10 Old-School Toho Kaiju That Legendary Need To Reincarnate

10. Hedorah

Hedorah is a slime alien who comes to Earth to feed on the abundant pollution and toxic waste produced by humanity’s many filthy industrial facilities. Beginning life as a tadpole-like parasite, and growing through many incarnations until he reaches his most powerful and destructive final form, Hedorah keeps Godzilla on his toes throughout 1971’s psychedelic eco-horror Godzilla Vs. Hedorah.

Most troubling of all for Godzilla is the fact that Hedorah, whose name derives from the Japanese word for vomit or chemical slurry, seems impervious to his attacks for the majority of the movie.

The big guy’s atomic breath and physical brawling, which usually see him able to overpower his foes, have little to no effect upon Hedorah's viscous, semi-solid body. Human weapons can't damage Hedorah either. Bullets simply pass through the sludge.

It’s no secret that Godzilla himself began life as a powerful metaphor for the nuclear destruction visited on Japan at the end of the Second World War. Likewise, Godzilla Vs. Hedorah had a strong political and environmentalist message at its heart, which was a bold and unusual theme for filmmakers to tackle at the time.

In the era of looming climate catastrophe, what could be more timely than a return of the indestructible smog monster?