It’s the week of “Movies with Long Names.” OK, maybe that’s just a coincidence. Only one new film this week, the latest in the Final Destination franchise. After that, we’ll look at the brutal “Green Room” from 2015 and “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night” from 2014. For our oldies, we’ll start with the first installment of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” from 1997 and the even-older “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla” from 1974.
“The Horror Guys Guide to the Horror Films of Christopher Lee” is available NOW! https://www.horrormonthly.com/horror-guys-guides/christopher-lee-films
Check out our selection of short horror biographies, including Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and many more: https://www.hourlongpress.com/
The latest issue of “Horror Monthly,” issue #46 is now on sale! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link:
https://horrormonthly.com
One of my favorite writing and organizing tools is Workflowy, the endless outliner. Check it out at https://workflowy.com/invite/4958355e.lnx
Mainstream Films:
2025 Final Destination: Bloodlines
Directed by: Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein
Written by: Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, Jon Watts
Stars: Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Rya Kihlstedt
Run Time: 1 Hour, 50 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one starts out with an amazing disaster scene, which of course is prevented because it was actually just a vision by the main participant - a familiar formula. But then we get to find out how that connects to all the movies so far and the events of this one. It’s more of the same as death takes people in strange ways, and Tony Todd has a nice wrap up in this one in his final film role. It’s decent all around, and if you’ve seen and enjoyed the other movies in the series you ought to enjoy this one too.
Spoilery Synopsis
A man and a woman in a blindfold drive to her “surprise,” and it’s the 1960s. They stop at “The Skyview,” a Space Needle-like building that’s just opening. As they walk in, the camera focuses on random stuff, as they always do in these films. They board an overcrowded elevator that doesn’t close properly. There are red flags everywhere as the door cracks open hundreds of feet above the ground.
They arrive at the top safely, and it’s very nice. And scary. She doesn’t like heights, and it’s not so much fun after all. She can’t stop looking at the dance floor’s glass bottom. A stranger talks to her about being pregnant. Iris’s boyfriend takes her up to the observation deck and proposes to her. A kid throws a penny off the tower, which gets sucked into an air vent and jams a fan.
In the dance room, they do “Shout,” and the place gets hopping and rocking. It’s almost too obvious what’s going to happen. The floor shatters, and everyone falls to their deaths. But that’s not all, there’s a gas leak that explodes and kills the ones who didn’t fall. It’s full-on panic, the elevator goes back, and even the stairway is a deathtrap. The whole tower starts to fall over, turning the room sideways. Everyone dies–
Stefani Reyes wakes up from her nightmare in the middle of math class, in modern times. She’s had this dream over and over. Stefani’s grandmother was named Iris, but she’s never even met her. Stefani goes home to her father’s house to find out more about her mysterious grandma. Her father would just as soon Iris’s name never come up again.
Stefani and her brother Charlie go to visit their cousins and Aunt Brenda and Uncle Howard. She wants to talk to Howard about his mother, Iris. When Stefani mentions The Skyview, they all clam up. “Iris Campbell is a deeply disturbed woman.” The old woman got so Death-obsessed that they took her children away. Aunt Brenda is more sympathetic and gives her an address.
Stefani drives way out to the country to find old Iris, who lives in a gated fortress. The compound is very post-apocalyptic-looking, and the inside of the house is weird as well.
Stefani tells Iris about the dream. Iris says that was her premonition years ago. We flash back to what really happened. Iris ran through the restaurant and told everyone what was going to happen. Everyone lived! Eventually, they tore down the building; she stopped the disaster.
Death, on the other hand, doesn’t like to be cheated. He came back and killed everyone who escaped him that day, in the order they would have died. Iris is the only one alive; she’s also clearly crazy, and Stefani picks up on that easily enough. “Death is coming for our family!” The family shouldn’t even exist since she was meant to die at the tower. Stefani leaves in a hurry, but Iris gives her a book of notes and crazy stuff. To prove it, Iris dies gruesomely right in front of Stefani.
