Forget the Monsterverse, These 3 Forgotten Godzilla Movies Deserve Way More Love

For those who grew up on the Godzilla franchise, the Monsterverse has been a blessing. That is, as long as the G-fan can put their massive expectations (which rival those of the average Star Wars fan) on the backburner and appreciate that Hollywood is at least trying to show some reverence to the storied franchise and its mythos. There are some alterations here and there, like how Mechagodzilla was more or less the result of tampering with a dead King Ghidorah, but that’s a good thing. Hollywood is taking these iconic characters and making them its own while holding back from changing them so much as to make them unrecognizable.

But these mega-budget movies still lack the unique charms of the Shōwa era, even of the Heisei era. That span of time was when the IP was at its best, but even still there were a few released within those two eras that don’t get quite the amount of love they’re due.

3) Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep aka Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster is the first installment of the most regrettable chunk of Godzilla’s Shōwa era. To unofficially name them, the jungle films. In chronological order, Ebirah, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla’s Revenge, all largely took place in the jungle. In Destroy All Monster‘s case it was just a few scenes in a jungle, but nonetheless it tonally fits in with these movies more often than not.

Of those four movies, Destroy often gets the credit for being the best, but that’s far from the case. Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is the winner. It still has some of that classic Godzilla vibe found in King Kong vs. Godzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, and the pair of early days Ghidorah movies. It also doesn’t forget to take itself seriously here and there, with a nice balance between goofy volleyball (volleyrock?) matches between Godzilla and Ebirah and tense scenes where Ebirah’s claw drags frantic humans down to their deaths.

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2) Godzilla vs. Gigan

The final five Godzilla movies are all pretty trippy ’70s era stuff. And almost all of them are fondly remembered. Godzilla vs. Hedorah is the trippiest and gets a lot of credit because of that, the two Mechagodzilla movies were a solid pair to send the era out on and, because of Mystery Science Theater 3000, plenty of people who weren’t exposed to Godzilla found at least one of them entertaining in Godzilla vs. Megalon, even if not for the right reasons.

The film that led into Megalon, Godzilla vs. Gigan, tends to get lost in the mix. And it’s a shame, because it’s the second best of those five besides Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. It isn’t too experimental like Hedorah and it isn’t too kiddy like Megalon. It relies on stock footage too often, but that’s fine when that lack of creativity (really just budgetary restrictions, but it plays as a lack of creativity) is balanced out with a pair of cockroach aliens planning to open a kaiju theme park with a laser blasting Godzilla statue as the main attraction. That’s some endearingly wild stuff, just as Gigan’s design made him one of the most formidable and memorable antagonists in the IP’s history…before Megalon made him seem like an inefficient third wheel, anyway.

1) The Return of Godzilla

There are technically better Godzilla movies than The Return of Godzilla, but even over Gojira this is my favorite. It’s the first one I ever saw, back when I was six or so. It was the vastly inferior Americanized Godzilla 1985, but it was my first exposure to the Big G, nonetheless. So, one might look at calling it overrated as a bit of nostalgia bias, but it truly is one of the very best entries in the franchise’s long history.

The balancing of monster movie action with Cold War era politics works, especially when it comes to establishing a baseline tension and never letting it go away, not for so long as a single scene. Toss in the fantastic score and the wonderful, lip-curling animatronic head and Return has aged well. So, why is it underrated? It’s a simple matter of this movie having been so hard to find for nearly 20 years, at least in the United States. Up until the Kraken Releasing Blu-ray (now out of print) and DVD, you either had to have your 1985 VHS or watch it through less ethical avenues.

Stream all three of these Godzilla movies on HBO Max.

Which Godzilla movie do you think deserves more love? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!