GODZILLOWEEN - The Many (but not all) Faces of Godzilla
I've always wanted to use these monster review blogs to take an opportunity to do Halloween-themed creature features. At the very least taking the 31 days of October to go over a particular theme of creature that is at the very least tangentially Halloween-y. And I've been on a mild Godzilla kick lately, so why not. While kaijus are maybe not conceptually "scary" in the same way Halloween creatures are "scary", especially Godzilla himself here who is notorious for being a bit of a goofball. And even when he is scary, it's as a metaphor for war trauma or the lasting damage of nuclear weapons or the uncontrollable might of nature or whatever the heck Shin Godzilla has going on, it tends to be a little more existential.
But hey, a decent chunk of Godzilla monsters are very Halloween-brand Horrifying. And what were a lot of horror films back in Godzilla's glory days if not a lot of movies about giant animals terrorizing a city? It counts! Especially since it's my list and I can do with it whatever I want.
While I wouldn't necessarily call Godzilla one of those franchises that's near and dear to my heart, it IS one that's been there basically all my life, between my mother playing the movies a lot and me always tuning in to see the guys in rubber suits smack each other for a bit. Though for my more cognitive years, what's it say about me that my primary exposure to Godzilla for the longest time was the fighting games that were on Gamecube and Wii. That I'm a dirty gamer, that's what. But nonetheless, as someone who has a lot of opinions on monster designs, I could within reason point to Godzilla as a pretty good source of Kaiju, both silly and creepy looking and a decent chunk of which are right up my alley.
Now, obviously it wouldn't be very realistic to cram a review of every single monster that's ever appeared in any piece of Godzilla, let alone Godzilla-adjacent media. Especially considering how many of these dudes have half a dozen or more variations. But I did compose a list of what I feel covers all the most iconic Godzilla monsters, PLUS a handful of selfish picks just because they're beasties I wanna talk about. Again, my list.
Godzilla (1954 Original)
Obviously we're starting with Godzilla himself. Who else, right? While we're not gonna cover EVERY single version of the King of Monsters himself, we'll still brush with a decent number of his major appearances.
Most Godzillas follow the same general template of an upright bipedal dinosaur, the most iconic of his features easily being the row of dorsal spines that go all the way down his back. The original 1954 Godzilla is still one of his gnarlier appearances to date, being one of many appearances that has lumpy, slightly melted-looking saggy skin. Likely a byproduct of him being a rubber suit In Real Life, but it's still something that adds to his look, I feel.
And of course, the original has a lot of the recurring features of most every Godzilla going forward. In the story of the film, he's a heavily mutated dinosaur that sprung to life near post World War 2 Japan, and (betcha never heard this bit of Godzilla trivia before) is a metaphor for the lasting damage of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan from the US. Especially evident with his body that is stated to be slightly mushroom-cloud shaped.
Showa Era Godzilla (60s + 70s)
Immediately following the original Gojira's success, a second Godzilla appeared under the name Gigantus in the retroactively titled "Godzilla Raids Again!", essentially being Godzilla 2. But after this point, changes were made to the suit over time due to budget constraints, leading to the Godzilla represented in the "Showa Era".
The main design differences being the way his head is a bit cuter and dog-like in proportions. Especially with the much more prominent eyes. A lot of people see it as a downgrade, but I think it suits the much sillier tone of the Showa Era movies just fine. Though I do agree Godzilla aught to have more bite to him.
Heisei Era Godzilla (80s + 90s)
And Heisei does just that! If Showa Godzilla resembled a dog a bit, Heiseizilla here looks like a much fiercer canid. Fitting, since this Godzilla would largely abandon the more kid-friendly tone of the 60s and 70s movies. While it's not as raw as the original, it does at least to me feel like the most iconic version of the big guy that finds the perfect balance of giant-monster charisma and menace.
This would actually be the point where the Godzilla we know and have been talking about so far would meet his demise, with him being overloaded with energy and it reaching a critical point in Godzilla vs Destroyah, as fiery rashes would appear all over Godzilla's body, this version being dubbed "Burning Godzilla." Undergoing a constant and slow meltdown, would eventually explode in a catastrophic blast that released a ton of radiation, allowing his son Godzilla Junior (more on him later) to fully evolve and become the new Godzilla, which feels like a fitting end to this Godzilla saga.
