responds by blasting the rest of the building apart.

Godzilla surfaces in Tokyo Bay and marches through the city to Shinjuku.  The monster and UFO battle, and the UFO takes some of Godzilla’s DNA.  The alien inside alters its genetic makeup using Godzilla’s DNA and mutates into a giant monster called Orga.  Godzilla and Orga do battle, with Orga able to use Organizer G1 to heal itself after Godzilla’s attacks.  Godzilla eventually destroys Orga, kills Katagiri, and blasts Tokyo with his ray, marking it as his territory.

In 1995, Toho ended the Heisei Godzilla series with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, clearing the way for TriStar Pictures’ big budget American Godzilla film.  TriStar had originally planned to make their own series of Godzilla films, but with reception for Godzilla (1998) being so bad, those plans were cancelled.  Despite the lack of any big screen followups, in September 1998, an animated spinoff of the TriStar film called Godzilla: The Series began broadcasting.  In many ways, Godzilla: The Series feels a lot like a more grounded version of the Showa Godzilla series and has been very well-received by fans.

With such a powerful rejection of TriStar Pictures’ Godzilla movie came open calls for Toho to produce a new Godzilla film, and so the studio moved quickly to put one into production.  With Tomoyuki Tanaka having passed away in 1997, Shogo Tomiyama took over the role of executive producer and hired Hiroshi Kashiwabara and Wataru Mimura to write the new film.  Kashiwabara had previously written Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla (1994), while Mimura had written Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993).  

Tomiyama also turned to people with past experience on Toho’s giant monster films when it came to the director roles.  Takao Okawara was hired to direct his fourth Godzilla film, having previously directed Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993), and Godzilla vs Destoroyah (1995).  Kenji Suzuki, who had succeeded Koichi Kawakita as special effects director on Rebirth of Mothra III (1998), was also hired to be the special effects director for Godzilla 2000: Millennium.

Also returning to the series is composer Takayuki Hattori, who had previously scored Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994).  Hattori’s score is pretty good, and his theme for Godzilla really helps convey the power of the monster.  Akira Ifukube’s classic Godzilla theme is also used when Godzilla rises out of Tokyo Bay and walks through the city to the UFO.

Rather than pick up where Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) left off and begin a series about the now adult Godzilla Junior, Godzilla 2000: Millennium takes place within its own continuity, something that would become a staple for most of the Millennium Godzilla series.  The move to stand alone films allowed Toho great room to experiment as the Millennium Godzilla series progressed as everything was open to change from one film to the next.  In keeping with this experimental new style, Godzilla is given his first major redesign in a Toho Godzilla film since Godzilla v. Biollante (1989).

Godzilla 2000: Millennium is very clearly a response to Godzilla (1998).  When Godzilla is attacked by the JSDF, he moves toward his attackers rather than running away like in the Hollywood film.  There is also the scene where Godzilla is attacked by fighter jets and struck by twelve missiles – the same number of missiles that killed TriStar Pictures’ Godzilla – and he just shrugs it off.  As if to drive the point home, Godzilla’s invicibility is even made a core aspect of the plot in the form of Organizer G1, with the alien invader trying to use it to make itself more powerful as it attempts to take over the Earth.

Godzilla 2000: Millennium was released to theatres in Japan on December 11, 1999.  Toho had the film dubbed into English in Hong Kong and TriStar Pictures licensed the movie for North American distribution.  Rather than just release Toho’s English dubbed version to home video as had been done with the last five Heisei Godzilla series films, TriStar instead decided to give the film a theatrical release in North America.  The movie was given a new dub in the United States, with the dialogue tweaked to be a little more funny than the Japanese version.  The sound effects were heavily altered, including both monsters’ roars, and new music was composed for some scenes.  Also, several minutes were trimmed to tighten the pacing of the film.  This new edit was released in North American theatres on August 18, 2000 as Godzilla 2000.

Godzilla 2000 was released on North American DVD and VHS on December 26, 2000, though I personally don’t ever remember seeing the VHS for sale in stores, apart from video rental shops.  This release contained only the heavily edited American cut of the film.  On September 9, 2014, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla 2000: Millennium to Blu-ray, with both cuts of the film on a single disc.  Godzilla 2000: Millennium is presented in Japanese with optional English subtitles only and lacks Toho’s own English dub of the film.  This Blu-ray release seems to still be available.

All Quiet on the Western Front: Horrors of War; Peace of the Moment

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By Daniel Eng

All Quiet on the Western Front follows the barely grown Paul (Felix Kammerer) as he joins the German army with his high school friends in the middle of WWI. This 2 1/2 hour war epic follows Paul as he finds himself on a horrific adventure where he witnesses the damaging violence that kills his fellow soldiers. His orders command him to continue to commit escalating acts of hatred. Paul lives but the guilt and pain erodes at this soul. His story is intercut with the German and Allied Leaders deal with the pettiest of grievances to end the war, showing the failure of power in the wrong hands.

In his opening sequence, director Edward Berger displays his intentions to display the innocence that is dismantled by the war on a vast environmental and deeply intimate level. In the very first shot of the film, we witness the beauty of nature through grand establishing shots which are later contrasted by shots overlooking the destruction and horror of the battlefield scattered with the dead. Then, the film follows a young soldier named Hans who introduces the viewer to the cruel, subjective experience of trench warfare and the brutality of hand-to-hand combat before cutting to the title card.

