Godzilla vs. Hedorah

Most Godzilla movies are improved by "herbal enhancement", but this one most of all. Both the characters and filmmakers seem to be tripping balls more often than not.

Crazy-ass fun with a Serious Eco Message and enjoyable artistic flourishes. I liked how, after taking a few deep breaths from that industrial smog, Hedorah's eyes immediately turned red and soon afterwards he started flying around. Awww yeah man I think we were having the same thing that day. *fistbumps Hedorah, gets stuck on its tarry, gooey skin and is horrifyingly dissolved in acid-gas*

It's like a Seijun Suzuki movie. In addition to the bizarre premise -- a monster formed from pollution, flinging toxic sludge around -- there's the wild jazz-rock soundtrack, odd animation inserts, time-lapse photography, split-screen effects, rapid-fire editing, even an abrupt shift from black & white to color. Godzilla is actually the worst thing in here, and his slo-mo fight scenes with Hedorah are a bit dull.

An underrated film, and arguably the best of the Godzilla series (from what I've seen at least). It's absolutely nuts and entertaining. There's lots of silly humor and absurdity, but there are also a few creepy and mysterious bits (the cat, the drowned men with their limbs poking out of the sludge, skeletons of Hedorah's victims, the weird ghostly people looking down upon the celebration on Mt. Fuji). I thought it was interesting how Godzilla's theme music sort of mocks him.

the wildest, weirdest godzilla flick and probably one of my favorite for repeat viewings. comic book movie meets godzilla meets psychedelia. the dark environmentalist plot and grisly effects(melting humans!) must have been a shock in 71 after a string of safe, campy sci-fi Godzilla films. hedorah is one nasty monster, and my favorite godzilla villain. but it's certainly not all dark as banno doesn't settle down with a single tone for the whole film. it's madness and i love it.

I would have never thought I will see an avantgarde film about a flying trilobite from outer space shitting all over the place. That was something. Godzilla was cool too, looking like it's trying to dance after drinking a lot of vodka.

So this must be what it's like to take drugs.

Kaese! Kaese! I much prefer the "fun" Godzilla movies like this to the "serious" ones. The psychedelic touches are really enjoyable. Once again the nominally climactic battle scenes are actually rather dull and a bit hard to follow too. If all the slow-motion scenes were reverted to regular speed this movie would be about 5 minutes long.

I hadn't expected much from a Godzilla film without Honda at the helm, but as it turns out, Banno had quite an ambitious approach. He really went for effects beyond the usual rubber suits and miniatures. I found the extreme tendentiousness of the script strangely endearing, and it didn't even lose any of that Shōwa-era silliness in the process.

I've seen this movie about 5 times, and I still have no idea what the everloving shit is going on. This is the type of movie I would have made as a young Godzilla fan, if I was dosed with LSD and told to play in the trash for a few hours.

I think more of that groovy psych music would have made this movie even greater than it is. And someone needs to hook me up with the drugs necessary to truly enjoy those fight scenes.

Great Godzilla movie: has huge problems with tone, uses creativity and "creativity" all over the place, has big pacing problems, nice film shots and awful film shots, ok superficial acting and horrible acting, a couple of excerpts to die for. To me, it's better when a Godzilla movie is all sorts of weird instead of being very conservative and boring. So had a great time watching, BUT it's hard to imagine I want to see that dragged ending ever again.

The perfect Godzilla film IMO. Not to be topped.

This film has a cool monster for Godzilla to fight and a decent premise, but the film is dragged down by bad directing, pointless segments, and too much focus on an annoying kid character.

This is basically an experimental 70s drug freak-out. Offers a wild assortment of novel treats for those unconcerned with inconsistent mood, sluggish progression or incoherent overall weirdness. Very obviously not good for squares but it pushes its poison seemingly without remorse. Can't quite help tripping on its own convoluted ideas like the effects of Hedorah's acid. A lot of substance was clearly put into this though which earns it a very high score from me. I should probably just quit now.

New director brings some new visual ideas to the franchise! Splashy colors and animated interludes reminiscent of pop art. Too bad the story is non-existent once again. The after-school special environmental theme is a far cry from the original. Terrible child actor.

One of the better lesser-known Godzilla villains. I'm not sure whether the smog monster got better or worse over time but it is criminal how forgotten he is in the Godzilla mythos.

Certainly the weirdest entry in the series. It has a a very unsubtle environmental message. The plot is intercut with weird 60s psychedelia intermezzos, it has some gruesome violence plus the whole movie is rather dark. This darker tone is undercut with some very camp and goofy moments, ('Zilla flying), making it tonally very inconsistent. The storytelling in the human plot is horrible; there's no natural flow in the plot and the lead kid just show u where the plot needs him to be.

More or less exactly what you expect from a late entry in the original cycle of GODZILLA movies, though the strange almost psychedelic digressions make it at least stand somewhat out from the pack; a tale of two stuntmen in motion constricting suits awkwardly scuffling amongst cardboard miniatures is fun for a while, but makes you miss the spit and polish of the Hollywood disaster movies of the time. Hedorah's habit of spraying what appears to be excrement wherever he goes is good for a giggle!

The American edit is garbage; I could never get through it. The Japanese edit, however, is a hilarious psychedelic freakout. Essential kaiju jamz.

Huh.

[Distant]

Tougher opponent than Godzilla has seemed to face before. Darker in a couple ways than most G films too. And Godzilla has a few moments of brilliance himself here.

The weirdest and most artistic Godzilla movie. His theme song and behavior are indescribable. Instead of tanks with lasers, humanity's last line of defense is hippies with torches.

Weird and wonderful, it's one of the few Godzilla sequels that can stand up to the original.

The way Godzilla dispatches Hedorah is hardcore, I mean he basically aborts his children for good measure.

A bit hit-and-miss & way out there for Godzilla material. The music is fun, but implemented pretty bizarrely.

One of Godzilla's goofiest adventures. Besides a ridiculous theme song ("Save the Earth! Find a solution to stop pollution, save the Earth!"), this has animated inserts and oddly arty direction mixing in shots of a sludge-choked Tokyo Bay with the battling behemoths.

This is the first Godzilla movie I have seen that wasn't edited or dubbed. I was surprised that the worst parts of the film were the fights. They are all in slow motion and very boring. The rest of the film was pretty interesting, featuring a crazy shape-shifting pollution eating monster that spewed toxic sludge. Also, some surreal psychedelic dance scenes and cool animated transitions. The ending was just jaw dropping.

What the hell did I just watch? Worst opening credits ever.

It's so utterly bizarre that it's worth watching. If you don't like Godzilla, as I've mentioned, none of the series' films will change your mind, but you may enjoy this one for its sheer insanity.

Baddest Godzilla movie I have ever seen.

One of the best Godzilla flicks out there.

Godzillas most dangerous opponent yet!

When their not made by Americans, there's no such thing as a bad Godzilla movie, love the acetone

wow, that.... sucked.