The 3 Most Bizarre Godzilla Movies (& Where to Watch Them)

The Godzilla film franchise has been going strong for over 70 years now. And, given the combined strength of Godzilla Minus One‘s critical and commercial performance and the growing box office success of the American Monsterverse, it seems it’s never been stronger than ever. But no sci-fi franchise that has gone through a 15-film first era (Shōwa), seven-film second era (Heisei), six-film third era (Millennium), five-film fourth era (Reiwa), a misguided American reboot, and a full-on American cinematic universe, is going to have entries that are all made equal. In fact, some are going to be outright ludicrous.

Does being ludicrous or bizarre make them bad, though? Not when it comes to Godzilla – at least not all the time. Those are the films that follow on this list: the most bizarre Godzilla films out there. These are the films that made choices like recycling stock footage (All Monsters Attack) or going against the norms of the franchise’s tone (Shin Godzilla). These Godzilla movies had some of the most outlandish narratives – and are some of the wildest installments to watch (in the best kitschy way).

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

The princess who thinks she’s a Martian (and temporarily is inhabited by a Martian?) thread in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster is about as odd as the first two-thirds of the Shōwa era got. But that all changed with the era’s final five films, starting with Godzilla vs. Hedorah. It was something of a hard reset for the franchise after 1969’s All Monsters Attack, which was extremely kiddie and half made of stock footage because of a smaller-than-usual budget.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah is decidedly adult – a stark contrast to the childish All Monsters Attack. It’s all about humanity’s selfish, cash-focused destruction of Earth which has never seemed more prescient than now, over 50 years later. But it’s the way Godzilla vs. Hedorah conveys its messages that makes it so odd, from a little boy’s daydreams (which end up being revealed as telepathic messages from Godzilla) and animated sequences, to the titular smog monster. Oh, and Godzilla flies by using of the force of his atomic breath and a curled-up tail, which even ’70s critics found preposterous.

Stream Godzilla vs. Hedorah on MAX and The Criterion Channel.

Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

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The follow-up to Godzilla vs. Hedorah is different in terms of narrative, but somewhat similar in terms of tone. It also gets Godzilla back to its aliens-are-the-antagonists ways (which would be continued in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and the Shōwa era’s final film, Terror of Mechagodzilla). It’s just, in this case, the aliens are…cockroaches.

The thread of two men wanting to build a Godzilla-themed park called World Children’s Land is already pretty out there. The same could be said of their constant mentioning of the word “peace,” usually with a sinister smirk. But cockroaches? The underwater kingdom of Seatopia and its big beetle baddie were certainly strange in the follow-up, Godzilla vs. Megalon, but the fact Gigan takes itself a bit more seriously only serves to highlight its oddball nature.

Stream Godzilla vs. Gigan on MAX and The Criterion Channel.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

It says a lot that the awkward word salad of a title isn’t the most bizarre thing about Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. No, what’s really strange about the film is how it re-envisions the monsters the audiences have come to know and either love or hate.

For one, Godzilla isn’t just the product of a nuclear blast, he’s a creature possessed by the souls of the Pacific War’s casualties. Two, while Mothra and Baragon are kept pretty much the same, the notion of turning King Ghidorah into a fellow defender of the Earth against Godzilla certainly is enough to throw fans for a loop. There’s only one other movie that has altered the character of King Ghidorah, and it wasn’t to the extent of GMK. Speaking of which….

Rent Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack on Prime Video.

Honorable Mention: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

Godzilla vs. Biollante‘s young woman reincarnated as a flower monster plot is pretty out there, but it’s taken so seriously that it works. The time-travel scenes in the subsequent film, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, don’t. It blatantly plays as if those behind the film watched the recently released (four months prior) Terminator 2: Judgment Day and thought “We can do that.”

What really makes the goofiness of the film’s time travel plotline stand out isn’t so much the plotline itself, but rather how it’s orchestrated. The two American future people are over-the-top; the little Dorats look like weirder, less-furry versions of the Porg from Star Wars: The Last Jedi; and the super T-800-like android, M-11, is impossible to take seriously – mostly because the film clearly wants the audience to think he’s cool.

Stream Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah on MAX and The Criterion Channel.