A CRITICAL HISTORY AND FILMOGRAPHY OF TOHO’S GODZILLA SERIES
IN GODZ’ WE TRUST x NO BACKBONE! x MAD SCIENCE 101 Since the last version of A Critical History and
While billed as a critical history, David Kalat’s
newly revised edition of his 1997 work on Godzilla is actually more of a cultural history. A chronological look at how the king of kaiju’s city-stomping exploits evolved from a chilling reminder of nuclear destruction to a global pop culture phenomenon, this highly informative book is not only the first and last word on the character and his prolific filmography, but also a revealing examination of the cultural differ- ences between the Eastern and Western hemi- spheres. Balancing accessible prose with astute ob-
servations, Kalat’s definitive assessment details about 35 films released by Toho since the mid- 1950s. But out of the discussion of the differ- ences between the Japanese version of each film and its re-dubbed American counterpart comes startling and fascinating insights that will impress even long-time Godzilla fans. For ex- ample, Kalat points out that Japan’s unprece- dented economic prosperity, and not a desire to pander to children, is the reason that camp fan- tasy elements were introduced throughout the 1960s. Also interesting is American critics’ in- ability to reconcile Toho’s low-budget genre films with their prestigious auteur output; Kalat notes that newspapers would often dismiss an actor’s abilities when he appeared in a Godzilla film, only to praise him if he had a part in an Akira Kurosawa film later on.
RM54 T H E N I N T H C I R C L E
Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series was re- leased, new Godzilla adventures have unfolded on the big screen, while the DVD boom has given American audiences unprecedented ac- cess to the original Japanese versions of many Toho classics. Accordingly, Kalat’s revised edi- tion has been updated with additional refer- ences and a whole new section on the films from the last thirteen years, including the 1998 Hollywood remake of Godzilla. While he doesn’t make much of an effort to
excuse the remake’s failure, the author does spend a little too much energy debunking the original Japanese films’ American reviews, dis- cussing the difficulties of dubbing and cultural references that American audiences were un- equipped to understand at the time. This defen- sive reflex is unnecessary though because Kalat’s compelling arguments – and his excel- lent book in general – are more than enough to legitimize and prove the cultural worth of this venerable series.
PAUL CORUPE HORROR MOVIE FREAK After reading Horror Movie Freak, one cannot
help but wonder whether author Don Sumner is aiming at creating a primer for budding scary movie newbies or making a definitive statement on essential horror viewing for those who con- sider themselves genre aficionados. Formulated as a pseudo-reference text, Horror Movie Freak
categorizes the films it covers into various broad sub-categories such as Classics, Evil From Hell, Supernatural Thrillers and Aberra- tions of Nature, the last of which loses some credibility due to the inclusion of the blatant Jaws rip-off Grizzly. After an elementary introductory essay titled
Why We Love Horror Movies, which cribs the rules of surviving a fright flick straight from Wes Craven’s Scream, Sumner writes, “Horror Movie Freak is not a listing of ‘best’ horror movies, but rather a collection of ones that fall into a variety of horror subgenres with the simple inclusion criteria that they don’t suck.” Unfortunately, what sucks and what doesn’t can be a tricky road to travel, subject to the tastes and predilections of the viewer. Does James Wan’s mediocre Dead Silence or 2003’s clichéd Dark- ness Falls really rate above the criminally omit- ted Guillermo del Toro ghost story The Devil’s Backbone or John Carpenter’s classic The Fog (the remake of which, by the way, gets a nod in the book)? Toward the end of Horror Movie Freak, Sum-
ner shakes things up a little by looking at the trend of remakes (The Omen, Thir13en Ghosts and Pulse), paying tribute to the genre’s scream queens and offering up a list of ten movies one should watch before October 31, which inexpli- cably includes Bob Clark’s yuletide-themed Black Christmas. Ultimately, Horror Movie Freak fails to satis-
fyingly flesh out any of the films it highlights with interesting facts, anecdotes or trivia, the lack of which will undoubtedly leave the major- ity of seasoned terror fans wanting. However,
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