"Zilla" (1998 Film)
Completely separately, Hollywood would get to take a crack at Godzilla with their own standalone film, and fans and Toho both felt like this new design was not at all a good fit. I wouldn't be able to speak on it as it's one of the handful of Godzilla movies I've never seen, but I do agree that this version is much less exciting or cool looking. Fine in its own right, but it's far from Godzilla, and in fact only feels like it resembles a t-rex to rather shallowly chase after Jurassic Park's success. It only feels fitting that this version would eventually be dubbed "Zilla", for "Taking the "God" out of "Godzilla"." Though it is very funny that its only other major appearance would be in Godzilla Final Wars where it gets unceremoniously curb-stomped by Godzilla.
Millennium Godzilla (2000s)
The 1999 film "Godzilla 2000" would be one of many reboots of the series, abandoning all previous continuity. This Godzilla looks even edgier and meaner, and I still like this version of him, but it was very much following that trend everything was at the turn of the Millennium where everything was being made more sleek and traditionally cool-looking. He also adopted redish back spines as opposed to the traditional blue-white, which I don't like AS much. This version of Godzilla had a relatively shorter run, only lasting until 2004's "Godzilla Final Wars" (Godzilla Final Fours).
Monsterverse Godzilla (2010s + 20s)
Godzilla would appear in various other media of course, but his first major prime time appearance in quite a while was within the Legendary film that kicked off the "Monsterverse", Godzilla (2014). This version of him is much thicker and chunkier, making him look like a beastly powerhouse, which is definitely a step up from the last time Hollywood had their take with him.
He's already had a couple of design changes even within his relatively brief screentime and movie count. He was *A* version of Burning Godzilla for a hot minute, though it was treated more like a temporary powered-up state than Godzilla but melting and in constant agony. Bit of an upgrade. And his most recent and seemingly more permanent change was he got stronger and adopted a more redish-pink glow to his spines, which, I already stated how I feel on that.
Shin Godzilla (2016)
Toho's first attempt at a traditional Godzilla since 2004 was "Shin Godzilla", another reboot which was seemingly sought on making Godzilla scary again, but this time in a more modern context, this time by making him an ever-evolving, form-changing grotesque monstrosity that adopts new, stronger forms that allows it to adapt new features as it needs them.
Shinny's first form is never fully shown in the film, but sketches reveal it to be adolescent and very much like a giant, faceless tadpole with legs, looking primordial and definitely giving the impression it's got some growing to do.
Its second form is the first seen on land, with it already adopting much of features we know as Godzilla, but as a pale-skinned and bulging-eyed reptilian with nubs for forelimbs that shambles across the ground and atop anything it runs into, and very prominent and exposed gills. Freaky!
In its third form it begins to stand upright, having rougher and red skin but still keeping the bugged-out eyes and nubby arms. One more Digivolution to go!
The fourth form is when it finally at least 95% resembles Godzilla as we usually know him, but in keeping with this iteration's much more grotesque nature, has a few body horror-y spins to it like a split jaw and grungy flesh with blood-red beneath the surface. But it is also notably FAR more outright destructive than any other Godzilla before it, with it fairly effortlessly leveling a city between not only atomic breath, but also a lightshow array of lasers it can shoot from its back and tail.
Shin-Chan is eventually defeated by stuffing it full of coagulant, freezing it from the inside and making it easier to destroy. But the film still ends on a harrowing cliffhanger showing that emerging from Godzilla's fatal wounds were strange, skeletal humanoids with some Godzilla-y features to them. This implying Shin Godzilla would eventually evolve into a humanoid creature if left alive long enough.
What this precisely meant sadly is mostly left for interpretation, as we're nearing a decade since the film's release with no sequel in sight, especially as Toho is likely to pursue the hit that the next Godzilla would create. Though it does very much make the imagination run wild to think there could be a dead-Godzilla-fueled zombie apocalypse in store for this particular universe. Either way, thanks for fulfilling the quota for why I'm making this a Halloween series, Shinny!
Godzilla (Minus One)
While far from the last Godzilla we could ever speak of, with there still being side-media like Singular Point out there, the last Godzilla we'll talk about for now is the one from Minus One. Negative Godzilla. This particular Godzilla almost has the least to talk about the design itself, since it's a return to a much more familiar look compared to the other Modernzillas, ESPECIALLY Shin. Perhaps fitting, since Godzilla Minus One is *more or less* A remake of the original '54 film, at least a spiritual remake.
He's still portrayed with a set of spooky abilities, like rapid regeneration seemingly so long as any portion of his body still has living tissue, seeing as the film almost comically similarly to Shin Godzilla ends on a cliffhanger to show a growing lump of Godzilla meat adrift under the ocean from what remained of him. But other than that, there isn't a ton his design offers to comment on.
...and that's not even all the Notzillas like Mecha n Space, let alone his son. But after all this I think we can clear to move onto some other monsters for a bit!
