Byrd, Tom, Kevin and Trev discuss a trio of tokusatsu superhero films from acclaimed director Takashi Miike (Great Yokai War, Ultraman Max, Audition, Ichi the Killer). First we have 2004's Zebraman, a parody of Japanese superhero shows that sees a father in a mid life crisis take up the mantle of the titular character to fight crime and fend off an alien invasion. We then move onto 2010's gonzo sequel set in a dystopian future where Zebraman must face off against a power hungry pop singer. We ca...
May 14, 2025•2 hr 49 min•Ep. 347
Byrd, Matt, Lux and Kevin discuss Shinji Higuchi's recent Netflix film Bullet Train Explosion. Higuchi's latest revamp of an old tokusatsu IP is a remake/sequel to Toei's 1975 classic disaster film The Bullet Train. Like its predecessor, the story revolves around a bomb on a bullet train, which will explode if the train slows down under 100kph. Show how does Higuchi's latest fare in comparison to the original film and his other recent tokusatsu reboots? Listen and find out!
May 05, 2025•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 346
Byrd, Lux and Matt reach back down into the bottom of the barrell to discuss three obscure recent King Kong knock-offs from China, made to cash in on the recent Monsterverse films. In recent years, China has been churning out dozens and dozens of low budget straight to TV/streaming cheapie creature features. For this episode we'll discuss 2021's Monster Island, 2023's King Kong vs Giant Serpent (aka Battle of Snakes), and 2024's KingKong is Coming Back. In addition to offering our thoughts on th...
Apr 02, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 345
Back from the holiday break, Byrd and Matt set their sights on Ray Harryhausen's classic series of Sinbad films; the 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1957), the Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) are still among the most celebrated fantasy films of all time. After getting tired of monsters tearing down landmarks, stop motion animator Ray Harryhausen decided to make a different kind of monster movie by drawing inspiration from the Arabian Nights folktales of Sinbad, a ...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 344
Byrd sits down with author Joseph Palinkas to discuss his new book, the History of Carnosaur. The book covers the history of the franchise, which was launched by Roger Corman to cash in on Jurassic Park. We talk about the conception of the book, the background of the Carnosaur films, living through the post-Jurassic Park dino-boom of the 90s, the complicated rights issues keeping the films from rediscovery, differences between the film and the original Carnosaur novel and how we feel the films h...
Dec 01, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 343
Byrd, Lux, and Kevin nurse their Halloween hangover with another episode covering everyone's favorite yokai boy-hero Kitaro! The long running franchise created by Shigeru Mizuki catapulted Japan's folkloric creatures into pop culture and still runs strong to this day. We look at another sampling of GeGeGe No Kitaro material from over the years. We discuss the first two episodes of the 1970s anime series, 2008's film Japan Explodes, and 2023's prequel film The Mystery of GeGeGe. We discuss how th...
Nov 12, 2024•2 hr 5 min•Ep. 342
Byrd, Trev, Lux and Kevin take a deep dive into Sadako's well to discuss the first four Japanese theatrical films in the Ring franchise: Ring (1998), Spiral (1998), Ring 2 (1999) and Ring 0: Birthday (2000). In addition to a lively talk about all four films and the film makers involved, we discuss the origins of the series as a series of novels by Koji Suzuki, the birth of the J-Horror boom at the turn of the century, and how the Ring franchise became a global phenomenon, making Sadako one of th...
Oct 29, 2024•3 hr 9 min•Ep. 341
Our October horror shows roll on as Byrd, Tom, and Kevin are joined by Chris Marti (musician alias "Cosmic Monster" and co-writer of The Author vs. the Werewolf) to discuss the fantasy/horror of Wicked City! Based on a series of novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi (Vampire Hunter D), Wicked City is about the rift between humanity and a secret society of interdimensional demons. We start with 1987's cult classic anime film from Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust) and move onto 19...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 57 min•Ep. 340
Byrd, Tom and Lux are back to take a look at the 1982 semi-obscurity The House Where Evil Dwells. This haunted house shocker is a co-production made with assistance from the legendary Toei studios. It was directed by Kevin Connor (The Land that Time Forgot) and stars Edward Albert, Susan George, and the incomparable Doug McClure. Based on an unpublished novel of the same name, it tells the story of an American family that moves to Japan and the vengeful ghosts that inhabit their house (and bodie...
Oct 13, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 339
Byrd, Tom and Trev kick off our annual October horror series with the Italian creature feature Alien From the Deep, directed by Antonio Margheriti (Cannibal Apocalypse). Although seemingly made to cash-in on both Aliens and the Abyss, the actual plot is anything but. It tells the story of some Greenpeace activists who attempt to expose a corporation for illegally dumping radioactive waste into a nearby volcano. But the radiation has attracted a giant alien who has started wreaking havoc in the a...