As Paul continually tries to recover from the trauma and grief of his friends who die early in the war, he starts to find camaraderie with his new company. Together, they indulge in the small, guilty pleasures of war, stealing a goose for Christmas, reading a letter from a spouse and smelling a woman’s stolen scarf. The amount of joy that they experience from consuming the delights of battle creates an effective shared empathy with the audience. Berger then uses these moments of quiet and joy to shatter any sense of contentment as Paul is continually thrusts us back into the chaos of battle where only yards are gained yet thousands die.

As Paul and his comrades kill in order to survive, the scarring nature of death reveals itself. In these conditions they have become subhuman. Rats crawl around their trenches and they walk sit in muddy water for days. The film’s score foreshadows this before they even reach the war zone with its memorable 3-beat synth. The theme contains a deep rock bass that invokes a youthful energy, a youthfulness that’s about to be fractured forever. These come in contrast to its traditional orchestral arrangements which bring both a sense of grief and peace over the audience. The opposing music genres create a more inconsistent tone throughout the film. The quiet moments become filled with these peaceful themes, leaving me to wonder if complete silence in contrast to the synth heavy theme would have a greater effect.

As the German Ambassador (Daniel Bruhl) signs the treaty to end the war, it seems the movie should follow suit, yet it doesn’t. The film’s de-escalation of obstacles puts the characters in a place of stasis. The writing then gives Paul and his friend Kat unconvincing desires that lead to risky decisions that I cannot empathize with. Then, we’re thrust right back into the war as Berger depicts an egotistical abuse of power by a German general to end his loss with a victory. What transpires creates a melancholic–though not at all unexpected–ending as Berger finishes his escapade on indicting the violence, cruelty, pride, and waste that was WW I.

All Quiet on the Western Front is a searing anti-war epic which finds its power in its most personal and grand moments. Solemn shots of Paul beside his fallen enemy and standing in a forest are reminders of the beautiful and tragic power of silence. While we may not be fighting a war, we often find ourselves rushing to finish work, enjoying life and still making room for those who matter the most to us. I hope that, as you witness Berger emphasize the beauty of silence, you may use those moments of solace to think about times you may need it in your own life.

All of us need quiet, it’s just a matter of when.

All Quiet on the Western Front is available on Netflix now.

Monster Mondays – Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996)

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By Ben Dower

During a meteor shower, something lands in Hokkaido.  The JSDF head out to the impact site, but instead of finding a meteorite, they find a strange trackway, as if whatever struck the Earth was slowing down as it hit the ground.  

Midori Honami (Miki Mizuno), a Sapporo Science Centre employee, is called upon to help investigate a mysterious set of scientific phenomenon in the area, which seem to be moving in the direction of Sapporo.  Before long, a Sapporo subway train is attacked by human-sized insect-like creatures.  While the police are trying to extract survivors from the train, a gigantic flower bursts out of the ground.  It is soon learned that the monsters have a symbiotic relationship with the flower, and the flower will explode with the power of a nuclear detonation to launch a seed into space and spread the creatures to another planet.

Gamera emerges from the Pacific Ocean and flies to Sapporo.  It quickly destroys the flower before it can explode, but is then attacked by the creatures, which swarm over him.  As Gamera struggles with the smaller monsters, Colonel Waterase (Toshiyuki Nagashima) names the monsters Legion, after the demons described in the Biblical passage of Mark 5:9.  Gamera manages to get away, but after he leaves, the gigantic Queen Legion bursts out of the ground and flies away.

Soon a second flower is threatening to blow up Sendai.  Asagi Kusanagi (Ayako Fujitani) is among the evacuees at Kasuminome Airfield when Gamera arrives to try to stop the flower.  Gamera is confronted by the Queen Legion, who is desperate to stall long enough for the flower to launch its seed.  Eventually the Queen Legion ducks underground, and Gamera is free to make his way to the flower.  

Gamera arrives at the flower, but he is too late.  He throws himself on it just as it explodes, stopping the seed from launching, but is seemingly killed in the explosion.  With Gamera now out of action and Legion heading toward Tokyo, things are looking bleak for Japan.

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995) was a hit with audiences and critics, so Daiei Film brought the crew back together to make a sequel.  Shusuke Kaneko, Kazunori Ito, Shinji Higuchi, and composer Kow Otani all return behind the scenes.  Actor Yukijiro Hotaru also returns, reprising his role as Tsutomu Osako, though this time he is a security guard at a Kirin beer factory, having left the Nagasaki police after his experience with the Gyaos.  Actress Ayako Fujitani also reprises her role from the first movie, once again playing Asagi Kusanagi, the girl linked to Gamera through the magatama amulet.

Gamera 2: Attack of Legion maintains the mature tone of the previous film.  The Soldier Legion’s attack on the subway train in Sapporo is suprisingly gory.  As with Gyaos in the last movie, Legion poses a real danger to mankind, and that danger builds as the film progresses.  The Legion’s flowers are essentially ticking time bombs, and thus our human characters and Gamera have only a short window in which to destroy them before they take out an entire city.  When Gamera fails to stop one from detonating in Sendai, not only is the city destroyed, but it helps to increase the stakes tremendously, especially with Legion moving in the direction of Tokyo.

