What monster movie are you currently watching?

[edgaguirus]

In honor of the year of the snake, I saw a British chiller called The Snake Woman. I use the word chiller loosely as the film is more talk than chills and fright. It has an adequate and simple storyline, but our lead and villainess are one dimensional, and the other characters fall into familiar stereotypes. The pacing also could be better. Overall, it's not a bad movie, but needs a little fleshing out to improve the lead characters and establish more of an atmosphere. Universal's Cult of the Cobra does the snake woman thing better, but The Snake Woman is a pleasing b-movie.

[JAGzilla]

Hammer's Scars of Dracula. Six movies in and the steam still hasn't run out of this series! It's definitely retreading old ideas with less impact than the first times around, but it's still competent and fun. And new elements are creeping in: Dracula's vampire bat familiar was a fun addition to the formula, charmingly hokey and fake, and with a memorable kill scene. Dracula himself actually got a lot of dialogue this time, always a plus. They keep finding new ways to kill him, too. This one was random and awkward, but visually dramatic.

[DynomikeGojira]

Saw Howl this week which was very good and then I a Wendigo vs Bigfoot movie called Fear The Beast I think which was decent.

[JAGzilla]

Zeiram (1991), via the Media Blasters Blu-ray. I was not prepared. Basically, take a bunch of grungy American monster/sci-fi movies from that time period (Terminator, Predator, Alien, The Thing), add a very healthy dose of Japan, put them in a blender, and you get this.

It's a very restrained production that does a great job of prioritizing its clearly limited budget. The cast and sets are small and focused, and the plot gives good reasons for it. That allows maximum attention to be given to the effects and action, and they deliver. Even if he is plainly derivative, Zeiram is a great, memorable monster, powerful and intimidating, loaded down with weapons and abilities. I appreciate that they kept his origins and motives vague: in classic Japanese monster style, sometimes all we need to know is that he's here and he's a problem. He's very well realized through both suitmation and stop motion, fairly competitive with the franchises that inspired him. It would have been nice if there had been more extras or throwaway characters for him to kill, but it wasn't necessary.

The human end of things is honestly really solid, too, with Iria making for a cool, slightly cheesy heroine with plenty of weapons and tricks of her own. She's skilled and professional, but overconfident and impatient, so there's a good balance of strengths and weaknesses there. Our two electricians are surprisingly great, too, dumb and bumbling even while they're pulling it together long enough to help save the day. The seriousness and comedy are juggled effectively, and everyone's acting is believable.

Yeah, Zeiram ended up being a hidden gem. It's a damn shame it's so completely unknown in the West. Kaiju movies are pretty niche, but I feel like this one might have broader appeal, pretty equally accessible to toku fans or fans of classic American monster movies. I'll have to check out the sequel at some point, too.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

The one electrician is Inspector Osako from the Gamera trilogy. He was apparently in Shogun too.

Added in 5 minutes 24 seconds:
Oh shit he was the Taiko, the old guy that died at the beginning and entrusted Torunaga with protecting his son until he became of age to succeed him. His death is what kickstarted the whole thing. That's awesome.

[edgaguirus]

I watched The Giant Gila Monster last night. Aside from that annoying little song, it's an entertaining film. The special effects shots are convincing in making the lizard look big, and the majority of the characters feel like real people than stock characters.