We're back again with Kevin (Maser Patrol) to talk about the recent kaiju satire film, What To Do With The Dead Kaiju. This Toei/Shochiku co-production tells the story of Japan's government and scientists trying to figure out how to dispose of a rotting kaiju carcass. But first, we talk a bit about the passing of Power Rangers actor Jason David Frank.
On another Halloween hangover episode, we are joined by Tom (Final Forum Dragon Ball Podcast) and returning guest Justin Mullis to discuss comedian turned horror maestro Jordan Peele's recent sci-fi/horror adventure, Nope! Now if you've seen the film, you will know why we're covering it on this show. If you haven't seen it, well... you should. The film follows two siblings who run a Hollywood horse training ranch who find that something sinister in the skies above them is taking their horses, wh...
We're joined again by Tom and Kevin to talk about Kadokawa's most recent entry in their Yokai Monsters series, Great Yokai War: Guardians! With Takashi Miike (2005's Great Yokai War) back in the director chair, it features a myriad of yokai, as well as a special guest appearance from Daimajin! Along the way, we learn about brotherhood, pacifism, and the folly of war. So how did this long awaited sequel fare? We'll get there, but first, we have all the news from Godzilla Day, including the long a...
Happy Halloween! This time, we're joined by Tom and Trev to talk about the Canadian sci-fi/horror/comedy Psycho Goreman! Directed by Steven Kostanski (of the cult film collective Astron-6), and inspired by 80s fantasy, Japanese superhero shows and 90s family films, it tells the story of Psycho Goreman (aka PG), an alien warlord who falls to Earth and becomes controlled by a sociopathic little girl. While PG is playing dodgeball and turning kids into tentacled brain creatures, he has to fend off ...
Byrd, Kevin and Tom discuss the Gakkou No Kaidan (aka Haunted School aka School Ghost Stories aka Ghost Stories) franchise with the main point of discussion being Toho's four live action films from the 1990s. Haunted School is a multi-media franchise that started as a book of short stories written by a teacher who got ideas for children's horror stories from his students. It has since gotten film, television, anime, and feature film adaptations, as well as video games, toys, etc. The Japanese TV...
We're joined by Trev (Failure to Franchise/Days of Future Podcast) and Tom (Final Forum Dragonball Podcast) to discuss the 1998 aquatic monster movie, Deep Rising! The film tells the story of a group of hijackers and a small transport boat crew who make their way onto a luxury cruise ship that has been grabbed by a giant creature, whose tentacles are killing everybody on board. A critically reviled box office failure, the film has gone on to become a cult classic in recent years. We talk about i...
For this bonus episode we bring in Byrd's daughter Julia and Matt's son Landon to give a recap of the first ever All Monsters Attack convention, held this past from Sept 9-11th in Indianapolis, Indiana. AMA is a new tokusatsu themed convention organized by Days of the Dead and had a stacked lineup of guests from both Japan and the United States. So how was the new con on the block? What were the highlights of the show? What did the kids think? Listen and find out!
October means its another spooky season here at KT with another month full of horror movie podcasts to give you the chills. This time Byrd and Matt are joined by guest hosts Trev (Failure To Franchise and Days of Future Podcast) and Tom (Final Forum Dragonball Podcast) to talk about two gruesome Japanese shockers, Evil Dead Traps 1 and 2. Evil Dead Trap is a gory slasher about reporters investigating a snuff film who get picked off one by one by a maniacal killer. The movie (directed by exploita...
We are joined by guest hosts Kevin Derendorf (Maser Patrol) and Justin Mullis to take a deep dive into the infamous North Korean film Pulgasari and its obscure American remake, Galgameth. Pulgasari has one of the strangest production backgrounds of any monster film, with its director Shin Sang-ok being kidnapped and forced to make movies in North Korea by Kim Jong Il. But before we get into that wild story, we also have some background on the original Korean myth of Bulgasari and the history of ...
Byrd, Matt and Kevin discuss the short lived Fuji TV television series, Agon, the Atomic Dragon. Filmed in 1964 and originally planned to be 26 episodes, this early attempt at a kaiju television series was cut short early and only had four episodes made (which weren't aired until 1968). The show had some familiar faces behind the scenes including staple Toho screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa and special effects artist Fuminori Ohashi. We'll talk about the original plan for the show, why it was cut ...
