8 Godzilla Films You Need To See

Set in an apparently alternate 1999, where rocket ships leave for the moon on an hourly basis, Destroy All Monsters confines Toho’s creatures to a sanctuary called Monster Island. Naturally, they escape and start doing their thing, with Godzilla attacking NYC, Rodan trashing Moscow, Mothra invading Beijing etc., but the monsters aren’t acting of their own free will.

Turns out they’re being controlled by the Kilaaks, an “alien race” whose members just happen to resemble beautiful women in tight outfits. Thankfully, a group of astronauts are able to return control of the creatures to Earth, setting up one of the all-time-great monster movie showdowns as Godzilla, Mothra, Gorosaurus, Rodan, Baragon, Varan, Anguirus, Kumonga, Manda and Minya (Godzilla’s son) face off against King Ghidorah and the Fire Dragon, a flaming kestrel that turns out to be a Kilaak flying saucer.

Incredibly, a critic for Cinefantastique, who you’d think would enjoy this sort of thing, called the picture “too thin in its characterizations” (!?), but those of us that watch movies for fun know better. Destroy All Monsters is utterly ridiculous and loads of fun – don’t even mention the dubbing.