Oct 07, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 338
Byrd and Lux sit down with guitarist/vocalist Lord Kaiju, founder of the kaiju themed heavy metal band Oxygen Destroyer. We discuss his roots as both a kaiju and metal fan, how he came up with his brand of death-thrash, the strength of the Seattle rock music scene, how the Gamera trilogy helped him, and of course their new album Guardian of the Universe (out now!). Check out Oxygen Destroyer's music and merch here: https://oxygen-destroyer.bandcamp.com/album/guardian-of-the-universe...
Sep 29, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 337
Byrd, Kevin, Lux and Tom go back to 1996 to talk about Godzilla Returns by Marc Cerasini, the first novel in a short lived series of books by Random House. In the mid-90s, Random House signed a deal with Toho and released books for different age groups. This would include children's picture books, children's novels by Scott Ciencin, and young adult novels by Marc Cerasini. Long out of print, these books have become almost a thing of myth, and have developed a nostalgic cult following over the ye...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 55 min•Ep. 336
Byrd, Matt, Lux and Jared discuss four British sci-fi adventure films featuring b-movie actor Doug McClure fighting all sorts of giant rubber beasts! We discuss three Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations from Amicus Productions- This includes the lost world dinosaur escapades The Land that Time Forgot (1974), its sequel The People That Time Forgot At the Earth's Core (1977), and the hollow earth adventure At The Earth's Core (1976). We follow that up with the non-Amicus, non-Burroughs underwater act...
Sep 05, 2024•2 hr 49 min•Ep. 335
Byrd, Tom, Trev and Kevin discuss the recent DC/Legendary Comics' crossover. The mini-series, written by Brian Buccalatto (Injustice, The Flash) and drawn by Christian Duce (Detective Comics, the Flash) sees the Justice League do battle with Godzilla, King Kong, and other titans ofthe Monsterverse after some multiverse tampering from the Legion of Doom. What happens when Superman goes up against Godzilla? What happens when Kong gets a Green Lantern ring? All these questions and more are answered...
Aug 12, 2024•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 334
Byrd, Matt, Kevin and Lux discuss the recent anime adaptation, Kaiju No. 8, based on the best selling manga by Naoya Matsumoto. The show is a co production between heavy hitters like Khara, Toho, and Production I.G., and directed by Shigeyuki Miya and Tomomi Kamiya. It tells the story of a world where giant monster attacks are a regular occurance. One evening a small creature flies into the mouth of a kaiju cleanup crew member named Kafka, giving him the ability to transform into the half human/...
Jul 22, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 333
Byrd, Kevin and Justin interview author Zack Davisson (Yurei: The Japanese Ghost, Ultimate X-Men) about his new book The Ultimate Guide to Japanese Yokai. We get into his research method and fascination with Japanese folklore, as well as how the book came about. We also topics such as his translation work translating Japanese manga (most notably the work of Shigeru Mizuki), his work for Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm, and his previous books about Yurei and Kaibyo (supernatural Japanese cats), wheth...
Jun 27, 2024•2 hr 25 min•Ep. 332
Byrd, Matt, Kevin and Lux discuss the recent Netflix animated film, Ultraman Rising! The first American Ultraman production in nearly 30 years follows a baseball player named Kenji who moonlights as everyone's favorite silver giant Ultraman to defend the planet from giant monsters. One day he comes in possession of a baby monster and has to adjust his life to being the creature's parent, while the KDF science team try to hunt it down. In addition to our review, we discuss the film's early develo...
Jun 23, 2024•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 331
Byrd, Lux and Kevin discuss the recent Netflix series, Parasyte: The Grey, (directed by Train to Busan's Yeon Sang-ho). This Korean spin-off of Hitoshi Iwaaki's classic Japanese story follows a supermarket clerk named Su-in, who is partially possessed by a parasite named Heidi, as she teams with a gangster named Kang-woo to evade the rest of the alien body snatchers, as well as The Grey, a special ops unit tasked with exterminating all parasites. How does the show live up to the rest of the fran...
Jun 09, 2024•1 hr 58 min•Ep. 330
Byrd and Matt discuss the Asylum's latest monster mockbuster, Ape X Mecha Ape: New World Order. The third film in the "Ape vs." series sees the giant ape Abraham and his mechanical doppelganger Mecha Ape go up against Kulalu, a Cthulhu knockoff summoned by a doomsday cult to wipe out humanity. How does this compare to other Asylum efforts? Listen and find out! But first Matt gets us caught up with his thoughts on Godzilla x Kong and gives an update on the state of the podcast. Listen and enjoy t...
May 27, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 329
With a new Planet of the Apes movie in theaters, Byrd, Tom and Kevin decide to take a look at Japan's attempt to cash-in on the franchise. This Sandy Frank Entertainment-produced compilation film was made up of footage from Tsuburaya Productions 1974-1975 series, Time of the Apes, about a group of children and a scientist who find themselves shot forward in time to a future taken over by apes. We'll discuss this forgotten oddity as well as the series that spawned it. But first, we give our thoug...