The Queen Legion is a truly unique monster and a wonder of suitmation.  With Legion being an arthropod rather than a tetrapod, the special effects crew had to get very creative when it came to getting a human operator inside the suit, and they pull it off flawlessly.  Legion’s two front appendages are operated by the actor’s legs, but the back limbs, which are much more crab-like, function automatically as the actor walks, providing for very realistic looking arthropod locomotion.

Gamera gets a bit of a redesign, making him a little less cute than in the previous film.  It’s an improvement over his design in the last movie, with a more angular face.  Also, the crew made the wise decision to have his arms morph into flippers when he flies, giving him a much more plane-like appearance and helping to better sell the idea of a flying turtle.

Our two main cast members this time around are Miki Mizuno as Midori Honami, a Sapporo Science Centre employee, and Toshiyuki Nagashima as Colonel Waterase.  Both do a great job, with Nagashima in particular being very believable as a military leader facing a seemingly insurmountable crisis with dignity.

Kow Otani’s soundtrack is really good, with his main title piece helping set the unsettled tone early while also mixing in the Heisei Gamera theme.  The return of his Gamera theme helps link this film to its predecessor musically, and boosts the feeling of cohesion between the two.  Kow Otani would also return for Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999), and team up with Kaneko again for a film starring a bunch of other famous giant monsters: Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001).

Gamera 2: Attack of Legion is one of those rare sequels in that it is better than its predecessor, and considering how good Gamera: Guardian of the Universe was, that’s an incredible achievement.  The story is tight, with an increasing sense of urgency, and the enemy monster more interesting, with multiple forms and unique biology.  Shinji Higuchi has clearly learned a lot from his experience on Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, as his special effects work on Gamera 2: Attack of Legion shows clear improvement over that film.

Gamera 2: Attack of Legion is currently available on Blu-ray from Arrow Video in the box-set titled Gamera: The Heisei Era.  It contains the Japanese version, American English dub, and the “Lake Texarkana” comedy dub.

Monster Mondays: Gamera, Guardian of the Universe (1995)

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By Ben Dower

When three giant flying bat-like monsters named Gyaos hatch and begin feeding on people on Himegami Island, ornithologist Dr. Mayumi Nagamine (Shinobu Nakayama) and Nagasaki police inspector Tsutomu Osako (Yukijiro Hotaru) hatch a plan to trap them in Fukuoka Dome.

Meanwhile, a mysterious floating atoll is found in the Pacific Ocean.  A research team, including Naoya Kusanagi (Akira Onedera) and Yoshinari Yonemori (Tsuyoshi Ohara), head to the atoll and find the surface is dotted with magatama.  The atoll is soon discovered to contain the giant monster Gamera, and it is heading toward Fukuoka.

Gamera surfaces in Fukuoka Harbour just as the operation to trap the Gyaos is wrapping up.  Gamera kills one of the Gyaos as it flees the Fukuoka Dome, but the other two manage to escape.  To the surprise of Dr. Nagamine and Mr. Yonemori, Gamera also takes flight to pursue the Gyaos.

Mr. Yonemori gives one of the magatama to Naoya Kusanagi’s daughter, Asagi (Ayako Fujitani).  She soon finds the magatama has linked her to the monster, to the point where she can read his thoughts and his injuries show up on her body.

Meanwhile, Dr. Nagamine discovers the Gyaos can reproduce asexually and very quickly.  With the fate of humanity hanging in the balance, it is up to Gamera, with the help of Asagi, to kill the Gyaos before their numbers get out of control.

Seeing Toho’s success with giant monster pictures in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Daiei Film decided to create their own giant monster movie.  Their first attempt came in 1964 with Giant Horde Beast Nezura, a film about giant rats.  Real rats were brought in for the film, and things just went down hill from there.  The production was eventually shut down and the film never completed.

Though Giant Horde Beast Nezura was not to be, Daiei Film wasn’t ready to give up on the genre just yet.  In 1965 they released Gamera, the Giant Monster, about a giant flying fire-breathing turtle thawed out by a nuclear explosion in the Arctic that ends up going on a rampage through Tokyo.  The movie was a success, and sequels soon followed.  By the third film, the Gamera series had shifted to targeting children as its primary audience, with Gamera acting as a giant monster hero battling off dangerous monsters.  Tight budgets and juvenile plotlines became the norm as the series continued into the early 1970s until Gamera vs. Zigra (1971), after which Daiei went bankrupt in 1971.  As Daiei Film was trying to rebuild itself, the studio released Super Monster Gamera (1980), but it wasn’t much of a resurrection for the giant turtle.

In the 1990s, Toho was seeing success with the Heisei Godzilla series.  Now that Daiei Film was in much better shape, the studio decided to revive Gamera once again, hiring Shusuke Kaneko to direct the new movie.  Kaneko had got his start at Nikkatsu in the 1970s, working on several of their Roman Porno films.  In the late 1980s, as Nikkatsu headed toward bankruptcy, Kaneko left Nikkatsu to work with other studios, at one point even asking Producer Shogo Tomiyama if he could direct Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992).

Screenwriter Kazunori Ito was hired to write the new Gamera movie.  Ito is perhaps best known in the West for writing the anime film Ghost in the Shell (1995).  For Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, Ito completely reinvents both Gamera and Gyaos for a new generation.  The story is tight and coherant, sticking to genre conventions just enough to keep things feeling familiar for fans while also putting an original spin on old cliches.

