SOME OF MY FRIENDS ARE KAIJU

Ever since Willis 'Obie' O' Brien brought his King Kong to life in 1933 we've been hooked on giant monsters.

 

 

 

 

My own personal favourite is Godzilla [or Gojira], King of the Monsters, who chomped his way through Tokyo in 1954. The Japanese even had a word for giant monsters, Kaiju!

 

 

My favourite Western Kaiju has to the huge fire demon from Night of the Demon, 1957. Its in the trees!

 

 

 

Although I do have a soft spot for Brit Kaiju's Gorgo 

 

 

 

 

and Konga from their eponymous 1961 films.

 

 

 

 

There are loads of giant monster collectibles and toys. John Marshall's 1999 book opened me eyes to just how many.

 

 

 

 

John's love of Red King toys was an inspiration!

 

 

 

 

 

Kaiju caught on in the Eighties and Nineties. We had Q The Flying Serpent nesting in a skyscraper in 1982.

 

 

 

 

And post - Jurassic Park, the re-invention of the marauding monster genre came with the new Godzilla in 1998.

 

 

 

 

Since then we've seen some brand new giants like the incredible quadruped in the Mist, 2005, caught here on You Tube complete with classic Jurassic Park-style impact tremors.

 

 

 

Cloverfield set the bar for the new giant monster movie in 2008.

 

 

 

The bar maybe raised once more as we come full circle with this year's Pacific Rim, which is set to bring the word Kaiju into the mainstream with some really really big monsters! Grrrrrrr! Do you like big monsters readers?