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DESTROY ALL MONSTERS Directed by Inoshiro Honda
The Kaiju Eiga/Godzilla franchise had hit a critical point in the late 1960s. After Godzilla had left behind his days as a villain, he became an anti-hero. Ghidrah: The Three Headed Monster, Monster Zero and Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster brought the story of Godzilla into a direction where audiences felt more at ease with this dynamic. Son of Godzilla saw the development of a human-like character in the monster. With the arrival of the multi-monster cinematic event, Destroy All Monsters, Toho secured Godzilla's reputation as a leader and full-on hero. After limited home video availability, ADV Films presents Destroy All Monsters in its International version.
In what seemed to be the distant future of 1999, all of the monsters are contained on an island in the Pacific. Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Angilas, Manda, Gorosaurus, Baragon, Kumonga, among others, are prevented from escaping by natural barriers put there by scientists. The monsters escape and turn up all over the world, destroying cities. It is revealed that an alien race from a planet beyond Mars, the Kilaaks, is controlling the monsters and wants the Earth to live under their rule.
The people of Earth figure a way out to block the Kilaaks' signal to control the monsters, and the monsters are assembled together to fight the aliens. When the monsters are ready to attack the aliens' base, the Kilaaks send the monster Ghidorah to destroy them.....
This film is popular among fans, mainly due to the fact that there are appearances by past Toho favorites. However, there are several that were not in the picture (such as Moguera, Mondo Island or Faro Island King Kong, Ebirah, Dagora, Kamacuras, the Green Gargantua and Brown Gargantua, etc.) and others who were simply there for the appearance and did not partake in the final battle. ADV Films presents Destroy All Monsters in a more-or-less aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The image is not anamorphically-enhanced and the print is not without damage. Although the colors are stable, there are a lot of scratches and dirt in some scenes. The 2.0 mono sound is good, and exhibits little noise. However, the International dub is used instead of the American International Pictures dub, possibly disappointing fans who saw it at drive-ins and on television back in the 1960s-1980s.
There are no extras included on the disc. One would wonder why the theatrical trailer was not present, since it is not difficult to come by (it has appeared on trailer sets and documentaries available on home video). There is no menu screen nor are there any chapter stops. The disc simply plays in the DVD player and repeats when the feature is over. Destroy All Monsters is a classic selection from the Showa era (1954-1975) and is definitely worth owning. Completists would be more interested in a recent re-issue of this disc with the inclusion of a soundtrack CD. |
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