To handle the special effects, Shinji Higuchi was brought onboard the production.  Higuchi had previously worked on The Return of Godzilla (1984) and Mikadroid: Robokill Beneath Discoclub Layla (1991), as well as been involved in several anime productions.  His special effects work for Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is incredible, and he would improve his craft with each successive entry in the Heisei Gamera trilogy. 

The film has a large cast, but there are two that really stand out.  The first is Yukijiro Hotaro, who plays Nagasaki police inspector Tsutomu Osako.  Hotaro is a prolific actor who got his start in the early 1980s in the pink film industry.  He is a very familiar face for fans of Japanese special effects productions, having been in many such films and shows over the last few decades.  Hotaru would return in both sequels to Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, as well as the fan-made Gamera 4: Truth (2003).

The second major star of the film is Ayako Fujitani in the role of Asagi Kusanagi.  Fujitani is the real-life daughter of actor Steven Seagal, and Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is her first acting role.  Like Hotaru, Fujitani would return for the following two Gamera films and Kaneko’s Cross Fire (2000), as well as star in Hideaki Anno’s Ritual (2000), which was based on a novella she wrote.

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is an incredible rebirth for Gamera, a monster that was largely regarded as a child-oriented, inferior knock-off of Godzilla. The film manages to take the rather silly concept of a heroic fire-breathing flying turtle and make the viewers totally buy into it.  Gamera: Guardian of the Universe easily tops every Heisei Godzilla series film, and is one of the best Japanese giant monster movies ever made.  As the Heisei Gamera trilogy continued into the late 1990s, each successive film got better and better.

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is currently available on Blu-ray from Arrow Video in the box-set titled Gamera: The Heisei Era.  It contains the Japanese version, American English dub, and the British English dub, which also weaves techno music throughout the film, creating a really wild viewing experience.

Halloween Ends: … Or Does It?

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By Catherine Erskine

If you are a fan of the Halloween franchise, you have been literally waiting your whole life for this movie. 

Or, in my case, before life even started. 

When the original Halloween was released in 1978, I wasn’t around. But, two years later, a Halloween fanatic was born, even though she didn’t know it yet. I still remember the first time I saw Jamie Lee Curtis screaming in the closet, running from a killer that she couldn’t kill. (I was at a sleep over when I was too young to be watching it, I am sure) 

I was hooked. 

Since then, I’ve followed the scream queen and Michael through 13 movies. Halloween wasn’t Halloween until these movies were watched. Were they all winners? No. So let’s just skip past the third one…. Every anthology needs a pass… or two… but I digress! Halloween followed me throughout my life and taught me the rules of horror and how to stay alive! (Always run out the door, not up the stairs!)

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in Halloween Ends, co-written, produced and directed by David Gordon Green.

So, to say that I was excited for the bittersweet ending to this saga was an understatement. But I was also nervous. Would they do us proud? Stick to the plot? (Although, has the franchise ever kept continuity with all the change ups to the backstory over the years?!) Would the film finally give Michael the ending that he deserved after all the chaos? 

After walking out of the theater, I can say I feel confident that they did.

In Ends, Jamie Lee Curtis continues to be an icon as usual and stays true to the fabric of her character. This was a movie that did not disappoint. One of the main themes that Ends discusses is the origin of evil and its nature. Is it something that you you let into your heart? If you do, will you let it consume you? Become your obsession? If Michael were ever to die, does Laurie have to go with him? These are the key questions that Laurie and her granddaughter struggle with throughout the movie.

With four years having passed since Michael last disappeared, Laurie is writing a book about her experiences as she tries to live a life free of fear. Meanwhile, a new love has blossomed between Allyson and a young man who has also been cast aside by the town after a terrible accident. When Laurie warns her granddaughter that she has a bad feeling about him, Allyson disregards it and poignantly attacks Laurie on her paranoia. “You pretend you have moved on but you are actually just obsessed with death,” she argues. For Allyson, what matters is trying to get away from the stigma of being a survivor and she wants to run away from the entire town.  But, of course, Michael, and his shadow of evil, are never far away. 

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in Halloween Ends, co-written, produced and directed by David Gordon Green.

With the franchise’s trademark campiness in its storytelling, Halloween Ends pays homage to its origins, with several moments that fans will recognize as nods to not only the previous movies but the iconic posters as well. Whether it’s the pumpkins or the reflection in a knife blade before the kill, the nostalgia factors were high, and Halloween Ends delivers just what you are looking for. Leaving the theatre felt like finally closing a book that you had been enjoying, yet still satisfied with an ending that you felt it deserved. I would highly recommend seeing it and felt it was a proper end to an era. 

But then again…. It IS Halloween…. 

And as Laurie writes “The truth is that evil doesn’t die. It changes shape.” 

Halloween Ends is available in theatres on Friday, October 14, 2022.

Monster Mondays: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

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By Ben Dower

An angry Godzilla, glowing red and spewing steam, attacks Hong Kong and Taiwan.  Little Godzilla is nowhere to be found.  Kenichi Yamane (Yasufumi Hayashi), the son of Shinkichi, who was adopted by Dr. Kyohei Yamane after his family was killed on Odo Island by Godzilla in 1954, concludes that Godzilla’s internal reactor will likely explode.

Reporter Yukari Yamane (Yoko Ishino), Kenichi’s sister, interviews Dr. Ijuin (Takuro Tatsumi) who seems to have rediscovered the Oxygen Destroyer.  The UNGCC plans to use the Oxygen Destroyer to kill Godzilla, but Emiko Yamane (Momoko Kochi, reprising her role from Godzilla (1954)) pleads with Kenichi not to use it.  The Super X III uses freezer weapons and cadmium bombs on Godzilla, but his internal reactor is still having trouble, meaning the monster will undergo a nuclear meltdown.