Fast-forwarding to the funeral, the whole family, including Stefani’s estranged mother, Darlene, shows up. Afterward, there’s a family barbecue. We see a glass break and get mixed in with the ice. Stefani reads Iri’s book and sees notes about the previous films, and the camera starts showing all the ways to die at the picnic. Which danger is gonna hit first? A sequence of coincidences leads to Howard’s face getting chewed off by a lawnmower.
After the next funeral, Stefani sets up her crazy wall, which is also the family tree, extending to all the “survivors” of the tower disaster. She explains the whole thing to the entire family, since Iris had children that she never should have had, they’re all at risk. “We were never supposed to exist!” Erik, Julia, Bobby, Darlene, Stefani, and Charlie are all going to die, in that order. The family is skeptical at best.
Erik is a tattooist who has to work late. He decides to give himself a new tattoo for his recently deceased father. A ceiling fan and a nose ring lead to his comical demise.
No, in the morning, Erik is just fine. Stefani and Charlie find him and say he should be dead. He jokes that he’s indestructible. For some reason, Death skips Erik and kills Julia with a garbage truck. After that, the family is more open to Stefani’s story. Brenda admits that Erik wasn’t Howard’s biological son; he was an affair baby, so he’s safe from the curse.
Bobby’s next, and they all get a warning about his peanut allergy. The whole gang gets in Darlene’s RV to talk to someone mentioned in Iris’s book. Stefani and Darlene talk about the family.
The group arrives at the morgue of a big hospital, and they meet JB Bludworth. He already knows the whole story. He was the little boy who was the last to die in the original premonition disaster. He explains the rules, even the part about killing someone else to take their years. Also, dying and coming back will break the chain. He’s going to retire now and enjoy the time he has left.
Erik and Bobby sneak off to the hospital. They plan on killing Bobby and then, with all the doctors there, bring him back. It’s time to feed Bobby some peanuts. Bobby sneaks into the MRI room to eat the nuts, and the machine activates and dials up to eleven. It pulls out all Erik’s piercings, one by one and then he’s sucked into the machine and broken in half. Bobby, on the other hand, gets screwed.
Stefani, Charlie, and Darlene decided to go back to Iris’s cabin; the old woman had lived there for decades. The group arrives at Iris’s, but Death tries hard to kill them on the way. When they get there, the house explodes, sending each of the three to a near-death experience. Darlene’s turns out to be a little nearer than the others.
Stefani is trapped underwater in the explosion and drowns as Charlie battles to release her. He brings her up and resuscitates her, which might break the chain.
Stefani and Charlie go home to their father, who wasn’t included in the curse, and it’s time for Charlie’s graduation. We also see that the evil penny from the opening is on the loose again. On the other hand, maybe Stefani wasn’t really dead when Charlie saved her. They do not survive.
Brian’s Commentary
This was Tony Todd’s final film, and he was noticeably thin and frail here. This is also essentially his origin story, so now we know how he’s been involved in all this over the years.
It’s a much more involved plot than any of the previous films, with no real explanation as to why Iris was able to hold Death at bay for decades.
The opening scene was amazing, but there was also a lot of obvious CGI. The rest of the film seemed a little tamer than the previous films, but maybe that’s just because we've seen all the other films so recently.
It was good!
Kevin’s Commentary
It does lean heavily on the CGI, but it’s entertaining. The way they brought everything together was nicely done. Though the basic premise to the whole series is silly if you think about it too deeply. But I thought this was a nice wrap up to the series. No more please. Thank you.
2015 Green Room
Directed by: Jeremy Saulnier
Written by: Jeremy Saulnier
Stars: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Patrick Stewart
Run Time: 1 Hour, 35 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This has plenty of horror elements, but it’s just bad people doing bad things to other people. Very bad things. When a band witnesses a murder, the situation gets out of hand as the baddies try to put a cap on it, and things keep getting worse as the heroes fight back. It gets messy and tension builds as things progress. We thought it was pretty great.
