WTF Japan?!?: Godzilla vs. Hedorah

Even giant, fire-breathing lizards can be weird as hell. That came out wrong. Today's film is...

Godzilla vs. Hedorah

There are a couple things to get out of the way now. First off, this is from the 'Godzilla: Savior of mankind' era in Toho. The giant monster is friendly-ish to humans and only fights monsters to protect us. He's sort of like Mothra, only less gay. I kid. Second, this movie is full of experimental imagery and film-making. You have been warned.

The movie begins with a cartoon. Say it with me once and forever: WHAAA?!? Yeah, it begins with a cartoon narrated by a kid, talking about how much we pollute. Frankly, my dear, I don't give a hoot. This all leads us to our big monster- Hedorah.

He's one ugly 'mutha.' He starts off small, but grows into a big, Cthulu-looking weirdo. But it gets weirder. He has three forms: a swimming form, a land-mass form (shown above) and a flying form. Yeah, you read that. Just pretend that it makes sense and move on.

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The plot is, well, pretty simple. The monster Hedorah is loose and destroying civilization because it is upset. The irony, of course, being that he attacks waste sites even though he would not exist without them in the first place. Wow, existential thought in a Godzilla movie. Who knew?

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Many quirky things happen in this movie. One scene involves a bunch of young drunks in a bar. They are dancing around to disco music while one of them is tripping. He pictures them all with giant fish heads. This is followed by Hedorah unleashing his toxic slime into the place a la "The Blob." Incidentally, there are quite a few violent deaths in the movie from this substance. Combine that with the cartoons and child character in the lead and you have one confused movie.

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Let's get this out of the way. You all just want to see this moment. I can't blame you. Take it away, clip.

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The bottom line: this movie is just strange. Godzilla saves people? A sludge monster morphs into a jet? The monster has two 'balls' ripped out of it that are not its eyes? Why the hell not? Just throw it all in there movie. It's not like we will stop watching.

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More Japanese insanity to come. Stay tuned...