Meanwhile, some prehistoric crustaceans mutated by the use of the Oxygen Destroyer in 1954 have been causing havoc at a construction site.  The crustacean creatures merge into a giant monster Dr. Ijuin names Destoroyah.  Little Godzilla, now grown into Godzilla Junior, resurfaces off Japan.  He is lured to Destoroyah in the hopes Godzilla will follow and be killed by Destoroyah before he melts down.

Destoroyah kills Junior and attacks Godzilla.  As the battle goes on, Godzilla’s meltdown begins.  The Super X III and JSDF use freezer weapons to kill a wounded Destoroyah, and then turn their guns on the melting Godzilla in an attempt to contain the damage.  Suddenly the radiation levels drop.  Godzilla Junior, having absorbed the energy released by his father, is alive once again and now a full-grown Godzilla.

With ticket sales dropping on Godzilla film releases since Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) and an American Godzilla film potentially on the horizon, Toho made the decision to end the series and kill off their monster star.  Still, there was one problem Toho had left to solve: how to fittingly end the series.

Takao Okawara was brought back to direct the movie, and Kazuki Omori was again given the job of screenwriter.  One early idea tossed around for the film was to have Godzilla fight the ghost of the original 1954 Godzilla, but this concept was scrapped.  Instead the team behind the film cleverly came up with a way to tie the film back to Godzilla (1954) and the Oxygen Destroyer.

Destoroyah is an interesting monster that goes through many forms in its growth.  Early on it is a tiny crustacean that disolves fish, evoking the imagery of the Oxygen Destroyer.  It soon grows to human-sized orange crab-like creatures that spit a highly damaging ray weapon from a secondary mouth, likely inspired by the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise.  These crab-like forms soon fuse into a giant crab-like creature, that can switch to a flying form, which then later grows into a towering bipedal monster.

Godzilla undergoes his most substatial change since Godzilla vs Biollante (1989), and while his general design is still the same, portions of his body now glow orange and steam pours out of fissures in his body.  This is a very ill Godzilla that is clearly suffering from his malfunctioning internal systems.  Achieving these effects practically was truly an impressive feat by Special Effects Director Koichi Kawakita and his crew.

Godzilla Junior also looks very good, and thankfully Godzilla’s son has undergone a massive redesign from his look in Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla (1994).  Though the audience goes into the film expecting Godzilla to die, Junior’s storyline comes as a surprise.  The movie constantly puts his survival in doubt, playing with the audience’s emotions, right up until the end credits roll.  It’s a very clever move by Omori and Okawara, helping to replace some of the suspense lost by announcing Godzilla’s death to the world to generate publicity for the film.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah also carries a lot of thematic weight with it.  Godzilla’s death, whether it is by explosion or nuclear meltdown, poses a threat to the entire world, repeating the theme of Godzilla (1954) that our dangerous use of nuclear power could very well lead to our extinction.  The moral debate around the use of the Oxygen Destroyer is also brought back to the series, and the stakes are raised when it is discovered Dr. Serizawa’s use of the weapon in 1954 to kill Godzilla led to the creation of another terrible monster.

Not only did Godzilla vs. Destoroyah mark the end of the Heisei Godzilla series, but it was also the last film for two of Godzilla’s creators.  Tomoyuki Tanaka had been either a producer or executive producer on all the Godzilla films up to this point, and passed away in 1997 at the age of 86.  Likewise, Akira Ifukube, the man who had been the primary music composer for eleven of the previous twenty-one Godzilla movies, as well as a number of Toho’s other major giant monster pictures, wrote his twelfth and last score for a Godzilla film for Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.  Ifukube’s music continues to be used in Godzilla movies, most recently in the American film Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).  Akira Ifukube died in 2006 at the age of 91.

Toho had Godzilla vs. Destoroyah dubbed into English in Hong Kong and the film was released to VHS in North America in 1999 by Columbia TriStar Home Video.  This release was an English dubbed full screen version of the film that cut off the end credits, which featured a montage of footage from Godzilla (1954) and the Heisei Godzilla Series films.  The movie was released on DVD in 2000 in widescreen with English dubbing as the only audio option, again with the end credit montage largely cut off.  Unfortunately, the DVD is a double-sided disc with Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), making it difficult to handle and easy to get dirty or damaged. 

In 2014, Godzilla vs Destoroyah was released to Blu-ray in a double-feature set with Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Both films get their own disc, and are presented in widescreen with the original Japanese audio and English dub as audio options.  The full end credits are also preserved this time, though translated into English.  The subtitles appear to be a reasonable translation of the Japanese dialogue, rather than just based on the dubbing.  The Blu-ray release seems to still be available.

Monster Mondays: Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)

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By Ben Dower

The United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Centre has built another giant robot, named Moguera, to defend Japan against Godzilla.  They have also devised a plan to place a psychic controller on Godzilla.  Meanwhile, Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) receives a vision from the Cosmos, via Fairy Mothra, that warn her a space monster is on the way to Earth.

