The History of Kaiju Films

One of my favorite topics that we ever covered on Lunatics Radio Hour was the history of Kaiju films. Partially because of how passionate Alan is about the subject. But I also love the energy of Kaiju movies, so many of them straddle the line between camp and social commentary in a way that other genres struggle to execute. Lets talk about the history of Kaiju films.

Early Origins and Tokusatsu Films

The word Kaiju means “giant monster” in Japanese. Kaiju films are technically a sub-genre of a specific type of Japanese filmmaking style called Tokusatsu. Tokusatsu refers to live-action films that rely on special effects, mainly practical special effects. Superhero films would also qualify as a sub-genre to Tokusatsu films. Though this genre is defined by its action-packed plots, clever monster origin stories, and thrilling battle scenes, Kaiju films often are filled with political and social commentary. 

In the early to mid-1900s, we started to see the origins of Tokusatsu film emerge in Japan. Shōzō Makino is often called the founding father of the genre. He was born in Kyoto in the late 1800s. It’s important to note that Shozo wasn’t only a trailblazer when it came to Tokusatsu film; he was also one of the early and important directors of Japanese cinema itself. 

The First Giant Creature Attacks

Another interesting origin to the Kaiji genre comes from a comic strip. In the first few years of the 1900s, a comic strip called Dreams of The Rarebit Fiend was released into the world from the mind of American Cartoonist Winsor McCay. The premise is that a rotating character has terrible and upsetting dreams after eating welsh rarebit, or cheese on toast. 

The ending of each comic strip typically depicted the character waking up, regretting eating the rarebit, after the chaos and terror of their dreams. In 1921, the comic strip was turned into a series of animated shorts. One of which, The Pet, involves an animal being taken in by a couple. This animal continues to grow as it consumes more and more cheese on toast. Finally ending when it’s the size of what we would consider now to be a Kaiju. The Pet is considered to be the earliest film of a monster or giant creature attacking a city. 

The Influence of King Kong 

We also have to discuss the influence of King Kong on the development of the Tokusatsu and Kaiju genres. The first King Kong film debuted in 1933, 21 years before the first Godzilla movie. King Kong was the brainchild of Merian C. Cooper, an American filmmaker and a pilot in the United States and Polish air forces. You can start to see the correlation between films in this genre and military and political response and commentary. According to this Hollywood Reporter article, Cooper had even been shot down several times both in World War One and the Poland-Soviet war, he even escaped from a prisoner of war camp. The article describes him as a colorful adventurer with an incredible history. After returning from battle, he first went on to be a reporter, and an explorer, before combining the two and documenting his travel with film. 

Coopers’ first concept for King Kong was a story about a gorilla that escapes and fights a Komodo dragon. At the time, Gorillas were not very well known to Westerners, who would only have been exposed to Gorillas in the late 1800s. This gave Cooper creative control and influence over this depiction. He was also inspired by his friend who brought back a Komodo dragon and put it in a New York City zoo. You can see the correlations to the plot of King Kong. 

Cooper was struggling to get funding for his idea, especially during the great depression. He realized through watching the filmmaking process of another movie called Creation that he could use sound stages, animation and stop motion to make King Kong, instead of traveling to remote islands and places and dealing with an actual Gorilla. Cooper made Kong 12 feet tall simply because he thought that was how tall Gorillas were. In 1933, King Kong debuted, which had a direct influence on Tokusatsu and later Kaiju films in Japan. 

Godzilla Changes Everything 

In 1954, director Ishiro Honda introduced the world to Godzilla. This film went on to inspire 37 sequels and remakes, countless comic books, video games, books, and of course, TV shows. Godzilla became a global megahit associated with action and destruction. But its original intention was much deeper. 

9 years before the release of Godzilla, on August 6th and 9th, 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. The first was on Hiroshima, and the second on the city of Nagasaki. The combined bombings killed as many as 226,000 people instantly. Six days later, Japan surrendered to the Allies, and only two weeks later, World War Two was over. This incident remains the only time nuclear weapons were used during combat. The impact of these bombings on Japan can’t be understated. The bombing in Hiroshima destroyed about 70% of the city’s buildings; this was, as we all know, an incredibly catastrophic and horrible event. 

In March of 1954, The Lucky Dragon, a Japanese fishing boat, was contaminated by nuclear fallout from a US nuclear test at Bikini Atoll. The crew endured symptoms from the exposure; all survived, with the exception of the chief radioman, who died some months later. These events were horrifying and tragic, and had a huge impact on pop culture and society more broadly. 

Godzilla is a metaphor for nuclear weapons.

When Honda decided to move forward with the project, he knew it was a risky career move. He wanted to make sure the crew was on board, fully. If anyone had any doubts about the project he asked them to step down before production started. And of course, Godzilla has become a monumental film that changed everything. It’s a perfect combination of action, and social reflection. 

The Godzilla Universe Expands

The Godzilla franchise is typically broken down into eras to help categorize it because there are so many films. 

The first era, The Showa Era, spans from 1954, with the release of the original film through Terror of Mechagodzilla from 1975. The first sequel was Godzilla Raids Again. This era gives us films such as: Ghidora, The Three Headed Monster, Son of Godzilla, All Monsters Attack and Mothra was introduced to audiences in 1961.