Join us as we dive into the history of South Korea's premiere giant monster, Yongary! We start by looking at the 1967 film Yongary, Monster from the Deep, which was an attempt at cashing in on the international success of the Godzilla and Gamera films. We talk about the long, complicated history of South Korean cinema and the country's complicated relationship with Japan, and how those factors influenced the film. We then get into the 1999/2001 reboot Yonggary (aka Reptilian), including its noto...
Byrd, Matt and Kevin are back to discuss this made for TV drama recounting the creation of the original Ultraman series. It follows a young director named Heichan (a standin for real life director Akio Jissogi) who finds himself fighting for his creative freedom while making the hit television series. So how much did they get right in this dramatic retelling? Listen and find out!
We are joined by frequent guest host Kevin Derendorf and special guest Justin Mullis to take a deep dive into Toei's 1966 fantasy/kaiju mash-up The Magic Serpent! Since the film is an adaptation of the folk tale of Jiraiya, we discuss the origins and history of the character as well. Byrd and Kevin also recap the highlights of this year's G-Fest convention including the panels, the guests, the films shown, and more! But first we have some news, including the latest on the Monsterverse and the tr...
Byrd, Matt and guest host Kevin (of Maser Patrol) discuss the 20th entry in the long running Ultraman franchise, 2007's Ultraseven X! Produced by Takeshi Yagi for the 40th anniversary of the original Ultraseven, this series brought a more adult spin on the franchise to a "late night tokusatsu" television time slot. The more character driven show wasn't afraid to venture into more heady science fiction territory. So how did this more mature Ultra series fare? Listen and find out! But first, in ke...
Byrd, Matt and Tom unpack the latest entry in the Jurassic Park series, the brand new Jurassic World Dominion. This time, the three leads of the original Jurassic Park reunite to take on dinosaurs with the cast of the recent Jurassic World films. We talk dino fight clubs, chases through Italy, underground dinosaur selling, and giant locusts (?). Our in depth discussion of the movie leads to a larger discussion on modern blockbuster film making and how movie franchises have changed over the last ...
Byrd, Matt and Kevin talk about Toho's web puppet show, Godziban! Godziban is a YouTube puppet show created by Toho and puppetry troupe Studio Koganemushi (after they were winners in Toho's Gemstone talent scouting contest). The show follows three young Godzilla brothers, Godzilla-kun, Minilla, and Little as they practice to be great monsters and have adventures running into the likes of King Ghidorah, Baragon, Rodan, Angilas, Ebirah, Mothra and other Toho monsters. We review the first two seaso...
Byrd, Matt, and guest host Kevin review the second and final season of Netflix's anime series Pacific Rim: The Black. We review the show as well as discuss the wait between seasons, and how the Pacific Rim franchise should move forward after this. But first we talk about the new Godzilla and Kong/Call of Duty game crossover and we give our tribute to recently deceased actor Hiroyuki Watanabe. Relax and enjoy the discussion!
We are joined by Jared Foust (Xenofauna) and Connor Anderson (Easterman's Kaiju Kompendium) for an extensive deep dive into Ultraman Ace. The firth entry in the Ultra series brought in some changes, like recurring alien villains and the idea of two Ultraman hosts. Although some of these ideas didn't last, Ultraman Ace brought a wackier sensibility to the franchise. We'll talk about the highs and lows of the series, the change in approach that it took, the crazy monster designs and more! Relax an...
We are joined again by guest host Trev (Days of Future Podcast, Failure to Franchise) to discuss the recent micro budgeted Zillafoot. This backyard indie about a giant lizard/ape hybrid was originally released in 2019, but was re-released in 2021 after adding crowd sourced scenes from podcasters, YouTubers, and others in the kaiju fandom. We also discuss the nature of modern b-movie film making and what it means to make a low budget film without being cynical. There's references to numerous kaij...
Matt, Byrd and Tom pay tribute to the prolific actor Akira Takarada, who passed away recently at the age of 87. We discuss Takarada's vast career in acting, voiceover, and activism. Our main topic is two spy spoofs Takarada starred in, 1965's Ironfinger (aka 100 Shot, 100 Killed), and 1967's Golden Eyes (aka Booted Babe, Busted Boss). Directed by Jun Fukuda, these action comedies are stacked with many of the major Toho actors of the time and also have strong ties to the Godzilla franchise (espec...
Byrd, Matt and Tom discuss the divisive kaiju satire from popular Japanese comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto. This mockumentary follows a washed up Japanese super hero as he fights giant monsters, deals with his estranged family, and ponders his place in the world. All the while, the film asks questions about modern Japanese cultural identity and what it means to be Japanese. Released in 2007, this cynical character study was widely reviled by kaiju fans, yet was embraced by cinephiles and has since be...