Lieutenant Koji Shinjo (Jun Hashizume) and Lieutenant Kiyoshi Sato (Zenkichi Yoneyama) are dispatched to Baas Island, where Godzilla lives with Little Godzilla, and meet with Major Akira Yuki (Akira Emoto).  Major Yuki has a grudge against Godzilla for killing one of his friends during the events of Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) and is working on his own plan to use blood coagulant to kill Godzilla.  They are later joined on the island by Dr. Susumu Okubo (Yosuke Saito), Professor Chinatsu Gondo (Towako Yoshikawa), and Miki Saegusa.

SpaceGodzilla is detected heading for Earth and Moguera is dispatched to confront it in the asteroid belt.  Moguera and the monster clash, but Moguera is defeated and has to return to Earth.

The psychic controller is planted on Godzilla and Miki is able to control the monster for a while before the device shorts out.  Lieutenant Shinjo and Lieutenant Sato join Major Yuki in his plan to kill Godzilla, but they are interrupted by the arrival of SpaceGodzilla.  SpaceGodzilla traps Little Godzilla in a crystaline cage and defeats Godzilla before flying away.

Miki is kidnapped from Baas Island.  It turns out Dr. Okubo is part of the Yakuza and he wants to use her to control Godzilla, but she is soon rescued by Major Yuki, Lieutenant Shinjo, and Lieutenant Sato.

SpaceGodzilla lands beside Fukuoka Tower and causes giant crystals to grow out of the ground.  Meanwhile, Godzilla comes ashore in Kagoshima and begins heading to Fukuoka as well.  Major Yuki, Lieutenant Shinjo, and Lieutenant Sato are sent in Moguera to fight SpaceGodzilla.  Godzilla arrives in Fukuoka and joins with Moguera to battle SpaceGodzilla.  Moguera is destroyed in the battle, but with SpaceGodzilla weakened, Godzilla is able to overpower it and kill it.

Miki uses her telekinesis to remove the psychic controller from Godzilla.  Major Yuki has also found a new respect for Godzilla and lets go of his grudge against the monster.  On Baas Island, the crystaline cage that held Little Godzilla has disappeared, and the baby monster is learning to breath atomic fire like his dad.   

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla was released in Japanese theatres on December 10th, 1994.  Kensho Yamashita was given the directorial duties and Hiroshi Kashiwabara wrote the screenplay.  Akira Ifukube did not return to score this movie, so Takayuki Hattori wrote the soundtrack instead.

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla is largely considered one of the weaker entries in the Heisei Godzilla series.  Though Major Yuki’s quest for revenge against Godzilla is one of the stronger subplots of the film, his plan to use a bullet filled with coagulant to do it feels rather ridiculous considering Godzilla just destroyed a multi-billion yen robot in the previous film.  There is also a really awkard romance that blooms between Lieutenant Shinjo and Miki Saegusa, despite the fact the two of them spend a lot of time arguing about Godzilla.

The theory proposed for SpaceGodzilla’s creation by Professor Gondo is that some Godzilla cells were carried into space, either by Mothra or Biollante, sucked into a black hole, pushed out from a white hole, merged with crystal organisms, and then exposed to energy from stars until it mutated into SpaceGodzilla.  It is really silly and feels somewhat adhoc, even for a Godzilla movie.  Still, SpaceGodzilla looks wonderfully imposing and his supernatural powers add a little diversity to the monster battles.  One thing that is really great about SpaceGodzilla are the little details that seem to indicate the Godzilla cells responsible for his creation come from Biollante, like the spikes at the side of his mouth and the golden spores rising into the air when he dies.

While SpaceGodzilla does look cool, Little Godzilla isn’t so fortunate.  Baby Godzilla from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II(1993) has grown a bit, but instead of sticking with the naturalistic looking dinosaur style of the last film, this movie features a really cute stubby tailed monster.  It does not feel like the natural next stage of the creature from the previous movie.  Fortunately the more naturalistic look would return in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) with Godzilla Junior, but Little Godzilla is a really strong diversion from what was established in the previous film.

Moguera is also a huge come down from Mechagodzilla in the last movie.  While Mechagodzilla’s design was smooth, and he walked with power and purpose, Moguera is angular and stiff.  Instead of inspiring a sense of awe like Mechagodzilla, you find yourself questioning how G-Force would ever expect Moguera to be able to go up against Godzilla.  Moguera also has the ability to separate into two smaller battle vehicles, Star Falcon and Land Moguera. Moguera is actually a returning monster based on a giant robot from the Toho alien invasion film The Mysterians (1957). 

Toho had Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla dubbed into English in Hong Kong and the film was released to VHS in North America in 1999 by Columbia TriStar Home Video.  This release was an English dubbed full screen version of the film that cut off the end credits, which featured video of Fairy Mothra flying in space.  The film was released on DVD in 2000 in widescreen with English dubbing as the only audio option.  Unfortunately, the DVD is a double-sided disc with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), making it difficult to handle and easy to get dirty or damaged. 

In 2014, Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla was released to Blu-ray in a double-feature set with Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II(1993) by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Both films get their own disc, and are presented in widescreen with the original Japanese audio and English dub as audio options.  The full end credits are also preserved this time, though translated into English.  The subtitles appear to be largely, though not totally, based off the dub.  The Blu-ray release seem to still be available.

Monster Mondays: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

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By Ben Dower

The United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Centre’s G-Force unit has built two new battle machines using the futuristic technology found in Mecha-King Ghidorah.  One is an aerial combat vehicle called Garuda, and the second is Mechagodzilla.