Spoilery Synopsis
Pat, Sam, Reece, and Tiger wake up in a cornfield where they ran off the road last night. They’re out of gas and have to ride a bike to civilization, where they siphon gas from some stranger’s car. They’re soon back on the road and arrive at Tad’s house, where they crash for a while.
Tad interviews the band; they’re not on social media and are hard to find. During the conversation, it comes up that Tad doesn’t have any serious work for them, so they end up playing at… a diner. They make $6.87 each for their work. Tad calls his cousin, Daniel, who can get them into a show tomorrow.
They arrive at the venue, the manager, Gabe, shows them around, and it’s not a classy place. The bar’s full of radical right-wing white supremacists, and the band are lefties who plan to sing anti-Nazi songs to the crowd. “Nazi Punks, Fuck Off!” is their first song. They get into regular music after that, and the crowd enjoys it.
On the way out, Pat goes back into the dressing room for a phone and finds a dead body on the floor; someone was stabbed. Pat tries to call the cops, but Gabe stops them. Gabe goes to the office and talks to Daniel, who pulls out $600 and pays one kid to stab his brother; that’ll give the cops something to deal with as the reason they were called, ignoring what went on inside.
Darcy, the club’s owner, arrives on the scene. He’s big on “damage control,” and wants to know who else knows the band was even here. He’s not happy about this whole situation.
Inside, the four band members, along with Amber, another girl, know they’re in deep trouble. They attack Big Justin, the guy who’s been holding them captive in the green room. They grab his gun. Outside, Darcy, Gabe, and Daniel make plans.
Darcy cuts the power, pretends there’s a problem, and sends the crowd of patrons home. Darcy talks to Pat through the locked door; he wants them to come out, and he’s very logical in his arguments. Pat and the band just want the cops to come, but they’ve come and gone.
Pat opens the door to give back the gun, senses a trap, and all hell breaks loose; both Pat and Justin end up with broken arms. Big Justin soon winds up dead.
Reece and Tiger break through the floor into the basement drug lab. That’s why Darcy is so eager to keep the cops out. They try the locked door, and it’s not only open, there’s no one watching the door. Is this a trap?
Yes. Trained dogs attack everyone. Tiger gets his throat ripped out, Reece gets captured and beaten, but Amber drives her dog off. Pat, Sam, and Amber run back to the green room. Darcy sends in Daniel with a machete to handle them and then learns that Daniel may have had the girl inside killed for a good reason.
Inside, Daniel knows he’s been caught and offers to help the three band members. He starts to show them another way out, but is soon killed along with Sam.
Pat and Amber talk about paintball, and Pat decides to distract the men coming for them by acting crazy. Their ploy works, and they overpower the two killers who come in after them.
Amber and Pat climb up out of the drug lab to find Gabe cleaning in the green room. Everyone else seems to have cleared out. Gabe may not be as bad as he seemed, willing to assist them now.
Pat and Amber find men in the woods who were disposing of their van. They find a whole staged crime scene that makes it look like the band was killed while stealing gas. They shoot Darcy and two other men.
Gabe walks to find some farmers and tells them to call the police. Pat and Amber, survivors, aren’t in the mood to talk about music anymore.
Brian’s Commentary
I've heard people say this was good, but otherwise, I went into it blind, having no idea what it was really about. It’s a non-stop rollercoaster of tension, and it’s pretty obvious all along that the heroes have no real chance of escape. After a while, I was starting to wonder what Darcy intended to do with all the dead bodies, as they were really starting to pile up. They staged a crime scene for the band members, but that didn’t explain all of his people who ended up dead.
It’s really good!
Kevin’s Commentary
It started right out with characters that seemed real and I cared about, which makes the situation they get stuck in all the worse to watch when the tension starts to build. The script and cast were very good, it was well directed. Patrick Stewart was perfect for the role, sensible, fatherly, and evil. I liked this one a lot.