Mothra is interesting because it’s a creature that has its own films before joining the Godzilla universe, similar to Rodan. Mothra was visually inspired by silkworms and silk moths. There is an obvious shift towards campiness as the franchise develops. 

Godzilla (1984), a reboot of the Toho series, kicked off the Heisei Era, which lasted through the mid-1990s. One of my favorite Godzilla films is from this time period, Godzilla vs. Biolante (1989). Another hit from this Era was Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991). 

The Millennium Era lasted from 1999-2004, starting with another reboot, Godzilla 2000: Millennium. Godzilla Final Wars, which was released the same year as the 50th anniversary of the original, closed out the Millennium Era. 

We are currently living in the Reiwa Era, which started in 2016. Again, this Era starts off with a Toho reboot, a personal favorite of ours, Shin Godzilla from 2016. For context, Shin Godzilla is the 31st film in the franchise. Shin Godzilla was followed by a trilogy of anime films, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle, Godzilla: The Planet Eater.

The American Godzilla Films 

And those are only Japanese films in the franchise; there are also separate American films, including a movie called Volcano Monsters (1957), an iconic Godzilla trilogy from the 1990s (with a great soundtrack) and of course, the more modern films starring Millie Bobby Brown. 

Ultraman Enters the Chat 

Ultraman is a major Japanese franchise that spans films, TV shows, comic books, video games and other mediums. Ultraman debuted in 1966 with a series called UltraQ and then was quickly followed the same year by the Ultraman TV series. 

Here’s the thing, UltraQ doesn’t actually have Ultraman in it. The show was, at the time, the most expensive ever produced. There is overlap between the inception of Ultraman and Godzilla. Both of which originally came from Toho Studios. Toho actually allowed UltraQ to use the props from the Godzilla franchise. Ultraman became a sensation in Japan. The series is about a species called The Ultras, an alien species that was once similar to humans but after their sun went out, and they replaced it with a faux sun called the Plasma Spark, they evolved into this alien race. 

Between its release until the 1980s, the franchise brought in almost $7.5 Billion in revenue. The success of the series in Japan has been compared to the success of Superman in the United States. It became so popular that Ultraman was the third best selling licensed character globally in the 1980s. 

There are spin off and sequel Ultraman series through the 1980s. Ultraman is a Kaiju franchise because of the monsters that Ultraman has to constantly defeat, including Triangular, Golba, Trigger Dark, Carmera, Dada.

We Can’t Forget About Gamera 

Gamera is a Kaiju, in the form of a flying, fire breathing giant turtle. Gamera, The Giant Monster hit theaters in 1965. It was meant to be a direct competitor to the success of the Godzilla franchise. All in all there are 12 films, spanning from 1965 through 2006. Within these films, the character of Gamera evolves from destructive and scary to a protector of humanity. 

The Gamera films have been met with mixed response, on one hand they are called out for being derivative of Godzilla and a clear rip-off, but in some cases their success has rivaled the Godzilla franchise in Japan. Though only the original film was released in theaters in the US.

The Host and Other Notable Kaiju

The Host is a 2006 Korean film, it was directed by Bong Joon-Ho, who went on to direct Parasite. 

The film follows a father and his family who are trying to get his daughter back after a giant monster emerges from a river and steals her away. At the time of its release, The Host was the highest-grossing Korean film of all time. 

The opening scene of the film, where a mortician is instructed to dump bottles of formaldehyde down the drain, despite his protests about environmental concerns, is based on true events, where a Korean mortician working for the US government was instructed to do this. The Host follows the formula we see in many Kaiju films, social and political commentary told through giant monsters. The film is both critical of the South Korean and American governments. 

The South Korean government is made to look aloof and bureaucratic. While the Americans are made to look diabolical, the film’s references to Agent Yellow clearly call upon similarities to Agent Orange. Between frustrating characters and obstacles, The Host is visually stunning and poetic, especially its ending sequence. It remains one of my favorite Kaiju films. 

Cloverfield (2008) is also considered to be a Kaiju film by some, it’s unique in that it's also a found-footage film. The film was directed by Matt Reeves and produced by JJ Abrams and stars Lizzy Caplin and TJ Miller. The creature in Cloverfield was added after production, meaning cast members had to react to an invisible monster while filming. In an interview, the director revealed that he had established an unseen origin story for the Kaiju, so that they could direct him and motivate his actions.

In 2013, Guierllmo del Toro brought us Pacific Rim. Del Toro has said that he drew inspiration from the painting called The Colossus by Francisco de Goya. The painting has been dated to sometime after 1808, and depicts a giant looking man, set against dwarfing hills and camps below. It’s disturbing and beautiful at the same time. But that wasn’t the only art that inspired Del Toro. He also tapped into Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa as a reference for the film's ocean battles.

There are many other Kaiju films outside of the few that we mention in this article. Thanks to some of these iconic trail blazers, Kaiji movies have become a huge sub-genre. Kaiju films, though often lumped together into a broad science-fiction or creature feature genre, span from light-hearted entertainment to political and social critique. Films like Godzilla, Shin Godzilla, and The Host are obvious in their commentary.  

Kaiju films create a ripe landscape for this sort of commentary. Beyond the giant creature, audiences automatically expect a military response, destruction beyond repair, and political interference.