On Adonoa Island in the Bering Sea, an unfossilized Pteranodon egg is discovered.  As the research team is preparing to take the egg back to Japan, they are attacked by Rodan.  Suddenly Godzilla emerges from the sea and battles Rodan, killing it.  While the monsters are distracted by their fight, the team flees the island with the egg.

Back in Kyoto, scientist Azusa Gojo (Ryoko Sano) is studying the egg.  Mechagodzilla pilot Kazuma Aoki (Masahiro Takashima), who loves Pteranodons, skips out of work to see the egg.  The egg soon hatches, but instead of a Pteranodon, a Baby Godzilla emerges.

Godzilla appears at Yokkaichi and Mechagodzilla is dispatched.  A replacement pilot has to be found last minute for Kazuma, much to the frustration of his co-pilots.  Mechagodzilla battles Godzilla, but is defeated.  Godzilla heads to the Kyoto facility where Baby Godzilla is being kept.  Unable to get to the infant in the basement of the facility, Godzilla heads out to sea.

Psychic Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) has found that some prehistoric ferns on Baby Godzilla’s egg shell contained some sort of psychic song.  She has a group of girls from an ESP centre sing the song for Baby Godzilla, but it seems to only agitate him.  On Adonoa Island, however, the song has revived Rodan.

A plan is made to use Baby Godzilla to lure Godzilla to a remote island where he can be killed by Mechagodzilla.  As part of the plan, Miki will be needed on Mechagodzilla to locate Godzilla’s secondary brain in his spine.  Miki and Azusa object to the plan, but are overruled.

Azusa gets clearance to travel in the container with Baby Godzilla by helicopter, but the helicopter is suddenly attacked by Rodan.  The container is taken to Chiba by the monster, who then tries to break it open to get Baby Godzilla out.  Mechagodzilla and Garuda are sent, and Rodan is seriously injured.  Before Azusa and Baby Godzilla can be freed from the container, however, Godzilla emerges.

Despite feeling uncomfortable with the plan, Miki helps Mechagodzilla kill Godzilla.  Hearing Godzilla’s cries, Baby Godzilla calls out.  Rodan awakens and sacrifices himself, transferring his remaining energy into Godzilla.  Godzilla revives, super-charged, and destroys Mechagodzilla.  He then collects Baby Godzilla and the two monsters head out to sea.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II is arguably one of the best Godzilla movies of the Heisei series, packed with likable characters, a fun story, great special effects, and a lot of monster action.  It also brings back three classic Toho monsters: Mechagodzilla, Rodan and Minya, here reimagined as the much more grounded Baby Godzilla.

Takao Okawara was given the director’s chair once again, and Wataru Mimura was given the writing duties.  Mimura’s story is fun and engaging, keeping a great balance between the human characters and their monster co-stars, something helped by the inclusion of Baby Godzilla within those more human-oriented scenes.

Akira Ifukube also returns to score his third Heisei Godzilla movie, and he delivers a fatastic soundtrack.  Not only are his classic Godzilla and Rodan themes back, but he also writes brand new themes for Baby Godzilla and Mechagodzilla.  His theme for Mechagodzilla is particularly good, balancing the sense of power and weight of the robot with the wonder such a device should inspire.  Another standout piece is the music for Godzilla’s battle with Rodan on Adonoa island, which alternates beautifully between Godzilla’s theme and Rodan’s theme as the monsters clash.

Mechagodzilla is a truly fantastic update of the character.  Rather than being built by alien invaders this time around, the film takes the more rational route and has Mechagodzilla produced on Earth as an anti-Godzilla weapon.  The idea of using the technology found in Mecha-King Ghidorah is a really good one as it helps explain how this high-tech super-weapon was able to be built in 1994.  Mechagodzilla is less angular than his 1970s counterpart in this film, and moves a lot slower and more robotic, giving a real impression of weight and strength.

Thematically, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II isn’t all that deep.  Though the theme of the film is stated outright by one of the characters rather awkwardly as “life against artificial life”, the movie really seems to be addressing the value of life.  When it is decided that Baby Godzilla will be used as an “asset” to lure Godzilla, Azusa remarks that he is not just an asset, but a living being.  Miki also has reservations about the plan to kill Godzilla, and though she ultimately does what her superiors command, it’s clear she feels great guilt for her role in it.

Toho had Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II dubbed into English in Hong Kong and the film was released to VHS in North America in 1999 by Columbia TriStar Home Video.  This release was an English dubbed full screen version of the film that cut off the end credits, which featured video of Godzilla and Baby Godzilla swimming out to sea.  The film was later released on DVD in 2005 in widescreen with both the English dubbed audio track and the Japanese audio, though the English subtitles provided on the disc are based on the dubbing rather than a proper translation of the Japanese dialogue.  There appears to have been another English dub produced for the film as well, though it doesn’t seem to have been released.

In 2014, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II was released to Blu-ray in a double-feature set with Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla(1994) by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Both films get their own disc, and are presented in widescreen with the original Japanese audio and English dub as audio options.  The full end credits are also preserved this time, though translated into English.  Unfortunately the subtitles are largely based off the dub again.  The DVD and Blu-ray releases appear to still be available.

Monster Mondays: Godzilla vs. King Ghidora (1991)

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By Ben Dower

In 1992, writer Kenichiro Teresawa (Kōsuke Toyohara) is working on a book called The Birth of Godzilla, which details his theory that a dinosaur on Lagos Island that saved a Japanese unit during WWII was irradiated by H-bomb tests and turned into Godzilla.

