Destroy All Monsters

[Warren H.]

I hate to be the rotten apple, but I didn't like this movie.  Sure, there was that battle with Ghidorah at the end, but BABY GODZILLA KILLED ONE OF HIS HEADS WITH A SMOKE RING!  ARRRRRGH!  Otherwise, the monsters just kind of appeared, went "Rahh", and vanished for the middle part of the movie.  It's like one of those movies into which the makers cram as many celebrity cameos as possible.  Rarely the formula for success.

[Squishy]

Sadly, some of the "monsters" were just leftover suits horribly deteriorated from long storage--this is why Baragon gets little screen time and poor, immobile Varan (The Unbelievable!) gets almost none--while other, less-impressive but more-recent monsters like Gorosaurus and Spiga appear much more often.

Thankfully, others were newly-made. The Angilas suit would be used in "Godzilla on Monster Island/vs Gigan," a cameo in "Godzilla vs Megalon," and "Godzilla vs Mecha-Godzilla," and by that time it too was in terrible condition; such are the problems of budget. I prefer the original design of Manda (from "Atragon"), but the new one gives quite an impressive performance, slithering down city streets and crushing elevated tracks in its coils.

Eiji Tsurubaya's best miniature set actually appears early on; the SY-3's launch base. This 'miniature' must have been freaking huge. The pan-shot across it shows fabulous depth. Others, like the Paris set, are incredibly detailed for their short appearances. Of course, you just can't beat an Akira Ifukube score, and this is one of his best. I just wish...well, the stupid dummy shown plunging down a cliff is the worst I've ever seen, but screw it. Monsters everywhere! Whee!

The final scene is fantastically unique; the monsters are utterly at peace, instead of roaring and snarling and thrashing and raising hell. They're quiet. They're chillin' out. It's enough to bring a tear to a kaiju-fan's eye.

[Ken Begg]

As to the Baragon in Paris thing, he *was* scripted to be the monster conducting the attack.  However, as a previous poster noted, either the Baragon suit was so badly deteriorated as to be unusable, or else (an alternate theory advanced recently in G-Fan) they had ordered a new suit and it didn't arrive in time to use it.  Either way, Gorosaurus was instead used.  This would explain to those who follow these things enough to be confused as to why Gorosaurus suddenly manifested tunneling why this was so.  Baragon, of course, was established as a tunneling beast in Frankenstein Conquers the World.  Similarly, the reporter calls Gorosaurus "Baragon" because Baragon was still the monster named in the script Toho sent over for translation/dubbing purposes.

[Paul Westbrook]

Destroy all Monsters, was the battle royal of monster movies. To imagine all the Toho creatures in one film, would be mind boggling, but here it is. I found every moment the monsters had screen time to be the most exciting. My only quirk with these films,is WHY DO THE HUMANS, WHO COULDN'T ACT THEIR WAY OUT OF A WET PAPER BAG GET MORE SCREEN TIME? If there were no monsters in this movie, I would say "Why bother"?

[Thomas]

Well not enough of seeing the monsters and those you never have seen before are there for like 8 seconds. I would've liked more monsters smashing things.

[chris]

i love the classic godzilla type monster movies. even though it looks stupid because of the actors in suits unlike the special effects marvels we have now, i enjoy the classic monster movie.(especially when it includes Godzilla king of the monsters!)

[Chris K.]

Definatly beats STAR WARS. DESTROY ALL MONSTERS is the mother of all monster films. The special effects are exelent! What am I saying, they were not exelent but magnificant. Eiji Tsuburaya, I sallute you. Tsuburaya is the "Master" of special effects and not that no-tallent-bum George Lucas. Though the monsters on here are limited (Baragon, Manda, Varan, and Minya were not seen that much in here), it is still a good film. I recently bought a Japanese Widescreen version with the American International Pictures (AIP) English language dub because the recently video release version contains a new dubbing soundtrack. For those who are searching for the original AIP English dub, I suggest you look a lot more harder because it is missing. But thank God I have my version of this special film.

[Anders]

I saw this one on Swedish TV as a kid, around 1970, and was thoroughly fascinated. (So _much_ action crammed into one single movie.) The national TV network did not show much SF in those days and I cannot really understand how anyone in TV HQ purchasing dept could have chosen this movie. Anyhow, it was very amusing to read about it 30 years later. Thanks a lot.

[Paul Gadaloff]

   If you're in two minds about renting the video and watching it, then all I can say is "GO FOR IT ! !"  The opening several minutes are so unintentionally hilarious that you will laugh 'til you cry !!  It's funny, all right, I mean: split-your-sides and fight-for-breath funny.  I have watched even quite staid and reserved people slump off the chair onto the floor laughing through the introductory "Monsterland" scene at the beginning of the film.  See it - and if you can get "Godzilla vs Gigan" while you're at it, then you'll have my candidate for the silliest of all Japanese monster movies into the bargain.  Happy viewing ! ! !

[Chadzilla]

Ah, sweet excess!  This one is just a blast, there is not a single reason to not see it.

[Cham]

In no way a good movie, but I love it. So many monsters. THey don't get enough screen time, but what they do get is worth it. I give it 4/5.

[MegaZeo]

One of the best G-Films ever! Who could ask for more in a Godzilla film (monster-wise, anyway). Though I was hoping they got into the worldwide destruction a bit more, the attack on Tokyo from Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and Manda, as well as the battle-royale at Mt. Fuji more than made up for it. Man, seeing Godzilla, Gorosaurus, Angilas, Rodan, Mothra, Spiega, and Minya all going at King Ghidorah like that! Wow! One of the best G-films from the 1960s.

[Cant blame the WANG!]

Ready for yet another qik review-once again I say-GO Godzilla!!For once,there are some good lookin' alienbabes(esp. the Head Kilaak)The pluses in this flick:opening volcanic/gas attack on monster island;the SY-3EVERYtime it takes off;Godzilla/Rodan guarding alien base & airspace;the all-SO-familiar attack of Tokyo;the takedown of alien moonbase(to me-that scene's enuf to make a badmovie good!}and the final fight goes w/o saying.Do I have to point out the minuses in here?How about varan sharing a lil'more cinema spotlight(eh,Toho boys?)No offense but allowing Ghidrah to get SPANKed sumptin' awful the minute Gorosaur doubleheels him in the back is something I'll never forget..(I'm still lookin for the other mothra twin-see ya!)

[el_vinee]

This is simply the most fun a kid can have! I saw it when I was about 10, and now 34, after watching it on sci-fi channel, I still love this movie. All the Toho monsters in one movie, and seeing Ghidra get his butt kicked WWF style rules! Got it taped for my son who's a huge Godzilla fan like I was at his age. This is the kind of entertainment I wish more of today's kids could experience. Great site by the way...

[That guy]

How come the alien base on earth resembles the "bat cave" from Batman? The begging of this movie was brought to you by Toho construction paper Ltd.