Ghidorah – The Three-Headed Monster + Invasion
Of The Astro Monster (Classic Media/Genius Entertainment)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B-/C+ Films: B-
Unlike
the current Superhero cycle, the Toho giant monster series was not just built
on a star system of characters, but on outlandish Pop Science Fiction situation
which made them wackier than they could have been if it was just Godzilla or
another star monster all the time.
Classic Media continues their series of special edition reissues of these
classics with two new separate DVD releases: Ghidorah – The Three-Headed Monster from 1964 and Invasion Of The Astro Monster (aka Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero) from 1965.
Ghidorah offers the great twist that the
title monster from space is so deadly, that in order to survive, Mothra,
Godzilla and Rodan will need to team up just to save the earth from this new
threat and the even larger threat behind them.
Sure, there are advanced Japanese scientists with the latest weapons,
but that too will not be enough in this genre classic that ranks as one of the
best entries in the entire cycle.
Invasion shakes this up, but instead of
aliens bringing their own monster, they get devious and cheap by taking over
the minds and control of already established monsters on earth. Ghidorah, Godzilla and Mothra are turned into
unwilling zombies to annihilate Japan with evil alien spacemen who wear deadly
sunglasses and will stop at nothing but total destruction. Throw in B-movie actor Nick Adams and a few
bucks saved on not building a new giant monster and you’ve got another winner
worthy of the previous film.
Both
films were once again shot in TohoScope, the studio’s answer to Panavision,
which was a system with some problems (like the lens falling off the camera, it
turns out) but had its own unique look and feel that made these films stand out
from other genre works worldwide. The
U.S. versions sometimes have compromised aspect ratios, but only the opening
credits of Astro is cut up to be
1.85 X 1 and all the features here are otherwise in anamorphically enhanced
2.35 X 1 widescreen. Hajime Koizumi was
Director of Photography on both films and furthered their distinct look.
Both also
look better overall than the previous Godzilla releases you can read more about
at the link below. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Mono on both are also good for their age with ever interesting scores by Akira
Ifukube on both films. Extras on both
films include still/slide sections of posters & other promo materials,
original theatrical trailers and feature length audio commentary tracks. Stuart Galbraith IV returns to do another
rich track for Astro, while David
Kalat delivers a stunning commentary for Ghidorah,
which also offers a text bio of Eiji Tsuburaya.
Astro has a text bio on
Tomoyuki Tanaka. Of course, the
book-like silver foil slim DigiPak cases continue and continue to be a welcome
art design.
Check out
these links for more Godzilla action:
Godzilla Raids Again + Godzilla
Vs. Mothra
(Classic Media DVD)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4613/Godzilla+Raids+Again+++Godzilla+Vs
Godzilla & Other Movie
Monsters
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/805/Godzilla+&+Other+Movie+Monsters
- Nicholas Sheffo