2014 A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Directed by: Ana Lily Amirpour
Written by: Ana Lily Amirpour
Stars: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh
Run Time: 1 Hour, 41 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was strange and dreamy, with deliberate elements of classic black and white horror like Nosferatu and spaghetti westerns, set in the Middle East but somewhat vague on exact location and time - almost like an alternate universe and timeline. But there is definitely a vampire. And romance. With a great soundtrack. We thought it was very interesting.
Spoilery Synopsis
We watch a man take a cat out of someone’s yard. As he walks through the streets, and the credits roll, we see that it’s not the classiest part of town; it’s downright sketchy. He gets to his very nice car and drives away.
We cut to Hossein, an old man, injecting himself with heroin, or something close. His drug dealer, Saeed, comes to the house and wants money; young Arash, whom we saw earlier, sticks up for his addicted father. His father owes so much money that the dealer takes Arash’s car in payment.
The next day, Arash takes up bicycling to get to his job as a gardener for a rich girl. She comes onto him, but he knows better than to go for that.
Saeed, the pimp, talks to Atti, the prostitute, about her getting too old for this stuff. He refuses to pay her and throws her out of the car before calling her a hag.
A girl walks home alone at night, gets home, listens to music, and works on her makeup. She goes out again and walks past Saeed, who likes what she sees. They go to his place, and she watches as he snorts coke. He dances and gets down to the music, but she just sorta stands there looking creepy. Suddenly, she sprouts fangs and bites his finger off. Then she goes for the neck, and he’s done for. She collects his watch and jewelry before wandering around the apartment to look at his things.
Arash comes to the apartment; he’s stolen some valuable earrings and wants to trade them for his car back. The Girl hears him on the intercom and comes down. Arash soon finds Saeed’s body and takes his car keys back, along with drugs and money.
In the morning, Arash disposes of Saeed’s body and takes over his business. As the spaghetti-western trumpet music plays, we catch up with all the characters.
Old man Hossein wants to be friendly with old hooker Atti, but he can’t pay. He spots “The Girl” on the side of the road and thinks he can do better with her. He gets weirded out and runs away, so she picks on the young local beggar-boy instead. He, too, runs away, but she goes after him just to be scary. She also steals his skateboard.
At a party, Arash’s former boss, “The Princess,” is there, and she buys some X from him. She convinces him to take one, and he’s not used to the stuff, so that’s rough. Arash walks home alone at night, completely stoned. The Girl sees him and approaches. He tells her that he’s lost. She explains that they’re in “Bad City.” He’s just come from the costume party dressed as Dracula; she’s intrigued and invites him to her place.
At her place, she puts on some music, and he nearly passes out before approaching her for a kiss. The night goes well.
Atti, the prostitute, walks home alone at night. She sees Arash’s car, and, thinking it belongs to Saeed, scratches it with her keys. She soon sees that she’s being followed by The Girl. The Girl offers a bunch of Saeed’s valuables to her. The Girl goes out for dinner a bit later, eating a homeless man.
Arash and The Girl stand outside as he asks her out for a hamburger. He offers to pierce her ears, and she lets him do it. He gives her the earrings from “The Princess.”
At home, Hossein starts going into withdrawal, and he’s having long conversations with the cat. He believes the cat is Arash’s mother, come to taunt him. Arash gives him some drugs to calm him down. The old man hires Atti for entertainment and ties her up before injecting them both with the drugs. The Girl comes in and kills the man before dragging the body away. The Girl and Atti talk afterward. The Girl takes the cat with her.
Arash asks the beggar-boy if he saw what happened, and the boy says he doesn’t know. He goes to The Girl’s apartment and tells her to pack her things; they have to leave Bad City. He recognizes the cat in her apartment and realizes that she had something to do with his father’s death. Plus he sees her scoop the pile of men’s watches and jewelry she’s collected into her travel bag.
They drive off into the night until he pulls over in the desert. They come to an understanding and drive off again.
