Son of Godzilla (1967)

Movie Info

Holy crap, Dad….what the hell?

On a remote island, a group of scientists are trying to find a way to control and manipulate the weather.  When their experiment accidentally unleashes torrential storms and radiation, giant mantises grow to tremendous size and unearth the egg of a baby Godzilla.  With Godzilla and the mantis threatening the camp, the scientist enlist the aid of a young woman (Beverly Maeda) find a way off the island…but an even bigger danger could be lurking under the surface of the island.

Directed by Jon Fukuda, Son of Godzilla (怪獣島の決戦 ゴジラの息子 or Kaijū-tō no Kessen: Gojira no Musuko aka Monster Island’s Decisive Battle:  Son of Godzilla) is a sci-fi kaiju film.  Following Ebirah—Horror of the Deep in 1966, the film is the eighth film in the Godzilla series and falls in the Shōwa era (1954-1975).  The Criterion Collection released a remastered version of the film as part of their Godzilla:  The Showa-Era Films 1954-1975 box-set (Criterion #1000).

Triplets…kinky

Son of Godzilla ran like most Godzilla movies all the time when I was a kid.  When the DVD revolution happened, for some reason, Son of Godzilla fell through the cracks.  I don’t remember much about Son of Godzilla, but watching the movie, I can see why.

Son of Godzilla is pretty bad.  It is a pretty typical set-up with scientists discovering themselves in the middle of a Godzilla bash.  Minilla shows up and there are a lot of “teaching” Minilla scenes with Godzilla advising his young ward on how to shoot atomic breath etc.  Godzilla battles a trio of prey mantises named Kamacuras and then a giant spider named Kumonga.  Godzilla and Minilla then freeze to death (of course the movie just says they are hibernating).  Even for a Godzilla movie, it is slow paced and dull.

The movie has the basic cast.  You have a group of generic scientists and a journalist named Goro Maki (Akira Kubo) and a “wild woman” named Saeko Matsumiya (Beverly Maeda).  In typical Godzilla fashion, the story of the humans is pretty weak.  It tries to be interesting, but you pretty much just want Godzilla and monsters to fight (which isn’t helped by the fact that the monsters aren’t that compelling).

A giant spider…wow….original

That is the biggest problem with Son of Godzilla.  Not only is Minilla really obnoxious and annoying (he becomes the brunt of short jokes and gags), but the praying mantis villains Kamacuras aren’t very distinctive…nor is the giant spider.  With something like Mechagodzilla or Gigan, you get a fun kaiju.  The movie doesn’t even have many of the fun miniatures that other Godzilla films have.

Son of Godzilla is pretty bland.  There is a reason that this film doesn’t get played much.  At least something like Godzilla’s Revenge which is often considered the one of the worst Godzilla films has a plethora of monsters (even if they are fake).  Skip Son of Godzilla if you are just looking for fun; there are better Godzilla movies out there.  Son of Godzilla was followed by Destroy All Monsters in 1968.

Preceded By:

Ebirah—Horror of the Deep (1966)

Followed By:

Destroy All Monsters (1968)