A time machine from the 23rd century appears in Japan and onboard are Wilson (Chuck Wilson), Glenchiko (Richard Berger), and Emi Kanno (Anna Nakagawa), as well as several androids, including one called M-11 (Robert Scottfield).  The Futurians warn that Godzilla will soon destroy Japan and offer to go back in time to prevent the monster’s creation.

Emi and M-11 go back to 1944, taking with them Teresawa, Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka), and Professor Masaaki (Katsuhiko Sasaki), and witness the dinosaur battle U.S. forces on Lagos Island, saving the Japanese unit on the island.  The unit, led by Yasuaki Shindo (Yoshio Tsuchiya), pays their respects to the injured dinosaur and leaves the island.  M-11 teleports the dinosaur away from the island and Emi secretly release three small creatures called Dorats there.  Upon their return to the present, Wilson and Glenchiko inform them that Godzilla is gone, but a new monster has appeared: King Ghidorah.

King Ghidorah attacks Fukuoka, devastating the city and nearly killing Yasuaki Shindo, who is now a very successful businessman.  It turns out Wilson and Glenchiko are controlling King Ghidorah, which was once the three Dorats, and want to use him to prevent Japan from ascending to economic world dominance.  Emi, not realizing the full extant of Wilson and Glenchiko’s plan, reprograms M-11 in a mission to stop them.

Teresawa does some investigating and finds out a nuclear submarine sunk in the area they had teleported the dinosaur too, creating Godzilla anyways.  Godzilla emerges in Hokkaido and the Futurians send King Ghidorah to attack him.  Emi, M-11, and Teresawa destroy the computer being used to control King Ghidorah, giving Godzilla the upperhand.  They then teleport the time machine to Godzilla, who destroys it, killing Wilson and Glenchiko.  Godzilla blasts King Ghidorah with his atomic breath, sending the dragon plummeting into the ocean, and then attacks Sapporo.  

Emi goes back to the 23rd century and turns the remains of King Ghidorah into a giant cyborg called Mecha-King Ghidorah.  She brings Mecha-King Ghidorah back to 1992 and confronts Godzilla in Shinjuku, Tokyo, eventually carrying the monster out to sea.  She ditches Godzilla and Mecha-King Ghidorah in the ocean and heads back to 23rd century.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is a fascinating if somewhat muddled movie.  While The Return of Godzilla (1984) and Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) had been rather serious scifi films, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah injects much of the classic 1960s-style fun back into the series, and brings back arguably Godzilla’s most popular foe in the process.  The movie also maintains Godzilla’s core anti-nuclear themes while addressing Japan’s incredible post-war economic rise.

Composer Akira Ifukube returns to score his first Heisei Godzilla series film.  Ifukube had scored around half of the Showa Godzilla series films, including Godzilla (1954), as well as a lot of Toho’s other monster films.  His familiar musical cues for the monsters really add to the classic feel of this movie.

For his return to the big screen for the first time since the 1970s, King Ghidorah was given a makeover and all-new origin.  The new look is a rather simple but nice update of the Showa design, with horns replacing the hair behind each of the heads and spikes added to the two ends of the tail.  The new origin, in which King Ghidorah is the result of three small genetically engineered creatures mutating and fusing after exposure to an H-bomb test, is much more complicated than in the Showa series, and quite frankly just doesn’t work as well.

Godzilla also gets a revised origin, albeit a little less so than King Ghidorah.  In 1954, the big concern was nuclear weapons, but by the 1990s, nuclear energy was being used for all sorts of things and there had been a handful of nuclear accidents.  In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla being recreated after his removal from history through an accident involving a nuclear submarine is not just a warning against nuclear weapons, but also a warning against our increasing use of nuclear energy in our everyday lives.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah looks at Japan’s economic growth in the years since the war, particularly through the character of Yasuaki Shindo.  When the war ended in 1945, Japan was completely devastated.  By the mid-1980s, just four decades later, Japan was an economic powerhouse, with the Nikkei hitting its peak in late 1989.  By the time Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah hit theatres on December 14, 1991, the Japanese bubble economy had begun to burst.  Yasuaki Shindo is a World War II soldier turned businessman who helped rebuild Japan to prosperity in the decades after the war, only to live long enough to see Godzilla, the same creature who had saved him in 1944, begin to destroy everything he had worked for.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah sparked controversy in the United States upon its release in Japan due to its portrayal of Westerners trying to sabatoge Japan’s success and Godzillasaurus slaughtering U.S. soldiers on Lagos Island.  Tensions were high between Japan and the United States at the time due to Japan’s economic strength and some American news outlets ran stories about the film.

Toho had Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah dubbed into English in Hong Kong and the film was released to VHS and DVD in North America in 1998 by Columbia TriStar Home Video.  Both the VHS and DVD offer an English dubbed full screen version of the film that cuts off the end credits, which featured video of Godzilla under the sea.  To make matters worse, the DVD is a double-sided disc with Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), making it difficult to handle and easy to get dirty or damaged. 

In 2014, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah was released to Blu-ray in a double-feature set with Godzilla vs Mothra (1992) by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.  Fortunately, both films get separate discs this time around, and are presented in widescreen with the original Japanese audio and English dub as audio options, though the end credits are still truncated.  All North American releases of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah are currently out of print.