We are joined once again by Tom (Final Forum podcast) and Kevin (Maser Patrol) to discuss the new film Nezura 1964! From 3Y Films (The Great Buddha Arrival), this low budget indie is a dramatized retelling of the making (and cancelation) of Giant Horde Beast Nezura, Daiei's pre-Gamera kaiju film about giant rats. In addition to reviewing the movie, we also talk about the actual events that inspired it. As an added bonus, we also review the low budget indie horror film Nezulla the Rat Monster (20...
Ring in the holidays with this special episode, as we are joined by Kevin Derendorf (Maser Patrol, Kaiju For Hipsters) and Tom Gueli (Final Forum: A Dragonball Podcast) to talk about the children's holiday dinosaur film, Rex: A Dinosaur's Story. In 1993, Kadokawa decided to cash in on the Jurassic Park craze by making this oddity about a little girl who befriends a baby T-Rex and aids in the dinosaur's escape from greedy commercial producers. The film (directed by Kadokawa's president at the tim...
Byrd, Matt and Kevin discuss the cult anime series The Big O. This series combined inspirations from kaiju/tokusatsu, mecha, Batman, and film noir to create a series about a negotiator who pilots a giant robot in a city full of people without memories. As he tries to solve the city's mysteries, he has to use his robot Big O to handle the other giant robots and monsters that get in his way. So sit back and listen to us discuss the robots, mystery, monsters, and philosophy of this abstract cult cl...
We're joined by frequent guest hosts Tom and Kevin to talk about Macoto Tezuka's Yokai-centric Monster Heaven films. Monster Heaven (1986) is an anthology film of several different Yokai stories. Monster Heaven: Ghost Hero (1990) is a single story about a resurrected samurai demon slashing his way through a metropolitan workplace. They feature recognizable faces such as Misatoh Eve, Osamu Tezuka, Kazuo Umezu, and Hideyo Amamoto, and creature effects by the great Tomoo Haraguchi. So are these los...
We are joined by our fellow Kaiju Masterclass convention team members Steve Ryfle, Ed Godziszewski, Patrick Galvan, Erik Homenick, and Amanda Whalen and presenter Kevin Derendorf for a look behind the scenes of this year's virtual convention. This year's show will have a diverse guest roster, including director Kazuki Omori (Godzilla vs Biollante, Godzilla vs King Ghidorah), dub actress Tiffany Grant (Gamera Trilogy, Neon Genesis Evangelion), monster maker Fuyuki Shinada (GMK, Gamera Trilogy), s...
We're back with more spooky thrills as we look at two horror outings starring the late, great Sonny Chiba. First we have Toei's campy Japanese/American co-production Terror from Beneath the Sea (1966) about fish people trying to take over the world. We follow that up with Kinji Fukasaku's 1981's jidaigeki fantasy/horror mashup, Samurai Reincarnation where Chiba plays famous samurai Yagyu Jubei going up against Japanese historical figures resurrected as demons. Kick back and join the conversation...
Our October horror-thon continues as Byrd, Matt and Tom discuss Toei and MGM's cult classic The Green Slime, directed by the legendary Kinji Fukasaku. Starring an all English cast, this Japanese/American co-production tells the story of a space station overrun with tentacled slime monsters. We'll discuss its origin as an Italian co-production, its rockin theme song, its star studded cast, its alleged Vietnam allegory, the longevity of cult films, and the positivity of film camp and cheese. Relax...
For the first horror episode of October, we are joined by our three most frequent guest hosts (for the first time together), Trev, Kevin, and Tom to discuss movies so crazy we needed five people to make sense of them. We look at a pair of Hong Kong horror films from director Lam Ngai Kai (of Riki-Oh fame) based on books from the Chinese "Wisely" series. Not only do these films have future Hong Kong stars like Chow Yun Fat, Maggie Cheung and Gloria Yip, but they also feature special effects from ...
We are joined for a look behind the scenes of Hanna Barbera's Godzilla animated series with the show's writer/developer/story editor Duane Poole! For over 40 years, Duane has written for TV, film and theater and has worked with iconic properties including Scooby Doo, the Smurfs, Super-Friends, Love Boat, and our favorite King of the Monsters. We chat with him about his prolific career, Hanna Barbera in the 70s, adapting Godzilla for TV, the changes made to Godzilla for the show, Scooby Doo, his ...
