Anyone who’s seen their fair share of giant monster movies is likely well aware of the fact that some of them aren’t necessarily good, at least not in the traditional sense. There are some that transcend being silly and cheesy, sure, while there are others that are disappointingly without much entertainment value. Somewhere in between those extremes lie not-great movies about giant monsters that are nonetheless entertaining.
Some of the following examples could well have been intentionally made as comedies, whileothers are more likely noble failures that fit within the confines ofso-called “so bad they’re good” movies. Intentional or not (it’s arguable, in some cases), these movies are all quite silly in their own interesting ways, and are easy to recommend to those who like their giant monster movies as bombastic, wild, and ridiculous as possible.
10’Pulgasari' (1985)
Director: Shin Sang-ok
Thestory behind the making ofPulgasariis perhaps more interesting than the film itself, and the entire behind-the-scenes saga could well make for a great movie in its own right. It came about because a filmmaker was kidnapped by North Korean authorities and forced to make a kaiju movie in North Korea, withPulgasaribeing the result (former supreme leader of North Korea,Kim Jong-il, is an executive producer).
As for the film itself, it takes place in feudal Korea, and revolves around villagers utilizing a mighty mythical monster to fight back against an oppressive ruler. As far as giant monster movies go, it’s safe to say thatPulgasarileans more towards being bad than good, but it’s strange enough to provide some entertainment value, andits undeniably fascinating history also makes it a worthwhile curiosity for fans of the kaiju genre.
Watch on Cultpix
9’APE' (1976)
Director: Paul Leder
Some giant monster movies transcend expectations anddeliver gripping human-related drama on the ground levelwhile also showcasing spectacle when it comes to depicting giant – and usually rampaging – beasts. Unfortunately, there are also movies likeAPEwhich don’t really do much of either, with this movie about a giant ape who’s decidedly not from Skull Island being a grueling watch at times.
However, it can scratch that “so bad it’s good” itch in its best moments, which might be worth waiting for, at least if one’s a dedicated viewer of giant monster movies. The whole opening sequence involves improbable destruction and the titular giant ape fighting a shark, while some scenes later on also provide good laughs, including the ape smashing a helicopter into the side of a cliff before giving it an enthusiastic middle finger.
Watch on Plex
8’Yongary, Monster from the Deep' (1967)
Director: Kim Kee-duk
Most kaiju movies have been made in Japan, though the aforementionedPulgasariwas, of course, made in North Korea, and 1967’sYongary, Monster from the Deepwas a co-production between Japan and South Korea. The premise is about as bare-bones as giant monster movie narratives get, with the story centering on a prehistoric reptile going on a rampage through the city of Seoul.
Yongary, Monster from the Deepwasgiven a remake/reboot of sorts in 1999, and that movie – simply calledYonggary– was genuinely pretty bad. This 1967 film, on the other hand, is deeply silly andwill likely only appeal to those who find old monster movies and less-than-great special effects to be charmingrather than detrimental, but there is a purity to its goofiness that can prove hard to resist for those who approach it with the right mindset.
7’Daigoro vs. Goliath' (1972)
Director: Toshihiro Iijima
One of many Japanese kaiju movies that didn’t belong tothe long-runningGodzillaseries(that was likely trying to appeal to fans of said series),Daigoro vs. Goliathis another goofily fun kaiju romp. Like manyGodzillamovies coming out around the same time,Daigoro vs. Goliathis fairly kid-friendly overall, with Daigoro being a monster living on Earth with a ravenous appetite, and Goliath being a more menacing one who arrives on the planet from outer space.
There’s an argument to be made that monster fights featuring actors in giant rubber suits are inherently silly, but the fight sequences inDaigoro vs. Goliathgo one step further in this regard. Still, those who are young at heart might well find the movie hard to resist, and it’s charming on account of the fact that it doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not, and seems at least a tiny bit self-aware about how silly it gets throughout.
Buy on Amazon
6’King Kong Escapes' (1967)
Director: Ishirō Honda
A tried and true way to make a good foe for an iconic monster to take down is to give them, essentially, a robotic doppelgänger;just ask Godzilla and Mechagodzilla. Still, it has to be noted thatKing Kong Escapespredates even the first movie that featured Mechagodzilla, with the antagonist in this film, Mechani-Kong, being a mechanical villain to a famous movie monster before it was cool.