Brian’s Commentary
It’s an Iranian-vampire-spaghetti-western film, shot in California, and it’s all filmed in black and white. There’s not a huge amount of subtitled dialogue, but the soundtrack is hauntingly impressive. It’s purposefully vague as to when this takes place; it’s not really our world at all.
There are some graphic novels that accompany the movie, which also describe the film's visuals, featuring a very comic-booky and artistic style. I’d give this one a thumbs-up for the soundtrack alone. It’s slow, mysterious, stylish, and very cool!
Kevin’s Commentary
This was awesome. The soundtrack is great. I really liked everything about it. It’s always refreshing to see something new and different done with the vampire genre, and this one is a winner.
1997 I Know What You Did Last Summer
Directed by: Jim Gillespie
Written by: Kevin Williamson, Lois Duncan
Stars: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sara Michelle Gellar, Anne Heche
Run Time: 1 Hour, 41 Minutes
Trailer:
Watch it: https://amzn.to/3FUIB9Y
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
When a group of young people accidentally run over someone and cover up the incident, it triggers a slow act of revenge when many months later someone seems to know what they did last summer and wants them to pay for it. There’s some thrills and chills and a death or few, but it’s a little bit on the tame side. It’s well made overall, but it’s not our favorite of the genre.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on a twisty and turny road next to the ocean as a dark version of “Summer Breeze” plays ominously. A young guy sits on the cliff’s edge and looks depressed.
In town, the fireworks go off; it’s time for the “Croaker Queen” beauty contest. Friends Julie, Barry, and Ray cheer on Helen, who is a participant. Helen wins!
There’s a big party afterward. Max hits on Julie. Helen’s older sister Elsa is mean. Barry is a party animal. The four friends leave the party and go to the beach, where they tell horror stories about a man with a hook for a hand (yeah, it’s that story). They all have a different version of the story. Afterward much sex has been had.
On the way home, it’s clear that Barry’s had way too much to drink, and he causes all kinds of distractions until the car, being driven by Ray, hits something on the road. Julie finds a boot, so they quickly learn they didn’t hit a deer. Ray checks the man’s pulse; he’s dead.
The four all argue about what to do. Ray was driving, but he wasn’t drinking, but no one’s going to believe that since a bunch of booze got spilled in the car. Barry suggests dumping him off the cliff into the ocean. Julie is against the idea, but the other three convince her.
Before they can do anything, Max drives up in his truck. Julie tells him that Barry is drunk and puking on the side of the road. When Max leaves, the others carry the man’s body to the dock.
Turns out, he’s not completely dead. The man grabs Helen’s tiara as he sinks, and Barry dives into the water to retrieve it. “We’re going home now, and we’re never, ever going to discuss this ever again.” We see that someone has lost their wristwatch on the scene.
One year later, Julie is back home for a school break. She’s just about to fail out of school, and her mother’s disappointed. She’s gotten a letter in the mail: “I know what you did last summer.”
Julie goes to the store to find Helen, whose life hasn’t gone the way she’d expected, either. She shows Helen the note, and Elsa, Helen’s older sister, is nosy. Barry says the note is nothing. “His name was David Egan,” explains Julie. She looked it all up– they found the body three weeks later. Barry suspects it was Max who sent the letter.
Max is working at the cannery. Barry confronts Max about it, but he doesn’t know anything about any letter. They run into Ray at the docks, and he’s a fisherman now. Everybody leaves angry with each other.
Back at the cannery, someone uses Max’s ice hook to kill him. Not long after, Barry gets a familiar-looking note. The killer runs down Barry and, dressed in a fisherman’s raincoat and hat, attacks him with the same hook - not fatally.
Julie wants to go to the police. Barry is still adamant about not going to them. Julie and Helen research David Egan and learn about his family. They make a trip there and talk to David’s sister, Missy. They try to bluff the woman into talking about David; she mentions that he only had one friend, cute and smart, whose name was Billy Blue. David’s own girlfriend died on that road one year before, and that was him we saw sitting out there in the opening scene. David’s sister is weird and more than a little suspicious of the two girls.
