What are your favorite non-Godzilla Toho monster films?

[F4ZaTE_X]

The 90's Mothra trilogy

[Dino-Mario]

Dogora, Space Amoeba, Latitude Zero, The Mysterians, Battle in Outer Space, and War of the Gargantuas, to name a few

[mikelcho]

For me, it's the three Toho kaiju films with the relatively "small" kaiju:

*Frankenstein vs. Baragon
*The War of the Gargantuas
*King Kong Escapes

[Voyager]

Frankenstein vs Baragon
Rodan
Mothra

[Spuro]

Best: Mothra

My favorite: Frankenstein vs Baragon

[edgaguirus]

Rodan
Mothra
War of the Gargantuas
H-Man
Dogora
KKE

[shadowgigan]

Rodan, Mothra. I still need to see WOTG.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

War of the Gargantuas is #1 for me, I fucking love that movie. Easily in my top 10 kaiju films of all time. It's one of the most kaiju-centric films in the genre, and it's interesting in that it focuses on more humanoid kaiju instead of the usual reptiles and bugs. Gaira may not be the first kaiju to prey on humans but he's definitely the scariest; green bastard creeped me out as a kid. The climactic, titular, battle between the two brothers is one of my favorite kaiju fights. It's fast paced, it's set in downtown Tokyo and it's actually rather tragic seeing Sanda try to make peace with Gaira and finally giving up. Sure, you can point out that the "military set-up" scenes in this film go on for too long, that Frankenstein vs. Baragon did the same plot better the year before, or that the lead actor is discount Nick Adams. None of that matters because this movie is still ridiculously entertaining.

Rodan, Frankenstein vs. Baragon and Mothra, in that order, are the other three I like a lot. I have mixed to negative feelings about the rest. Varan is boring but passable. Dogora kinda sucks. King Kong Escapes and Space Amoeba are bad but funny. The Rebirth of Mothra trilogy is pretty godawful. I think that's it for Toho kaiju films not featuring Godzilla. Not counting movies like The Mysterians or Atragon that have a kaiju but don't revolve around them.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

I'd have to go with Rodan, although I genuinely like most of Toho's non-Godzilla monster films.

Rodan captures this feeling of dread, from the psychological terror seen in the caves (and it's aftermath) to that couple being swooped up during their date, there's something eerie and unsettling. For instance, there's a beauty in the terror associated with the small nature of caves still being felt when people in broad daylight in an open area are in just as much danger. Or how early in the film when the Megalunon breach into the house, that sense of security associated with homes is destroyed (literally too).

Watching Rodan as a kid surely left an impact on me, and as an adult I'm happy I can revisit this film and still feel that wonder, especially with the unique atmosphere that delves into horror here and there. Seriously, after seeing Nope in theaters last year and reading about this year's strange anomalies in the skies, I can totally see potential in a new Rodan film. If Godzilla's the disastrous storm in the distance, then Rodan's the kind of danger that strikes from seemingly nowhere. A lightning bolt striking a house, if you will.

And Rodan's film manages to end in tragedy without it feeling redundant compared to Godzilla or King Kong, so I find that to be another strength of the film.

[JAGzilla]

I'd have to go with Rodan, although I genuinely like most of Toho's non-Godzilla monster films.

Rodan captures this feeling of dread, from the psychological terror seen in the caves (and it's aftermath) to that couple being swooped up during their date, there's something eerie and unsettling. For instance, there's a beauty in the terror associated with the small nature of caves still being felt when people in broad daylight in an open area are in just as much danger. Or how early in the film when the Megalunon breach into the house, that sense of security associated with homes is destroyed (literally too).

Watching Rodan as a kid surely left an impact on me, and as an adult I'm happy I can revisit this film and still feel that wonder, especially with the unique atmosphere that delves into horror here and there. Seriously, after seeing Nope in theaters last year and reading about this year's strange anomalies in the skies, I can totally see potential in a new Rodan film. If Godzilla's the disastrous storm in the distance, then Rodan's the kind of danger that strikes from seemingly nowhere. A lightning bolt striking a house, if you will.

And Rodan's film manages to end in tragedy without it feeling redundant compared to Godzilla or King Kong, so I find that to be another strength of the film.

Lot of good takes here. I haven't seen Rodan in forever, but I can agree with everything here from what I remember. The idea of Rodan representing random, unexpected danger is particularly interesting and accurate. Godzilla is very much born from humanity's mistakes and, like they often are, he tends to be a slow, inexorable kind of threat. You can see him coming a long way off, but you're too weak to stop him from destroying everything. He could be said to be the danger of man.

