This 1968 epic science fiction/monster film, originally released in Japan as KAIJU SOSHINGEKI, capped a long running series of Godzilla films. It was truly a climatic film in which all Godzilla’s opponents returned to destroy civilization. DESTROY ALL MONSTERS boasts eleven giant monsters, (although a couple of them are relegated to background status only). The predominant monster stars are Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah, Angilas, Manda, Gorosaurus, and Speiga. But this film is far more than a mere parade of men in rubber costumes, it is an epic sci-fi movie with heroes, villains, alien conspiracies, and more firepower than a Arnold Swartzeneggar movie. It is without a doubt the greatest giant monster movie of all time, with the exception of the original 1933 KING KONG and the 1954 film, GOJIRA, known in the U.S. as GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS.

Fans of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE know what it is like to go without. That movie was unavailable on home video for about 15 years, and VHS bootleggers exploited this fact. I mention this because DESTROY ALL MONSTERS suffered a similar fate. I saw this movie at the theaters and on TV during the seventies. When the eighties rolled around, the movie vanished. Meanwhile, all the other Godzilla and friends videos came and went on various video labels and in different versions. This movie quickly became the holy grail for monster and sci-fi fans and the video pirates again made a fortune. One day in 1996, the Sci-Fi Channel announced they had acquired the rights to this legendary film, and they presented it letterboxed, which delighted the old guard, and earned a new legion of fans.

ADV Films, proprietors of fine Japanese animation and live action cult films, premiere their first live action title on DVD. This DVD is a movie-only affair that has no extras, chapter stops, not even a menu system. While the lack of extras and traditional DVD features is disappointing, ADV Films presents DESTROY ALL MONSTERS uncut and letterboxed. This version of the film is the international cut and features the inferior English dub track. In the early seventies, American International Pictures released an English dubbed version of this film for theatrical and television prints. AIP’s version featured a well synchronized English dub track for the film, with Hal Linden (of Barry Miller fame) dubbing the lead character, Katsuo. Though AIP’s version had a superior dub, the movie is slightly cut. Since Toho did not own AIP’s audio track, they were not able to provide AIP’s English dub to ADV Films for the DESTROY ALL MONSTERS DVD. But there is no sense in arguing over English dub tracks; either you tolerate them or you hate them.

The film was the last film to have the creative talents of director Ishiro Honda, special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya, and composer Akira Ifukube. This trio was responsible for the worldwide success of the Godzilla phenomenon, as they had all worked together on the best films of the series including the original. So DESTROY ALL MONSTERS is their swansong. To say that that this one will never be topped is an understatement. The film features Japanese genre actors such as Akira Kubo (spazz Tetsuo from MONSTER ZERO) as spaceship captain Katsuo, Jun (ATRAGON) Tazaki as Dr. Yoshida, Yukiko (THE VAMPIRE DOLL) Kobayashi as Katsuo’s alien-possessed girlfriend Kyoko, Kenji (YOG, MONSTER FROM SPACE) Sahara as Major Nishikawa, and perennial favorite Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla.

This is a hard movie to write a synopsis for (without giving away too many plot points for those who may have never seen the film), so please bear with me. In the year 1999, a world scientific council has rounded up the gargantuan offenders to mankind and placed them on a remote island where the monsters can live peacefully with nature. There are advanced security devices in place to keep each monster from leaving the island, and the giants are free to eat fish and wildlife, and basically live undisturbed by mankind. There is a research base on Monster Island, where scientists study the giant creatures. A young female scientist named Kyoko works on the island. One day while she is working, the research labs fill with a mysterious gas, and everyone collapses.

The United Nations Security Council has lost all contact with Monster Island. Since the council does not know what happened to the scientists on Monster Island, they have Dr. Yoshida (Tazaki) contact the lunar space ship SY3, lead by Katsuo (Kubo) and orders the crew to land their space ship on Monster Island to get to the bottom of the mystery. Suddenly, the monsters appear in various major population centers around the globe, and begin wreaking havoc. The United Nations council is mortified, and without a single clue to the chaos.

Meanwhile, the SY3 spacecraft lands on Monster Island and Katsuo and his team investigates the scientific research base there. At first they find the place deserted, but then they discover their comrades bearing weapons, and looking normal as usual. The man in charge, Dr. Otani (Yoshio Tsuchiya) and Kyoko graciously welcomes Katsuo and his team, and informs them that the monsters are being controlled against their own will, and are being used by aliens to destroy the Earth’s capital cities. Katsuo’s team is skeptical at first, and Dr. Otani uses the alien machinery to demonstrate, as he instructs monsters to attack humans. Katsuo watches the horror on a video screen, and realizes he and his team are in danger from this brainwashed group. Katsuo’s team makes a move to escape and a laser gun fight ensues. The team manages to grab Dr. Otani and escape the base, but Katsuo is unable to get Kyoko, who escapes.

Back at headquarters, Dr. Yoshida questions Dr. Otani, but he won’t reveal any information. But it is clear that advanced alien technology is at work here. Soon, several monster including Rodan, Manda, Mothra, and Godzilla attack Tokyo, and the army’s futuristic military weapons are deployed to stop the rampage. After the onslaught, an alien-controlled Kyoko enters the military headquarters, and informs Katsuo, Dr. Yoshida, and the others that they should give up control of planet Earth to the people of the planet Kilaak. Katsuo grabs Kyoko, obviously under the influence of the space aliens, and removes the alien transmitter from her skin. Kyoko goes into shock, but she is finally free.