Helen goes home and says hello to her oblivious father. We see the killer come in behind her. In the morning, she wakes up to find someone has cut her hair.
Julie finds Max’s body in her trunk, mostly eaten by crabs. She brings Helen and Barry to see, but he’s not there late. They all know why the bad guy is doing this, but what’s he waiting for? Ray shows up; he’s got a letter too. They track down Billy Blue from the high school yearbook.
It’s been one year, and whatever’s going to happen is going to happen tonight. Julie goes back to see Missy, who’s still weird. Julie explains that what happened to David wasn’t an accident, but Missy says she thought it was suicide, since he left a note. It says, “I will never forget last summer.” Julie figures out that David wasn’t the guy they hit.
At this year’s beauty contest, Helen is on stage as last year’s winner. She sees Barry on the balcony, just as last year. She watches as the man in the raincoat kills Barry. Helen tells the deputy all about it, but there’s no evidence, and he laughs at her. The killer quickly proves him wrong. The killer chases Helen all over town and into her sister’s store. Elsa doesn’t live long after that, but neither does Helen.
Julie finds Ray and explains that David isn’t the killer, but then she figures out that Ray’s boat is “Billy Blue” and comes to the conclusion that he’s the killer. She seeks help from another fisherman, who is obviously the killer. Ben Willis, the father of the girl that David killed accidentally two years ago, killed David in revenge, and that’s who they hit with their car and didn’t finish off properly.
Ben takes Julie out on his boat, and Ray tries to follow in his dinghy. Ray and Ben fight as Julie mostly hides and finds bodies. Ray knocks out the baddie, but doesn’t finish him off. The man loses a hand and goes overboard, but they don’t find a body, only the hand.
One more year later, Julie’s doing much better at school. She gets a note– oh no, it’s just a party invitation. Then she sees “I still know” written on the mirror.
Brian’s Commentary
For years, I had this mixed up with the “Urban Legend” series of movies. After watching one of the early scenes of this, I remembered why– it’s all about the man with the hook.
We know who are going to be the victims, we just don’t know why, exactly. I guess in the end, it all makes sense.
It’s not an “A” list series, but it’s OK.
Kevin’s Commentary
I’d never seen this before, and I found it surprisingly tame. It’s based off a novel by Lois Clark Duncan which does have the basic plot and a stalker, but no body count at all. It’s said the author wasn’t on board at first with it being upped to a slasher movie, but I don’t think they went far enough with it. It’s well made, the cast looks good and does a nice job in their roles, but I’d rate it just okay. A 6 or 7 in my book.
1974 Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
Directed by: Jun Fukuda
Written by: Jun Fukuda, Masami Fukushima, Shin’ichi Sekizawa
Stars: Masaaki Daimon, Kazuya Aoyama, Reiko Tajima
Run Time: 1 Hour, 24 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This has just the right amount of big creatures battling without it becoming tedious. There are a lot of human characters to keep straight, but it works pretty well. There’s plenty of action and bad aliens who have to be overcome. We liked it quite a bit.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on Monster Island, with Anguirus looking at a bright light in the distance. Suddenly, a mountain explodes, and we hear Godzilla. Credits roll.
A woman doing a religious ritual is overcome by a vision. She sees that a kaiju will destroy the city. After watching this, Masahiko, a photographer, goes into some deep caves. He finds a shiny rock, or maybe an animal scale, down there.
Seako shows up; she’s an archaeologist, looking into ancient Okinawans. There are cave paintings of giant monsters and two suns. The royal house of Azumi has a legend about these monsters. Later, a man with a black ring sneaks up behind Saeko…
Shimizu and Ikoku are flying home to Tokyo, but they see a black mountain appear in the sky, according to the prophecy from the cave. They go to see Professor Wagura, who says the scale is a piece of “space titanium.” There are news reports about a “moving tremor” that is going from Hokkaido towards Tokyo, underground.
A man breaks into the Professor’s house to steal the artifact they found, and Shimizu fights him. The mountain explodes and Godzilla is ejected.