Rodan, then, found randomly in a cave and fast enough to strike anywhere in the world at any time, is more the danger of chaos. Ghidorah fills this role well, too.

And then Mothra is the danger of God, appearing when necessary to righteously strike us down for our sins. Or save us from them, if she feels like it.

Slightly off-topic, but what "strange anomalies in the skies" are you referring to? The balloons and associated "UFOs"?

[JVM]

I need to rewatch some of these someday in the future, but Atragon is the last tokusatsu film I've watched recently and it really surprised me a lot. I enjoyed it and am thinking of showing it to some friends. I also was impressed with Frankenstein vs. Baragon when I saw it a few months earlier. I think WOTG needs a rewatch and likely Rodan though.

[Major sssspielberg!]

Space Amoeba is such a fun little movie with a lot to like about it.
They're pretty much all great though, even Dogora and Varan have some standout moments and sequences. I think about Varan's attack on the village a lot.

[Dv-218]

Genuinely a hard one for me lol. Most of the time it flips back and forth between Mothra and Rodan, but as a whole I’ll probably go with the latter. I just love the escalating sense of tension from the mystery around the Meganulons to realizing that their activity awakened something significantly worse. And the suit-miniature work is probably the best one in their 50s line up. The characters are fun to follow and the storyline around the Rodan pair is genuinely upsetting towards the end, particularly with the manner in which the music swells up as the male sacrifices himself in the volcano to follow his mate.

[godjacob]

If we count Rodan and Mothra as non-Godzilla films, then I think Mothra is my personal fav. Likeable protagonists, the best version of the template Mothra story, good villains and some of the effects work is quite the highlight.

[SpiderZilla]

War of the Gargantuas is my favorite. I first saw it when I was around 8 years old. It gave me nightmares afterwards which, as strange as it may sound, made me like the film even more.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Rodan but I also really enjoyed Latitude Zero. Rodan is quite possibly the most atmospheric film of the Showa era. The more horror themed opening act really gives it a unique feel that none of their other films really matched. Latitude Zero on the other hand is just plain fun. It's got this campy Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea meets James Bond meets Batman 66 vibe that I found immensely enjoyable. Add to that Caeser Romero giving it his all and you have some of the best campy fun west of the Pacific. The only thing that really hurts it are the extremely obvious wires and some questionable FX work. Still that might add to the camp charm for some.

[edgaguirus]

I enjoy KKE for the same reason. Kong's suit could be better, and there's dialogue that is laughable, but it's a fun movie.

[Thomas Latimer]

I REALLY like RODAN, but to mention others; MOTHRA, MATANGO, FRANKENSTEIN VS. BARAGON, THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS and if it's worth include it: LATITUDE ZERO.

Haven't seen those films in quite some time lol

By the way, do you guys recommend SPACE AMOEBA?

[UltramanGoji]

Recently went through an entire marathon of non-Godzilla Toho kaiju/science fiction films from the Showa era, so now I have a pretty good idea of which ones are my favorite/least favorite.

My three big favorites are The Human Vapor, Mothra, and Matango. Human Vapor is an excellent crime drama with a great story, emotional beats and special effects, highly overlooked in Toho's catalog (most likely due to not having a proper Region 1 release in any capacity). Mothra enough has been said about, honestly. Everything positive you've heard about it is true. Matango, too though I think it goes even further into being one of the finest horror films I've personally ever seen. Every beat hits to perfection on that one.

My least favorites are Varan and Half Human. Varan is mind-numbingly BORING, I have no idea what my 2015-aged self was thinking calling it "pretty good". Great monster no doubt but every other aspect just fails miserably. Half Human is another slog, an honestly amateur-level effort from Honda and even Tsuburaya. Kinda sucks Honda passed on GRA for this.

By the way, do you guys recommend SPACE AMOEBA?

It's good, but not great. A kind of low-energy effort for Honda's last hurrah as a kaiju director (excluding Terror of Mechagodzilla). Great cast and fun special effects but just sort of rudimentary, all things considered. I think the lingering absence of Tsuburaya, the lower budget, and general disinterest from everyone involved comes across in the final product.

[Thomas Latimer]

Thanks for the response, UltramanGoji!

And yes, THE HUMAN VAPOUR is excellent, the film's ending always makes me sad.

And (also) yes, MATANGO is one of the finest horror films i had watched (even though it's just a few lol).