In my continuing quest to watch every Godzilla movie, I was pleased to bump into a true monster fest. Yes, "Destroy All Monsters" is that party. I fully admit that I am a Godzilla nut although as I watch the middle-to-late '60s Big-G flicks, I have been desperately trying to retain my strange fixation with the films. The most recent entries that I have watched have tested my patience (that would be "Son of Godzilla" and "Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster"); but then along comes this Ishiro Honda-directed treat and all is again well in my irrational kaiju-obssesed little world. That's not to imply that "Destroy All Monsters" is a good movie, it's just that there's like a dozen monsters trampling assorted cities 'round the world. And above all else, that's why I watch these ridiculous flicks. Part of the satisfaction I got from "Destroy All Monsters" was the fact that I couldn't rent the movie anywhere. No Netflix, no Amazon, nothing. I actually bought the DVD as part of a two-pack. To add further to its charm, the DVD is a no frills, no extras, menu-less release by ADV Films. It's also got the worst English dub of a movie I think I've ever heard. But that actually adds even more to it's goofy low rent appeal. I haven't mentioned much about the story. Somehow humans have herded all of the monsters to Monster Island. Aliens then release the monsters loose to wreak havoc on the Earth. That's about it. There is really quite a lot of monster goodness here and it's welcome because many of the late '60s Godzilla movies were sorely lacking it.

I'm sure the sound designer loved the part where all the monsters were just spamming their default roars.

I think I liked this one a bit more. The idea is simple, without overcomplicating things or trying too hard, but it hooks you really well. You can REALLY notice the change in writer; the series had been completely burning out its main themes for several installments, and this one definitely feels like a breath of fresh air. Apparently Ishiro Honda was really into the whole “monster farm” idea and how they fed them with underwater farms and all that. It’s an idea that really caught my interest at the beginning of the movie, but then it’s never brought up again for the rest of the film, which is a shame. Honda seems to have the potential to do some really interesting things, but it feels like they keep cutting his wings. In fact, from reading interviews and things from Honda, I get the impression that he wanted to change the direction, move toward a more serious, more restrained, and deeper story and a more serious version of Godzilla. I saw that he removed some “corny” scenes or ones that didn’t make sense, for example, and it seems like he was taking it more seriously. I don’t know, that’s just the feeling I get, we’ll see what happens in the next installments. The final confrontation, with that “Avengers moment” where all the monsters come together, is insanely awesome. The scene where all the monsters violently finish off King Ghidorah is super brutal and violent, I definitely didn’t expect that at all, including the final moment where King Ghidorah’s limp, lifeless body falls into the ground through a pit. The last 20 minutes of the movie are incredible.

"I didn't think Tokyo would escape this terror, but Rodan, Godzilla and Manda are all here at the same time." I had totally forgotten about the fact that King Ghidorah is getting totally squashed. It's like the N.W.O is fighting a local jobber. Damn. He even bleeds! Everyone joins in for fun; Mothra, Anguirus, Minilla, Rodan, Gorosaurus, Varan, a Giant Spider, Manda and even Baragon . Damn Godzilla has a lot of friends. Anyway the final 20 minutes is just an absolute blast. Seeing all these monsters destroying King Ghidorah in all its campiness. Pure early Kaiju fun. The bit before isn't to bad but not all that interesting. It about aliens taking control of the monsters from the humans. But we don't watch this for the human side, we just want our Kaiju action and it delivers. Seeing all these big Monsters alongside the King of Monsters is fun. If you haven't seen it, go check it out!

In this 1968 Toho release, an alien race comes to Earth planning on enslaving the population. They take control of all of the Earth’s monsters and turn them into weapons against humanity, attacking all of the planet’s major cities. Eventually, they bring in their ultimate weapon - the space monster King Ghidorah - to finish off the planet. Godzilla leads an All-Star monster cast including Mothra, Rodan, Mantra, Baragon and more. Destroy All Monsters gets a 7 out of 10.