Back in Okinawa, the old high priest talks to the woman who had the vision and says only King Caesar will be able to save the world from Godzilla.
Godzilla starts pounding buildings until Anguirus shows up, and then they fight. As they battle, bits of Godzilla’s skin flake off, showing metal underneath. Godzilla rips the other monster’s jaw off, so the battle ends. Shimizu finds more space titanium on the scene after the fight.
All of a sudden, a second Godzilla shows up on the scene, and the new one sounds much more like what we’re used to. We cut to a hidden alien base, where the leader gloats about how he didn’t think the real Godzilla would show up so soon. The Godzilla from the mountain is some kind of machine, and Anguirus must have called his buddy, the real Godzilla, to help.
Godzilla laser-breaths the newcomer, exposing more of the metal beneath. The fake one reveals himself to be Mechagodzilla, a robot! Both giant monsters damage each other, so they split up to rest.
The professor figures out where King Caesar is buried– it’s at Azumi Castle, where the woman had the prophecy. The alien leader does not want King Caesar involved, as he’ll rally the other monsters to fight them.
The professor, Masahiko, and Ikuko go back into the mysterious caves. They’re almost immediately captured by the aliens, whose base is down there. They are from Black Hole Planet Three. The leader admits that they studied Godzilla and then made their own version. Ikuko and Masahiko are taken hostage in exchange for the professor’s help with the big robot.
Godzilla stands in a thunderstorm and is repeatedly struck by lightning, which recharges him.
Shimizu is attacked by an alien agent and shoots him in the face revealing his inner monster, a green monkey-lizard. The thief, and the statue of King Caesar, goes overboard from the tour boat, lost for good. No– he switched it for a fake, so they’re good.
Shimizu searches the caves and finds the professor’s very unique pipe. He’s also captured by the aliens, at least until the reporter shows up; he’s really with Interpol. The two men break in and release the professor, Masuhiko, and Ikuko from being boiled alive in their cell.
Outside now, they notice the moon is red, which is another part of that prophecy. The professor says he helped repair Mechagodzilla, and he knows how to disable the head using his special magnetic pipe.
Everyone goes to Azumi Castle, where the aliens have taken the priest and his daughter captive. After a quick Interpol intervention, they place the statue on the shrine and wait for King Caesar to wake up, which doesn’t take long. He doesn’t move until the priest’s daughter sings to it (We totally needed a musical interlude at this point). The big furry creature wakes up, and the aliens order Mechagodzilla to eliminate him.
The two monsters fight, and it soon looks like Mechagodzilla is going to win. Suddenly, a supercharged Godzilla reappears to help. As the two good monsters attack, the robot monster shows that it can multitask, taking them both down. Godzilla’s spurting blood everywhere, and it looks really bad for him. But Godzilla rallies and holds on so the robot is too heavy to fly away. Finally, he rips the robot’s head off.
The Interpol agent sabotages the aliens’ computer, and they all fall down and revert to their green monkiness. With the monster and aliens defeated, everything explodes. Godzilla walks back into the ocean and King Caesar goes back into his cave to sleep some more.
All the humans go back to Azumi Temple and give the statue back to the priest there.
Brian’s Commentary
This was filmed as Godzilla’s 20th anniversary.
It’s a little hard to follow in the beginning, as there are so many characters who aren’t specifically introduced. There are two brothers, two professors, two women characters, two mysterious strangers, two Interpol agents, and they all seem fairly interchangeable.
My complaint about the previous film, that the stretched-out fights of men in rubber suits went on for too long, seems to have been addressed here, as there’s not really very much monster action for the first hour, and what we do get isn’t stretched out.
Kevin’s Commentary
Ironically, I find these much more entertaining when there isn’t an excess of monster battle action. This one has just enough without it becoming monotonous. It’s heavy on humans doing stuff, bad aliens, and retro technology science fiction. I’d rate this as one of my favorites in the series. And what an awesome poster.
