Examples include: Godzilla (1954, 1998, 2014), Rodan (1956), King Kong (1956, 2005), Eight Legged Freaks (2002), The Host (2006) Youve probably seen a Kaiju film without even realising it. Pacific Rim? Attack of the Killer Tomatoes? A Kaiju film translates literally from the Japanese Monster, beginning in 1954 with Godzilla, a colossal prehistoric lizard resurrected and overgrown from Nuclear testing in the Pacific, recalling the horrors of atomic warfare suffered by Japan only less than a decade before. Godzilla spawned much odd progeny, some in more humanoid forms (these are called Kaijin or strange person films) such as the Japanese franchise following the exploits of a great demon god, Daimajin. Since apes and large marshmallow creatures are considered humanoid, this is also the correct genre for King Kong and Ghostbusters. While America had focussed its attentions on giant irradiated ants (Them!), spiders (Tarantula!) and amorphous goo (The Blob), Japan continued their monster franchise of bombastic titles and entertaining stories. These attracted the attention of Western audiences, giving the films a cult following (it was watching 1966s The War of the Gargantuas that supposedly inspired Brad Pitt to take up acting). Many felt that the destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima that flared the inspiration of Godzilla offered a similar reason for the success of Cloverfield following the September 11th attacks where an alien invasion lays waste to New York. This led to a resurgence of the genre with Pacific Rim (where the monsters are literally called Kaiju) and Legendarys recent remaking of Godzilla for contemporary audiences.