Dr. Yoshida discovers that the Kilaaks have a base on the Earth’s moon, that the aliens use as a control center for their nefarious schemes. Katsuo and his team are quickly dispatched back to the moon to locate the alien base and destroy the remote control transmission devices. After the SY3 team locates and lands outside the alien base, they find the Kilaaks are waiting for them. But the SY3 crew have their own nifty weapons and the humans fight until they defeat the Kilaaks. Using advanced scientific technology, they locate the offending remote control transmitters and disable the equipment. Earth’s monsters are no longer under alien control.

As the crew of the SY3 spacecraft departs for Earth, Dr. Yoshida informs them that the monsters are now under the control of the people of Earth. The monsters are ordered to assemble at the base of Japan’s Mt. Fuji, where a Kilaak base resides underground. The Earth monsters prepare for a final assault on the Kilaak base, but the aliens have their own plan of desperation. They materialize the super-powerful space monster, King Ghidorah, and command the triple-headed terror to destroy the Earth monsters. Now the stage is set for the ultimate battle for mankind’s future.

This is definitely one of the better giant monster films on all fronts. Not just special effects and monsters designs, but the polished script, lush cinematography, and above-average acting for a movie of this nature. Unfortunately, the acting is hampered a bit by the cheesy dubbing. But for once, the pacing is perfect, and the narrative does not really focus on the monsters; it focuses on the mystery surrounding the monsters. In short, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS is an alien conspiracy mystery that would make Mulder and Scully turn in their FBI badges.

Though DESTROY ALL MONSTERS was released in 1968, the story takes place in 1999. You can imagine what the filmmakers thought 1999 was going to like. This movie depicts things far more advanced than they really were in 1999. In this film’s futuristic reality, there are people living on the moon, interplanetary travel is possible, and nearly everyone wears bright orange or yellow clothes. Especially amusing is the idea of having a remote island act as a reservation for the Earth’s giant creatures, and being able to impose security devices to keep the critters from getting away!

The special effects are obviously miniatures and pyrotechnics. But this is a pre-2001 movie, and the effects presentation are all in the realm of retro 50’s movies like DESTINATION MOON, only more elaborate and colorful. The miniature effects are composited with scenes of cities and people and are really not all that bad, just don’t go expecting effects on the level of ARMAGEDDON. There are a lot of intricately designed model tanks, planes, missiles, buildings, etc. There are also some decent UFO and space craft designs. The climatic battle at the conclusion, which features eight monsters fighting to the death, is truly a special effects triumph.

SIGHT

ADV Films presents DESTROY ALL MONSTERS in it’s original 2.35.1 widescreen ratio. There are some scratches in the opening titles sequence and on the end sequence. Throughout the bulk of the movie, the widescreen image looks pretty good, with the exception of some dirt specs and grain (remember, this is a 30+ year old film). These few problems are in the source prints, and are not the fault of ADV Film’s mastering. Overall, I was surprised at the color schemes and detail of the transfer. When DESTROY ALL MONSTERS played on TV throughout the seventies, the pan ‘n scan transfer was terrible, chopping the Tohoscope image in half. Not only that, but the image was so blown up so that all the effects flaws (including the monsters, the buildings, the space scenes, etc.) were readily apparent. But now not only do you see the additional image, but the effects sequences and production designs don’t look so laughable anymore. The widescreen image is very sharp with great detail. The colors are extremely bright and vivid, and without any bleeding. The blacks and shadow detail are perfectly balanced and the many space scenes and dark interiors (like the caves) look great because of it. Flesh tones looked natural in all lighting. Eiji Tsuburaya’s special effects are obvious miniatures, but they have never looked better. The monster battles, the city-trampling scenes, the fire-power scenes, the outer space sequences, and the military weapons attacks are all very detailed and really lend an epic feel to this widescreen film. Being set in a futuristic period, the colorful mod set designs and clothing have vivid color combinations such as bright orange and yellow, which are flawlessly rendered in the transfer. Overall, this widescreen transfer breathes new life into the classic film, and its like watching a whole new movie.

SOUND

The audio is Dolby Digital Stereo. There is activity in the front soundstage only. It sounds as if the stereo mix was mastered from the original mono soundtrack. The stereo mix is not powerful, but it is crisp, clear, and undistorted. The soundtrack is full of loud monster roars, gunfire, explosions, and rocket ship noises which sound good. The bass is evident, but could be stronger to accentuate the monster footsteps or explosions. Again, the source sound elements are over 30 years old. We cranked up the soundtrack to see if the stereo mix would distort, but it did not. Maestro Akira Ifukube’s exciting score sounds great, and is perfectly synchronized with the sound effects track and the dubbing. Of all the audio elements, the English dub track is the only thing to complain about. You can’t fault ADV Films for the sub-par dubbing, but it is not a pretty dub job (not there is such a thing). Technically, the dub track sounds good and is well synchronized with the other sound elements. It’s just that the voice actors are really flat and emotionless. Overall, the soundtrack is not powerful or pretty, but it gets the job done cleanly. Yeah, we would have liked to seen a Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS track, but you can’t have everything.

FEATURES

None.

CONCLUSION

Sci-fi fans have waited years to see the evasive DESTROY ALL MONSTERS available on a home video format. Now it is available uncut, and widescreen on a superior digital format. The lack of extras and English subtitles are the request of the copyright holder, Toho Studios, and not ADV Films. This is ADV Film’s first live-action effort, and even though there is room for improvement, the basics (sight and sound) make it a worthy purchase for nostalgic collectors. Forget Devlin and Emmerich’s GODZILLA film; even though it has it’s cheesy moments, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS is the superior film in every respect. And it’s a fun way to spend 90 minutes.

                                                Rating (out of 5):

- Tony Mustafa

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