Short Films:
2018 Short Film Sybil
Directed by: Joanne Mitchell
Written by: Joanne Mitchell, Tracey Sheals
Stars: Tracey Sheals, Seamus O’Neill, Garth Maunders, Joanne Mitchell
Run Time: 12 Minutes
Watch it:
What Happens
Sybil is the assistant mortician, working for old Mr. Sniffles (could that be a better name for a mortician?). He gets worn out after working on a particularly mutilated body and tells Sybil to stay late and finish up. He also tells her to do something fun tonight.
She… does.
Commentary
This is pretty awesome. We know what’s going on at all times, and there’s a fun payoff at the end. It’s well shot, the gore is good, and the situation is both horrifying and hilarious. The little taxidermy pets at the end are a nice touch as well– maybe this isn’t even her first time doing this.
Very good!
2024 Short Film The Worm
Directed by: Andy Coyle
Stars: Animated, Erin Scott (voice)
Run Time: 15 Minutes
Watch it:
What Happens
In this animated short, young Sparrow is working in the garage until she hears a monster outside. Or is it outside? Soon, she winds up in a mental institution under the care of a psychologist who becomes obsessed with her case. Just how insane is Sparrow, and is she insane at all? What is “the worm?”
Commentary
The art style is crisp and looks good, although the movement shots are somewhat limited. The story moves along at a nice pace and doesn’t get bogged down with explanations. It’s all clear what’s going on in the end, and it all makes sense. Nice!
2025 Short Film The Envelope
Directed by: Michael Eggler
Written by: Michael Eggler
Stars: Leonora Hammer, Patric Graf
Run Time: 4 Minutes
Watch it:
What Happens
We open on a woman shuffling tarot cards, surrounded by candles. “Is Alan still alive?” She doesn’t like what the cards show her. Emma hears something outside and then finds an envelope addressed to her slid under the door. “I am here.”
That’s only the start of Emma’s troubles.
Commentary
It’s very dark, and the actress’s accent is pretty thick. Also, there’s a time skip for no explained reason. Still, there are some nice shots here, and it is a very small production, so I’d have to say it’s pretty good considering the small number of people involved.
2019 Short Film Wash
Directed by: Kristofer Kiggs Carlsson
Written by: Kristofer Kiggs Carlsson, Amelia Clay
Stars: Amelia Clay, Ida Ljungqvist
Run Time: 7 Minutes
Watch it:
What Happens
The camera zooms in on children’s drawings of the child with a rabbit friend, then a mess in the kitchen, and then screams of: “Mom, stop!” Then the screams stop, and we focus on Mom running the washing machine. Sitting and watching it intently.
We soon see someone is in the washing machine, but it’s not what it looks like…
Commentary
I don’t enjoy doing laundry either, but this might be taking it to extremes. It’s very suspenseful, ominous, and atmospheric, as well as being very well shot. We don’t really know what’s going on here until the end, which is fun. Even then, we don’t know the real situation.
Very cool!
2023 Short Film My Scary Indian Wedding
Directed by: Ramone Menon
Written by: Ramone Menon
Stars: Misha Molani, Patrick Rutnam, Lexa Gluck
Run Time: 12 Minutes
Watch it:
What Happens
It’s the night of Vikram and Mila’s wedding, and it looks like things went badly. Credits roll, and then we flash back to what happened.
Mila explains to her friend Asha that Mangliks are demons who unleash a curse on unmarried women born with a fault in their stars. The cursed woman will die if she doesn’t find her soulmate. Asha whines that she probably has one, and Mila asks if she wants to find out.
Asha uses a website to find out, and according to her stars, she does have one…
Commentary
I really like the way the “telephone effects” are done here. We’ve seen it before, but it really stands out with this one. I want to find a website that explains all these rituals; that’d be cool. You just gotta follow the rules! I guess this is the Indian equivalent of a “shotgun wedding.”
It looks really good, the effects are fantastic, and it’s also very suspenseful.
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