May 13, 2024•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 328
Byrd is joined by Lux, Tom (of the Final Forum Dragonball Podcast), and Trev (of the Failure to Franchise Podcast) to talk about the new film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire! This new entry in Legendary Pictures' Monsterverse is another crossover between the two monster icons, as they go up against the threat of the evil ape Skar King and his army of apes and the frost monster Shimo. Along the way, Kong forms a bond with the young ape Suko. We'll talk about the production history as well as give...
Apr 08, 2024•2 hr 36 min•Ep. 327
Our pals Trev (frequent KT guest) and Chris over at the Failure to Franchise podcast had Matt and Byrd on their show to discuss Godzilla 1998! We discussed how it came to be, memories of living through the marketing and release of the film, the backlash to it, and the lasting effects it had on the franchise. Did the movie impact the series for good or bad? Is it as bad of a movie as people say? How does it hold up all these years later? Listen and find out!
Mar 17, 2024•2 hr 1 min•Ep. 326
Byrd and Matt discuss Daiei's 1962 period monster movie, The Whale God (aka The Killer Whale). Directed by Tokuzo Tanaka (Zatoichi series), with a script written by Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba, Kuroneko) based on the novel by Koichiro Uno, it tells the story of a whaling village in the early Meiji period being terrorized by a gigantic whale. Two men, Shaki (Kojiro Hongo of the Gamera films) and Kishu (Shintaro Katsu of the Zatoichi films) to compete to be the one to kill the whale. For decades, this ...
Feb 26, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 325
Byrd, Kevin and Justin interview poet and Japanese literary translator Jeffrey Angles about his recent translations of Shigeru Kayama's 1955 novelizations of Godzilla '54 and Godzilla Raids Again (now available for the first time in English via University of Minnesota Press). We talk about Angles' interest in Japanese literature, his love of Edogawa Ranpo, the tightrope of maintaining an author's voice while translating, the life and career of Godzilla author Shigeru Kayama, Kayama's long-overlo...
Feb 11, 2024•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 324
Byrd, Matt and Tom discuss Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the recent MonsterVerse spin-off series on Apple TV+. The story flashes between the 1950s and the 2010s as it follows the founding of the Monarch organization (introduced in 2014's Godzilla reboot) and two siblings trying to untie their family's mysterious history with it. Join us as we discuss the shows pros and cons, the charm of Kurt and Wyatt Russell, Legendary's lofty ambitions, the MonsterVerse's continuity problem, the current state ...
Jan 21, 2024•2 hr 50 min•Ep. 323
Byrd and Lux ring in the new year by talking about two Showa-era "colliding worlds" epics. First is Daiei's Warning From Space, the first Japanese science fiction film made in color. It tells of a race of cyclops starfish aliens who warn humanity that a planet called Planet R is on a collision course with the earth. After that we discuss 1962's Gorath (technically a New Years movie!), Ishiro Honda's classic that tells of the titular star on a collision course with earth and the scientists tasked...
Jan 08, 2024•2 hr 22 min•Ep. 322
Byrd, Matt, Kevin, Lux, Trev, and Tom assemble for a sprawling mega-sized, in depth review of Godzilla Minus One. Toho's latest entry in the franchise is a reboot taking place in the 1940s, as Japan rebuilds after World War 2. It follows Koichi, a former kamikaze pilot with survivor's guilt and PTSD as he struggles to find his lot in life and confront his trauma, as the H-Bomb mutated dinosaur called Godzilla emerges and devastates Japan. Our kaiju-sized crew of hosts discuss their feelings on e...
Dec 11, 2023•3 hr 19 min•Ep. 321
In our lead up to Godzilla: Minus One, Byrd, Lux, Tom and Kevin examine more science fiction and fantasy films from director Takashi Yamazaki (Parasyte, Ghost Book, The Eternal Zero). Yamazaki made his first feature in 2000 and has been a consistent hit maker since, making some of the most successful Japanese films of recent years. For this episode, we discuss and review his debut coming of age/time travel feature, Juvenile (2000), the time travel action fest Returner (2002), and the whimsical y...
Nov 24, 2023•2 hr 57 min•Ep. 320
If you think Halloween came and went too soon, Byrd, Tom, Lux and Kevin are here to help soothe your Halloween Hangover with some more yokai-centric madness, with Toho's 2022 fantasy film Ghost Book (aka Yokaipedia). Directed by Takashi Yamazaki (Godzilla Minus One, Eternal Zero, Parasyte 1 & 2), this adaptation of the "Ghost Book Obakezukan" picture books tells the story of a group of children who share a wish that can only be granted if they accept a series of challenges given to them by a...
Nov 06, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 319
Our October horror series continues as Byrd, Tom, Lux and Kevin discuss Shinya Tsukamoto's cult classic Tetsuo trilogy! Tsukamoto burst onto the Japanese indie scene with the first film in 1989, cementing him as a master of surrealist outsider cinema, putting his name alongside directors like Sogo Ishii, David Lynch, and David Cronenberg, and also becoming an icon of the emerging Japanese cyberpunk scene. Tetsuo The Iron Man told the story of a Japanese salaryman slowly transforming into a mass ...
Oct 30, 2023•2 hr 55 min•Ep. 318