King Kong Escapesis at its best when the titular monster goes up against his mechanical foe, even though those scenes aren’t quite enough to make it one ofthe bestKing Kongmovies overall. Still, itdoes provide plenty of entertainment for anyone who thinks the idea of a giant ape fighting a giant robot that looks like an ape sounds like a good time.
King Kong Escapes
5’Gamera vs. Guiron' (1969)
Director: Noriaki Yuasa
After mentioning the likes ofGodzillaandKing Kong, it feels only right to bring up theGameraseries, which has had more films within it than the latter, though certainly not as many as the former. It’s a series that at least initially lived in the shadows of Godzilla, centering on a giant turtle instead of a giant lizard/dinosaur-like creature,with it not really being until the1990s that Gamera got some genuinely great movies.
But the earlierGameramovies released during the 1960s and 1970s do manage to be schlocky fun, for the most part, withGamera vs. Guironlikely being the weirdest and wildest of the bunch. It’s inexplicably violent alongside being very childish, features a pair of children brought into an interplanetary conflict, and the titular Guiron is pretty much just a giant walking knife. It all has to be seen to be believed, really.
Watch on Amazon
4’The Mighty Peking Man' (1977)
Director: Ho Meng-Hua
Anyfan of martial arts movieswill likely be familiar with Shaw Brothers Studio, a film production company that funded some of the greatest martial arts flicks of all time. It wasn’t just that kind of action movie that the studio produced, though, as outliers likeThe Mighty Peking Man–a somewhat derivative but still entertainingly wild giant monster movie – show.
It’s fairly easy to compare the monster inThe Mighty Peking Manto a certain other giant ape who’s long been a staple of pop culture, and the quality of the movie itself does suggest why the giant ape within it hasn’t become similarly iconic. But for those who want ridiculously fast pacing, a nonsensical plot that could well be intentionally dumb, and plenty of schlock delivered throughout,The Mighty Peking Manmight be worth checking out.
Watch on Arrow
3’King Kong vs. Godzilla' (1962)
A definitive cult classic of the 1960s,King Kong vs. Godzillawas, somewhat surprisingly, only the third movie to feature Godzilla, and only the third movie to feature King Kong, who’d been absent on-screen since two cinematic outings in 1933. It’s also quite surprising that it took almost 60 years for the two monsters to clash again,doing so in 2021’sGodzilla vs. Kong.
That 2021 movie was an American production, but 1962’sKing Kong vs. Godzillawas a Japanese film (though dubbed for English-speaking territories), and carries with it the sort of ridiculous charm that many Showa eraGodzillamovies have. It’s a clunky film and some of it’s aged like milk, but much of it’s also undeniably hilarious, and it’s hard to imagine many people not getting any entertainment out of seeing the showdown promised in the title play out.
King Kong vs. Godzilla
2’Death Kappa' (2010)
Director: Tomoo Haraguchi
Movie monsters don’t get much more strange-lookingthan the one at the center of 2010’sDeath Kappa, with the movie itself also being pretty much as strange as said monster. The so-called “Death Kappa” is a water goblin who changes size due to being irradiated, and does so just in time to save the world from another monster who proves to be even more destructive and dangerous.
It’s likely thatDeath Kappawas a tongue-in-cheek film,because there are parts of it that get so silly it’s hard to imagine anyone writing such scenes down and expecting them to be taken seriously. You could say that disqualifies it from being so bad it’s good, but it does have the energy and the same kind of entertainment value as some of the aforementioned ridiculous monster movies, with a more outwardly comedic tone (again, probably) making it arguably even more entertaining.
Watch on Tubi
1’God Raiga vs. King Ohga' (2020)
Director: Shinpei Hayashiya
The jury’s still out on just whatGod Raiga vs. King Ohgamight be, but it would have to beat least partially some kind of parodyof the kaiju genre. Much more thanDeath Kappa, it really pushes the boundaries of incompetency so far that its miscalculations, if unintentional, might be among the worst seen in any movie, what with the hilariously awkward editing, human actors being replaced with motionless figurines at times, and one scene where an actor delivers a line and then takes his microphone off in front of the camera.
It oftentimes feels like one massive joke of a film, and there’s a certain beauty in the stupidity on offer inGod Raiga vs. King Ohgaas a result. Sure, even though it’s not listed as a “comedy” when it comes to genres on sites like Letterboxd and IMDb, it is so stupidly funny that many of the laughs have to be intentional. And, in the off-chance that they’re not,this little-known 2020 movie would likely rank as one of the all-time best so-bad-they’re-good movies ever made.
